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Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 12:58 pm
by 3xpendable
Luxobarge wrote:
Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:15 pm
Don't do it. Dreadful car, we had one for a few years and hated it with a passion.
I'll be the voice of reason here and say I had a 2006 Cooper S JCW and loved it. I had a few minor issues but nothing major and some of the horror stories you hear (like the heater motor being stuck on even when the engine is off) were problems for very early cars that have long since been rectified.

Depends what you want it for OP. Mine was a second car that served a double purpose of being a weekend fun toy, and a backup car to get me to work if my daily driver Mondeo decided to crap the bed anytime.

Do you intend to put a baby seat in it? use it to do a lot of shopping etc? If that's the case it might not be the most practical choice.

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:44 pm
by gazza82
If you want one go for a post 2010 model. The early ones were the problem. From 2010 they improved .. a lot!

My daughter has a '10 reg Convertible and apart from a couple of worn run-flats (and one slow puncture) she's been very happy with it. And she is 2nd owner.


The problem is people tar cars with the same brush. Look at Alfa's .. apparently the world's most unreliable car in 'pub conversations' and on forums ..

So how come my old 75 has now done probably around 200K (100K with me and the second 100K with it's new owner) and my 156 did 210k with me from new?

Both 2 litre Twinspark engines.

I do a fair amount of driving with my job and all I see are BMWs, Mercs, Audis, and the like gracing the hard-shoulder ... and the other day a "disguised" Range Rover up near J15 of M40!! ...

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 5:43 pm
by rich.
i would advise against mgb gt,apart from being rustboxes there is the rust to consider.... :lol: :lol: :lol: i had several & unless you amputate your daughters legs if you need to use it to transport more than 2 people.. if you can get by with a 2 seater have you considered toyota mr2/mazda mx5? tidy rot free examples are available at a fraction of the cost of a tidy mg.. i know you were not keen on japanese but they are great cars! i had one for a while, but sold it when child no3 came along :D

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:37 pm
by Kaktus
Hi Rich,

I actually wouldn't mind an MX-5 at all, and personally I have nothing against Japanese cars, it's just that the daft insurance companies here in Ireland by and large refuse to give classic car insurance for them unless they're 30 years old. Seemingly they're not "classic" enough, although I suspect they don't break down often enough so people can actually use a 25 year old Japanese car as a daily driver, hence it's almost pointless to consider one as most insurance companies don't insure anything older than 10 years old.... I will though have to check out if there is a possibility of getting reasonable insurance for an older MX-5.

I have actually also been playing with the thought of trying to find an early Volvo 740 Turbo, quite like them for some reason. I used to have a Volvo 850 which was brilliant, and I kind of always liked Volvos, suppose because my very first car was a Volvo 360... :)

Thankfully though the neighbour's wife offered to start bringing our daughter to school in the mornings as well as collecting her as she anyway brings her two girls to the same school, so that has made it a little less urgent to get another second car sorted. Gives me some more time ponder what car to get in the end! :thumbs:

Cheers,
Joakim

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:42 pm
by Kaktus
3xpendable wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 12:58 pm
Luxobarge wrote:
Tue Feb 06, 2018 2:15 pm
Don't do it. Dreadful car, we had one for a few years and hated it with a passion.
I'll be the voice of reason here and say I had a 2006 Cooper S JCW and loved it. I had a few minor issues but nothing major and some of the horror stories you hear (like the heater motor being stuck on even when the engine is off) were problems for very early cars that have long since been rectified.

Depends what you want it for OP. Mine was a second car that served a double purpose of being a weekend fun toy, and a backup car to get me to work if my daily driver Mondeo decided to crap the bed anytime.

Do you intend to put a baby seat in it? use it to do a lot of shopping etc? If that's the case it might not be the most practical choice.
Yeah, it'd mainly be as backup car for errands around town and doing the school run (just the one 7-year-old) and suchlike, usually don't do big shopping trips anyway so wouldn't need a huge boot or anything like that. Part of the problem though is that it needs to be at least 15 years old to qualify for classic car insurance, normal insurance is just ridiculous here nowadays so that's not an option, unfortunately.

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:39 am
by rich.
have you considered the real mini?

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 11:47 am
by Kaktus
rich. wrote:
Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:39 am
have you considered the real mini?
That's a good point Rich,and I have considered it and keeping an eye out for one. Not too many good ones around in my price range (under 1500euro) but there is a chance with the models from the '90s which still don't qualify for classic car tax (need to be 30 years old for that).

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:59 am
by rich.
austin 1100? lovely little cars, much cheaper than a mini & just as much fun... failing that nissan micra k10, :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: they must be over 30 years old by now..

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:09 pm
by Kaktus
The Austin 1100 would be a great option, in a kind of fugly way that makes it rather cool! :lol:

Re: BMW MINI

Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 1:46 pm
by gazza82
rich. wrote:
Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:59 am
austin 1100? lovely little cars, much cheaper than a mini & just as much fun... failing that nissan micra k10, :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: they must be over 30 years old by now..
I've got a K11 for sale .. one owner from new and she's 89 next month! (The driver not the car!)