I am almost at the point of orderinhg a new Mini Cooper and I hope you can give me some advice before the heart takes over the brain.
1. What colour ...I fancy silver grey...what experience do others have / what does it look best in ?
2.I currently drive an Alfa 156 ( 3 years old )...some city but mostly weekends with some motorway.I walk to my office so no commuting.What's the mini like for motorway / B road driving.
3.Am I nuts to give up the Alfa for a much smaller car.
4. My brain is telling me to get rid of the Alfa before big bills start to arrive.
HELP.
Thanks,Dennis.
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Horses for courses...
I like the look of the mini, and its performance on the one drive was very impressive.
However, I found I couldn't get comfortable in it, despite the huge amount of seat adjustment available, and also that my feet were too big and kept cathcing on things under the dash.
I would hate to take it on a long trip.
However, that is just my opinion.
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I don't know anyone who has driven one, who doesn't like the new Mini.
1) One of my neighbours has a yellow one, that looks like someone forgot to mix the paint properly. Horrid colour that doesn't 'work' like the stronger yellows on some other cars. I think silver (down side is that it seems nearly everyone chooses silver cars these days, me included!) and red work best.
2) Colleague has no problem with her Mini on motorways - It is a 1.6 engined car at the end of the day, and not really a 'mini'. On A roads and B roads, she reckons it's in it's real element though.
3) Be aware that the boot is a joke. Not even enough room for a spare wheel, so a can of 'get you home' mousse is supplied instead. This is unfortunately the reason why I have crossed the Mini Cooper S off my next car list.
4) Another colleague has an Alfa 156, and on his experience, you are wise!
HTH
/Steve
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I think the S has run flat tyres (no spare) however the battery is in the back, wife gets her's early October two new colours a met blue and dark silver (colour she has chosen), chilli pack essential, the extra menu can suck money from your bank, daughter has a mini 1 vey pleased with it 10k miles since o1 march no probs only one recall some sort of clip near the gear box fixed in 0.5 hour, her colour silver lots of driving from Bognor Regis to Heathrow, no visible stone chips.
Richard Price
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Bad news....the dealer has offered me 30% less than book price on my Alfa as he says the 2nd hand market is flat and the car is second hand.!!
I am now going to look at an Alfa 147.
Car Salesmen are something else.
Dennis.
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My mother has a Cooper silver/black roof with chilli pack.Great car to drive ,no problems.
I have a 156 (2.0 TS) and my main observation would be the difference in power. The Cooper is not particular quick compared to the 156,(30 BHP difference).
Why dont you sell the 156 privately ?? There is probably little profit margin for BMW dealers on Mini's so your Alfa is just extra hassle for them.
What is the spec/mileage of your 156 ?
I like the 147 but the Mini is a better car overall IMO.
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Hi Dennis,
I've been away a couple of days and miss an interesting thread!
I'm about to order a Cooper with Pepper pack and ASC, you should try and sell something to get the extra money to fund the Cooper over the Alfa. The past few days have been spent agonising over the silver/black roof or Chilli Red/black roof - I think we'll go for the silver, it looks a bit more "grown up" if that's something you can apply to the MINI!
I'm a bit of a Citroen nut, but the offer a Citroen dealer made for my Xantia with full Citroen Service History made me seriously reconsider where my money was going...Another Citroen in X years time would also be worth not much - At least with the MINI it'll still be worth something down the line. It'll cost more to get into the car but will give me a better foundation to get another when (& if!) I ever get round to replacing it.
The 147 is a nice car, but nothing like the MINI - if you can live with a tiny boot and cramped legroom for rear passengers, you'll get a car which feels very solid and handles like a go-kart. I'm sure the MINI is adequate on motorways, but when I've got mine I'll be looking for twisty roads just to enjoy the car.
If it's any use, I saw a brand new 1.6TS 3dr 147 in Bradford for less than the MINI, and I'm still going for the smaller car - it's a different proposition. If I had to carry all the shopping and a couple of mates everywhere, the 147 would be a better choice. But as it's just me & SWALTM we're taking the fun option and using our other car for the day to day practicalities.
*** UNION JACK ****
Which dealer were you having problems with? I've dealt with a good few in the past weeks and there's a big difference in their knowledge.
Lee.
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Lee H - My apologies - have only just spotted your message en passant since, for some unknown reason following a short absence from the Back Room, only a few current threads now show up as NEW.
Since, as I understand the rules of the Back Room, we are invited not to make adverse comments about individuals, or individual organisations, in order to avoid prospective litigation, please forgive me for not identifying the BMW/MINI dealer in question - especially relevant when you read the promised sequel below. Let's just say they are a long way south of Bradford!
Taking up the "recall"point in general, I have now noted that the point oncerning the front suspension, to which I referred in my post of 26 Aug, is well covered in HJ's Car-by-Car Breakdown on MINIs, under "What's Bad" rather than "Recalls". So, perhaps I have partly answered my own question, unfortunately without actually discovering if the coil springs *were* the real reason for the drifting left problem in the first place. Does anyone out there know the answer?
The same friend took his son's car in for another "recall", sorry "discretionary adjustment", which involved (I believe) replacing some module which suffered from water ingress. The son had been told on the telephone that, when the car came in, the BMW/MINI dealers would also add, FOC I understand, modifications including slower wiper speeds when the car is stationary with the engine running, automatic door-locking activation once roadspeed reaches 8 (?) mph, just as in all new cars in the US, and a third item which I cannot recall.
Surprise! Surprise! When Dad took the car in during a lunchbreak, the service desk knew nothing about the FOC deal, expressed in such a way that Dad couldn't help feeling it was something to do with him being in his electrician's dirty working clothes. Further surprise, when son took the car in a few days later, wearing a suit - *his* clean working clothes - the FOC deal was raised without him mentioning it ....
Jack
PS Lee - Pepper pack? Chilli red? You don't like vindaloo as well, do you!?
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Hi UJ, thanks for the comprehensive reply. In the end I've taken my money a little further east to Leeds, but gald to hear I'm not at the same dealer as you!
There is a huge difference between dealer knowledge (dodgy seeing as there's only 1 model with 3 variants to learn), but found that Accrington & Leeds both had very knowledgable staff-credit where it's due!.
IIRC there's several things that can be programmed by your dealer, including some weird things with the windows. I'll dig out the specifics and post them here later. The 2003 has the locking thing as standard, along with a glovebox which I'm not totally convinced about. I can post a photo of it if anyone is interested. Which somehow, I doubt!
The discretionary adjustment thing sounds a bit iffy, I'm hoping that mine being new will be sorted, but I've driven a couple of demonstrators that definitely do pull to the left.
What you're saying about wearing a suit and getting better service is as shocking as it is true, don't understand why they still make crass assumptions like this.
Chilli Red & Pepper? I do live near Bradford where fantastic and fantastically cheap curries reign supreme...perhaps it's wearing off on me!
Lee.
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