BINI

[pompei]

Just been looking and early models are around £3,000, which looks cheap if they are all they are cracked up to be. Leaving aside the criticism that it's not really a Mini at all, what are they like to drive and live with?

[M'coli]

3 grand for a 11-year-old cramped car with a tiny boot? They must be pretty decent to hold such residuals.

[Mr Lobster]

3 grand for a 11-year-old cramped car with a tiny boot? There must be a lot of fuckwits with more money than sense about more concerned about the badge on it than anything else.

 

EFA

[dollywobbler]

Just like a Mini, only less spacious and with a ride even more conducive to backache. Also fun in the bends like the original, but there are much better cars out there that offer a lot more value.

[Mr Lobster]

Sista_Lobsta had a Cooper S Cabrio a few years ago. It was ridiculously cramped inside but alright otherwise.

 

Thing is, as above really - £3k is a huge amount of money for an 11 year old supermini. You could get something a lot better for the same cash.

[Albert Ross]

Clutch/gearbox woes. Water leaks (in AND out) Poor panel fit including bonnets popping up.... tyre wear, tyre PRICES! Otherwise, shit. Dreadful plastic crap , best avoided. Buy a Suzuki Swift or Skoda Fabia instead. Or a true shiteist would buy THIS! Better value, better car, worthless in 18 months!

http://pictures2.autotrader.co.uk/imgse ... d=64557184

[Wilko220]

Agree with most of the comments above. £3k seems like a ludicrously large amount of money for an early BINI.

[Timewaster]

If you were looking to buy a new supermini (and you could live with the crampedness) then you would be mad to buy anything else as nothing seems to hold its value like a BINI.

For the exact same reason, you would be a bloody fool to buy an old one.

I've driven a couple, and they are a hoot to drive, but the quality is more British Leyland than BMW and the are FAR FAR too much money.

[Wilko220]

If you do proceed, then this buying guide from BINICHINKS-Online might be of interest to you:

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/mi ... 2001-2007/

 

they are cool to look at, excellent to drive, and have an urban chic image that’s hard to top

apparently

.

[Cavcraft]

Where is your estate agents/letting office/injury claim practise?

[SambaS]

Well I hated them from the moment BMW started making them up until a couple of months ago when I sat in one and had to drive it for work. I liked it! It was a fun little car. Saying that I do use a Polonez as a daily, make of that what you will.

[Spiny Norman]

I got one as a hire car once and if you can distance yourself from all the BS that people talk about them they're decent enough wee cars, especially if you buy into the young, trendy, twinkiness of them, but three large for a 52 plate is a fucking joke. I'd want a Punto AND an XJ8 for that.

[cobblers]

My mates missus is a bit of a wannabe estate agent/hyacinth bucket type and she's been smoking round in one for a while, I've not been asked to fix it or nothing so it's probably quite reliable.

There are LED lights inside it that you can choose the colour of, and the massive fuckoff speedo in the middle is just for show, cos the actual speed is shown on an LCD directly infront of the driver. I'd hope there is some kind of mod you can do that shows passengers a much lower speed than what you are doing. She picked us up from the pub once and I was pretty impressed. If they weren't called minis they would sell for about half as much and I would quite want one.

 

If you want something just as reliable, faster, cheaper and a lot more fun to drive buy a last of the line saxo vtr for about £800. It'll do a lot better on juice and when it does need fixing, it won't cost as much. However, everyone will think you are a cunt. If you get a mini, slightly less people will think you are a cunt but it'll cost you three or four times as much money. A cooper S will be slightly faster, but cost much much more.

[Morgan84]

Id sooner have a Suzuki Swift - better built and stylish

[trigger]

I wouldn't bother wasting your money, I've heard loads of horror stories about them, my mate's ex bird had a 02 plate cooper with under 50k on the clock which had no end of problems, the final being the gearbox failing and costing £1300 for a replace.

 

Seemed that it was a common issue on the earlier Coopers.

