will a 2003 mini cooper fit a roof bars & a bike rack up top?

AFAIK you will need to drill holes into the roof.

I had a Saris Bones one on my Cooper S..

Fitted & worked fine.

Couldn’t do the roof bar thing as it was a company car..

Thule do a roof bar set that sits on top, The Genuine mini one does need the roof drilling. Thule ones pritty good, had mine for 6 years now.

so its only genuine bmw mini bars that need drilling on?

thule bars dont need drilling?

My bro had Mont Blanc ones. Just clipped on the door sills and a short roof converter was used.

I actually think he is selling them as he now has a new car. Would just be the roof bars and feet. So you would need the bik racks that just attach to them.

Email me if any interest to you.

DON’T buy one of these! A work colleague of mine purchased a brand new one these things and it was a total heap of unreliable shite. She fought hand and tooth to get a replacement (legal bills) and guess what?…………..

…………..the 2nd, spanking new one, was just as bad! The garage were nice as pie until she handed over her cash (for the 1st one) then their true colours became apparent!

DON’T buy one of these! Work colleague of mine purchased brand new one the thing was a total heap of unreliable shite. She fought hand and tooth to get a replacement (huge legal bills) and guess what?…………..

…………..the 2nd, spanking new, one was just as bad! The garage were nice as pie until she handed over her cash (for the 1st one) then their true colours became apparent!

Mum has had one for 6 years from new, 60000miles and still going strong. Other than wear an tear things nothign wrong. You cant judge a car on 1 bad review otherwise you wouldnt buy any car!

Wheels off and back seats down, you can fit two bikes in the boot, if you don’t care about marking the inside 😉

As Love Tubs mentioned, worth making sure its had all it recalls done, mine had the following repaired under gtee

Gearbox
2x steering rack!!!!
front struts
Air bag sensor
Brake servo
electric window motor
Low tire warning sensor

Great cars to drive mind…

Just the genuine need drilling!

My First gen one never went back in to the garage except for servicing did 40k in 3 years. My 2nd Gen cooper S hasnt been quite so reliable but nothing major. Theyre great fun too drive.

Does it have the moon roof? (Big glass sunroof) This can cause problems as you can’t use with many roof systems fiited.

The Thule roof system has also pulled the plastic gutter rails away from the roof so many fitters I’ve spoken to will not offer it as they have had issues with customers returning with damage.

So I have the Thule boot rack fitted to mine and its excellent. Can carry 3 bikes and costs <£100.

If you do look at a bootrack be aware that some of the Cooper (depends on pack) have the rear spoiler on the roof and that can also cause problems fitting a bootrack.

I’ve had my 05 model for 6 months and I love it.
Regards
Richard

DON’T buy one of these! A work colleague of mine purchased a brand new one these things and it was a total heap of unreliable shite. She fought hand and tooth to get a replacement (legal bills) and guess what?…………..

…………..the 2nd, spanking new one, was just as bad! The garage were nice as pie until she handed over her cash (for the 1st one) then their true colours became apparent!

And I’m on my 3rd one in 6 years and never had a problem with any of them.

Just sayin’

I’ve had my mini from new in 2005 and never had any problems with it.
I can get my bike in the back although as Ski says you need to be careful not to mark the back of the seats.
I wasn’t very impressed by the roof bar options so went for a removable swan neck tow bar and Thule rack. Works fine. For quick rides I lob by bike in the boot, for full dayers I use the bike rack mainly so I don’t wipe my filthy bike round the car.

anyone know how much bmw charge to fit an oem unit to the roof?

Sefton – not sure of cost but it’ll make you wince. That’s partly why we didn’t go for it. The issue with getting stuff done elsewhere is that you affect your warrantee but that wont matter on an 03 car.

On another car we enquired getting bmw to fix a tow bar and that was over £1k so it wont be cheap.

My wife had one of these but I never fitted a roof rack – I did however damage the inside with all the bike in-out-in-out-ness. The plastics were not very scuff resistant 🙄

It was fun to drive but the engine was a bit… well… not enough poke and rather unsmooth. Sounded like a diesel and revved like a bag of spanners. The Supercharged “S” was more fun but very thirsty which is why we didn’t go there.

We didn’t have any problems. She misses it but I don’t.

http://accessories.mini.com/internet_relaunch/UK/en/index.jsp

Just picked up a Mini Cooper (Mk1) this week and looking at bike carrying options. Would prefer to get some roof bars as I already have a roof bar mounted bike rack, but not sure whether to get these clamp-on type bars or not (I’m not even entertaining the idea of the OEM dilling option!)

Anyone else got any experiences of the clamp-on type? I’m a little concerned it might damage the door seals/gutter with the wind loading and other forces on the bike rack and bars?

This is the Thule one I have on my MK1 Cooper. It’s perfect. Been on there for almost two years. So much less faff than a boot mounted one I used to have.

And I’m on my 3rd one in 6 years and never had a problem with any of them.

Just sayin’

Yep, we’re on our 3rd and not had any problems with any of ’em – apart from the fuel economy on my ‘Works’ Cooper S….which had nothing to do with the way it was driven of course 😉

p.s. apols for slight hijack, but can anyone recommend a good boot rack for a 2nd generation Cooper S?

Coogan – That’s the setup I’ve been looking at. No worries with the forces acting around the door seals and gutter then?

Have you got the moonroof as well? If so, will it open with the roof bars on ok?

i have the thule set that coogan shows available for basically half rrp plus postage if anyone is interested ?

only used for 2 weeks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which mini does it fit? R56 and how much is basically half price?

I imagine if you’re prepared to put up with the sort of bodgery bad design that requires holes drilled in roofs then you can fit any rack to any car.

orena45 – nope, none at all. The bits that attach to the door seals are all under the rubber seals for the glass so it causes absolutely no problems at all. No extra wind noise or buffeting around the window. It’s been great, love it.

It’s the kit with the newest wing aero bars…
Call it £175 plus insured postage….?

Winrya, yes fits wife’s r56 cooper s…..

does those thule jobbies come on and off pretty easily (i.e. less than 5 mins faffing?). I absolutely love my cooper s, except for not being happy putting 2 bikes in the back.

Rexated, no, but they are superbly secure !!

Check the mileage it’s done and work out how much more you are likely to put on it – I’d budget for a recon gearbox + clutch at about 75k as a minimum (should cost no more than 6 or 700 quid; but bear it in mind)

I’ve just got rid of my 2003 Cooper; was faultless for the first four years then I had to deal with an engine failure; gearbox failure; power steering pump; alternator and it had started to make some more vaguely worrying sounds so it had to go – just had no confidence in it anymore.

Shame; as it was good fun to drive.

the bike on the top isn’t the biggest issue, more the fact that there is b*gg3r all bootspace. Mrs Ed had one and it’s one of the poorest designed cars I’ve been in, controls that sacrifice useability for fashion and poor car layout hence the bootspace and poor visibility all round. oh and very heavy and expensive too.

I suppose and alternative (although expensive) idea could be a detachable tow bar and rear carrier.

The_lecht_rocks

Does that include the bike holders?

winrya – no, just the adaptors, short roof adaptor and wing bars.

you will need a thule 591 or similar…………