BMW MINI.......Why so expensive????

[Charlie Croker]

Well i have been thinking about one of these things for a wee while now. Although they are against all the shite values i hold i must admit i have a real liking for one. The problem is i cant find anything under 2.5k and i really dont see what all the fuss is all about. Can anyone tell me why i should buy one of these over priced wee things?lol.

[cort16]

They drive nice but for 2500 you'll get a knackered one that's been battered off kerbs by estate agents for 10 years, Get a Panda 100hp.

[Morgan84]

I can give you several reasons NOT to buy one ...

 

1) Electric power steering which can suffer issues

2) Transmission bearing failure isn't unheard of

3) Rear brake pipes love to rust

4) Even the BMW dealers admit they aren't to the 'Usual BMW standard'

 

In my opinion ( for what little it may be worth ) buy a Suzuki Swift instead;looks similar,but its a much better built car

[dollywobbler]

They're expensive because they are fashionable. They're not at all bad to tool about in (for up to an hour before my back complains) but they certainly don't offer value, and never have.

 

Another vote for Swift. They're rather jolly.

[trigger]

Someone in my local Sainsburys is selling a 2005 Bini One 1.6 in BRG, long mot and tax for £1900 ovno, the only downside is that it had done 185000 miles!

[Pillock]

I looked over one before getting the Focus, the main reason not to was the lack of equipment and lack of space.

For the same price as an 09 Focus, I could get a Mini with more miles, bog standard spec and two years older. And they're the same (Peugeot) engine if we're talking diesels.

 

Another vote for the Panda 100hp, they're insanely good fun to drive and since they were less than ten grand new, you can get a low mileage one for peanuts.

[Albert Ross]

Are you attempting to recreate the Italian Job? Buy something that handles and keeps going.... The BINI is an absolute knacker of a "car". Bloke over the road has had one for a little over a year now. Water pump, head gasket, clutch, gearbox, two wheel bearings, sunroof leaking, bonnet popping up, electrical maladies, and TPMS issues. I advised him to get a Skoda Fabia before he bought the heap..... he wishes he had....

[Timewaster]

Style over substance.

 

I imagine this girl started the night in the most stylish shoes in the club, and now regrets it.

 

I fear buying a BINI would leave you in a similar predicament.

[cort16]

Is the original pez mini not got some old Chrysler engine in it.

[red5]

Yep. New one has Turbo Frogcrap - so now chocolate engines to go with chocolate 'boxes. Lovely.

 

Can't abide them. So obviously will buy a supercharged one at some point.

[John F]

Reluctantly, because I detested them on sight when they were first launched, I now quite like the BINI.

 

My mate Sarah, who is a certifiable nutter driver, has a 1.4 BINI ONE (2009, iirc). It's quick, handles brilliantly and is quite well built by modern standards. It managed to stick hard on the tail of my 167 bhp V6 Calibra over twisty moors roads whilst I was giving it tous les haricots, and she had a passenger.

 

She's been thrashing the life out of it for several years now, and apart from a gearbox problem that was fixed under warranty it hasn't broken.

[Cavcraft]

Style over substance.

 

I imagine this girl started the night in the most stylish shoes in the club, and now regrets it.

 

I fear buying a BINI would leave you in a similar predicament.

 

Bending over awaiting the inevitable at the main dealers?

[MK5 Escort]

Prices for them are scandalous for what you get and prices don't appear to notably drop the older they get either which has surprised me . A classic case of selling 'a badge' rather than the actual product. There are plenty of perfectly capable eight to ten year old superminis out there that I'd rather go for, and for not much more than half the price.

 

I've never warmed to BMW's Mini. Even as time has gone by it's just a car that leaves me feeling cold. The latest additions to the 'family' such as the Paceman and Countryman just leave me with a sense that the brand has completely lost it's way. Large on the outside, diddy on the inside.

 

I've only ever had one experience of them from behind the wheel. An 07 plate in that off-white colour (which I quite like as it happens) which was an auto and only about six months old at the time. I wasn't personally impressed with it's build at all and fortunately it was only a short journey. It handled fine but the ride was typically modern car – far too firm/stiff for my liking and ruts/lumps in the road caused vibration of some sort from behind the dashboard. I didn't have much of a chance to test it's performance as it was in heavy traffic and it was literally nothing more than taking it around the block. Nah, they’re not for me sorry. Even if they do eventually find they're way into our budgets.

 

(I have to be fair – I never really liked the original Mini either. A horrible little rotbox).

[Charlie Croker]

I really Agree with Ian and the fashionable thing. what i'm going to do after all the advice i've had on here is to keep my MG. i did not really want to get rid of it as the autoshite side of my brain says what is the point of selling a car that has not missed a beat for one that probably will eh?

[trigger]

My mates ex girlfriend had one, It was a 51 plate Cooper with only 53000 miles but he kept having trouble getting it into gear and it would make a whizzing noise when moving, She took it to a local garage only to find it was the gearbox that was knackered, apparently the early models were made of cheese and fail around the 50k mark, It's a very common problem with them, It cost her £1500 to have it replaced!

[flat4alfa]

Build quality of an Alfa

 

Perhaps worse.

[Partridge]

They’re expensive because they’re in fashion. Simples.

Save your money and buy and Astra GSi.

[155V6]

Those Panda 100Bhp's sound fun.I had a less powerful one in Spain & it was Ok,but could have done with a bit more go.

[chaseracer]

Those Panda 100Bhp's sound fun...

They are.

 

Domestic Management used to have one. Zinging motor, 6-speed close-ratio box, and the very antithesis of the lesser models' "girly button". But the suspension used concrete as a springing medium, so it had to go...

[In The Pit]

I’ve heard many people say how these things are plagued with problems, my ex girlfriend worked in a Mini dealership for a while on reception and she said she had loads of people coming in all the time complaining about various faults on them.

 

I think when the BMW Mini gets abit cheaper they will be a banger racer favorite (so hopefully they will clear the streets of them for us).

 

The new Mini has abit of an image problem they've got that Chavs drawing attention to themselves the uncool trying to be cool same with the Fiat 500, new VW Beetle the really cool people have the original model not the fat ugly sister. The thing about BMW Minis being in fashion is they are but only really with a certain type of person, the sort of person who THINKS they are being really original, making a statement and standing out from the crowd, if they cant afford a new Mini they just by a Reliant Robin* van and do it up like Del Trotters as is still says the same thing to them.

 

 

 

 

*they think a Robin van and a Regal van is the same thing, as is a car version with its windows painted over.

[face]

A mate of mine had the same gearbox problem on an early model. I think it cost him over a grand to have it sorted.

 

I quite like the original shape, which is well over 10 years old now. Not really keen on the bloated, newer ones.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Hateful little things. I imagine that brown Clubmans will be highly sought after on this site around the year 2025. In fact, I may have one just for the comedy of it all.

[Charlie Croker]

A lot of good points there peeps. The one I drove was a 62 plate Olympic Games limited edition with the start/stop diesel in it. The fit and finnish were way down on expectations. I've decided the MG is for keeps as like i said there is no point in getting rid of a reliable wee car also i dont think having a BINI is very autoshite.lol.