[Shep Shepherd]

I'd rather have a Fabia or a Polo.

[TimothyClaypole]

That sort of money would get you a 1.9 TDI Polo.

[ShiteRider]

you'd get a mint vw lupo for half the money and it's a far superior car ( i worked in a VAG body shop for 11 years and it was the only car volkswagen made that they didn't have problems with). they are so good i've had one for the last 6 years and all it's needed was a back box (2001 x-reg).

[wackywacerwill]

you'd get a mint vw lupo for half the money and it's a far superior car ( i worked in a VAG body shop for 11 years and it was the only car volkswagen made that they didn't have problems with). they are so good I've had one for the last 6 years and all it's needed was a back box (2001 x-reg).

 

Hmmm, don't they like to shit a gearbox though? I know a few people where that's certainly been the case, same with the bini too.

 

Local top spanner dude told me he'd advise no one he liked to get a bini the other day. This was after he had just been accused of being a sexist and then a racist as some girls bini had flopped it's test (I'd have been happy with her fail sheet TBH). Made for a laugh whilst I waited for the fitter to bung a tyre on the work bus.

 

Spose the bini's look alright (Only the first one mind, the coupe and big bini are rawly gash). My Ma and Pa fancy a new Fiat 500 for reasons of style and they too are pretty cute if that's your thing. I'm guessing the Fiats are scene taxed to fuck as well mind.

 

3 large would buy a decent 2cv no?

[Pete-M]

I'd happily give a Cooper S some driveway space for a few months, just to try one properly.

 

Last BMW Mini I drove was a hideously abused 54 plate "One". About 50k on the clock and I drove it back from the first service it'd had in about five years. It wasn't impressive, but I can't think of many cars that would be after that treatment. It wasn't a terrible thing, but it was very obvious it had been severely maltreated just by the state of the thing inside. It was owned by a colleague who's in her '50s and isn't even slightly into cars, she only got it serviced because servicing came up in conversation and she uttered the old chestnut "I get it MOT'd, isn't that a service?". She's had it since it was a year old with 10k on the clock. In her ownership it had tyres and brakes to get through the MOT, and she never checked anything on it. Nobody did. MOT man used to top up the oil at emissions time. Anything that survives that can't be all bad.

 

Unfortunately, there are lots of them out there like that. The Beetle suffers the same fate, as do Audi TTs. Bought as a fashion item, not maintained until it breaks, never washed by hand or waxed, hoovered once a year if lucky. Bumped up kerbs, thrashed over speed bumps and thrashed from cold. Often bodged by 'dads mate from the pub'. Scrapped at 12 years old after biblical proportion MOT fail and replaced by a Fiat 500 or whatever the current 'urban chic' motor is that year.

 

I've also driven a properly cared for Alpina tweaked Cooper S. That was great. Really very good indeed. The S 'Works' I didn't enjoy as much but there's not much between 'em.

[cort16]

My Dad's mate just got one for his son and it needed a gearbox. He got a recon one with a warranty for £430 plus fitting.

There's one down at my lockup just now that's a 52 plate and it looks pretty rotten around the bottom of the doors etc so I'd be watching out for rot now.

I don't think you can get a cooper-s for three grand yet bit they're a hoot to drive although I seem to remember it was terrible on fuel.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

They aren't bad cars. Some quality issues with the early ones but a lot was sorted under warranty. The rubber strip across the top of the screeen can come loose and cause a noise as it thwacks against the roof. They don't seem to rust. The Chrysler 1600 engine is strong, the Midlands Peugeot based gearbox isn't very good but there are still thousands running without a problem. A rebuilt box is nothing like £1600 unless you go to BMW for a bum raping.

£3000 is a lot of money for a 10 year old hatchback, but £500'000 is a lot of money for an old Aston Martin as well. If you want one, go ahead. They're quite good, handle extremely well and unlike old Ford/GM/Renault shit, will always have a value measured in four figures and a nice one will always sell. Just buy a nice one privately with low owners and a good history. Best spec is the Cooper with the 15 inch wheels - 16 inch rims give a far worse ride.

[dollywobbler]

I'm not convinced they'll always have a four-figure value. They're a fashionable car and there are hundreds of thousands of them. All it takes is for them to be seen as less fashionable and people will run a mile. Look at the original Mini. The most numerous are the 1980s ones and they're worth very little unless absolutely immaculate. Same story with MX-5s. Very popular, yet you can pick one up for less than a grand.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I'm not convinced they'll always have a four-figure value. They're a fashionable car and there are hundreds of thousands of them. All it takes is for them to be seen as less fashionable and people will run a mile. Look at the original Mini. The most numerous are the 1980s ones and they're worth very little unless absolutely immaculate. Same story with MX-5s. Very popular, yet you can pick one up for less than a grand.

 

There is fashionable, and there's fashionable. Old BL Minis are seen as a bit of an oddity, usually driven by misfit weirdos in Mini clubs (Cooper stripes, sportcrap arches, Italian Job theme on phone etc etc) with a far smaller number of enthusiasts who have the valuable sixties stuff.

The MINI brand is going nowhere in a hurry, and it'll be another 4 years plus before a decent early Cooper worth less than £1000.

[Pete-M]

The original mini is awful to live with day to day, despite brilliant back in the '50s. Terrible now. I realised how horrible they were back when I was 18, avoided them ever since, not missed them at all.

 

Has anyone actually bought a BMW Mini and then thought "You know what, this is too big, too comfy and too well equipped. My spine hasn't shattered once in the days I've been driving it I've not had to replace the carb needle, exhaust down pipe or engine mounts this week. Must trade it in for an original one", because if they have, they need sectioning.

[Bren]

A work colleague has just got rid of a 52 plate example with 160k on the clock -she got £2700 for it.

 

P/X she was offered £1500 - I told her the specialist mini breakers would give her that for it.

 

She inherited a ten year old clio for nothing and is marvelling in the great (by comparison) fuel consumption.

 

As for the old mini, many moons ago I got knocked off my pushbike by one - my bike was fooked and I was badly bruised.

 

However, I could'nt believe the damage to the car - caved in front wing, dented bonnet and grille. The bobby that came out told me that he had been to some horrific RTC's where mini's were involved.

 

I think the latest mini is a bit of a fashion accessory - and not a cheap proposition for a small car, which for me defeats the object.

[Wilko220]

Has anyone actually bought a BMW Mini and then thought "You know what, this is too big, too comfy and too well equipped. My spine hasn't shattered once in the days I've been driving it I've not had to replace the carb needle, exhaust down pipe or engine mounts this week. Must trade it in for an original one", because if they have, they need sectioning.

 

Probably not but, to be fair, you're not comparing like with like. That comment only makes sense if you see the BINI as an actual replacement for the Mini (and Metro) when it's never been any such thing. They are two completely different machines, differently priced, designed for different uses and aimed at different markets.

[Pete-M]

True, but the number of comments I see in here from folks who appear to be mortally wounded by the fact that the BMW Mini shares a name with the old mini...

 

The BMW Mini doesn't seem to be a bad little thing at all. The original one was bloody awful.

[pompei]

And of course, there is this ...

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The original one was bloody awful.

 

Yes and no. On the right day (like once a fortnight when it's not raining) a proper old Mini is nice. That'll be a pre '71, be it an 850, Mini 1000, 1275GT or an S, with or without Hydrolastic. Doesn't matter which. If it's clean enough, even up to around 1980 with drums, the centre speedo etc.

But get into the eighties ARG era with the Picadilly, Disadvantage, Gayfair and all that shit (don't start me on the Rover Cooper) and you remember all the cars that were infinitely better like the bog basic 205 etc.

 

Those who still drive these wheezing shitheaps on a daily basis need to be examined in the above shoulder region.