[DerekH]

Hi Guys & Girls the long awaited arrival arrived last Saturday. I had originally been looking at a cooper with extras but after making the mistake of driving the Cooper S first was hooked by its looks and performance and had a set budget as it was a car mainly for my wife and some fun driving for myself at the weekends.
Spec: MCS
17" Crown Spoke
Fog lights
Bonnet Stripes
Sports Steering Wheel
Rooster Red Colour Line
JCW Chequered Mats
Standard Chequered Dash and Seats
Passenger seat height adjustment
Spot lights to follow shortly (fitting myself)
Skirts to follow shortly after getting them at a reasonable price


I have posted full pics on my chilli red roll call hope you like them
Up in the North East of Scotland no major need for air conditioning and wanted the car to look nice without having to spend too much above the list price hope it has worked. I plan to keep the car for 4 years approx so not so much worried about not having a Chili Pack.

First impressions - Great car to look at all be it sitting a bit high on the wheels I think the side skirts may help make the car look lower. Inside the car I am very pleased with the interior look apart from the poor quality switches. I am glad to say up to now I have not seen any of the unfortunate problems other unlucky members have had long may it continue and the engine does sound slightly noisey compared to other 1600 engines but the ride on the standard suspension with the 17" wheels is very good but being quite honest anything would be better than my current E90 330d Sport its suspension is far too hard for the roads up here and is far harder then my last 330d sport. I will now have to persuade the wife to take the BMW more often as the car handles so beautifully and you just want to drive it all the time. Sorry for the delay with the photos was having a problem reducing the size of them on my computer. Full review to follow shortly.

[Restyle]

Quote: Originally Posted by DerekH (original)

... I plan to keep the car for 4 years approx so not so much worried about not having a Chili Pack.

Good point, I think the Chilli Pack has become a bit over rated over the years, with people often being persuaded to get it just for the sake of adding a few hundred onto the price when it comes to selling it.
As you say, Its probably better to spend the money saved on other things instead

[CC07ERS]

When you look at what you get for £16 k its not a lot, as for the chilli pack its overated . Its hard to beleive that you dont get aircon as standard ,it must be the only car @ the price without it. Enjoy the driving Derek , the S is so much fun.

[shedend]

Enjoy sounds is especially fun after 1250 miles

[zyo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Restyle (original)

I think the Chilli Pack has become a bit over rated over the years, with people often being persuaded to get it just for the sake of adding a few hundred onto the price when it comes to selling it

Yes when I was in the dealers not long ago speccing a MCS i asked for a few options that I wanted and it was suggested that I had a quote with the Chilli pack aswell, to help the residuals. I said that I wasn't bothered about buying options for someone else and asked what the difference was after 4 years and they seemed quite suprised that according to the book it would have put an extra £200 on the price, so they want me to spend £2000 to make £200 back...I DONT THINK SO!!!

The problem is though, a lot of the buying guides people read always seem to say "don't touch one without the Chilli pack"

[DerekH]

Hi Zyo thats very intresting told by someone else that little difference after few years that seems low, never mind nothing against the Chilli pack as very nice extra's, but for our second car i could not justifie it dealer said a few without packs going out maybe it's just in scotland due to the cold weather very little use of air con. Mini are very smart though

[zyo]

My reasoning was down to cost, I was looking at a well specced cooper or a relatively basic MCS. The only thing's I really wanted was the hi fi upgrade (might forget that and take a visit to Mike the mini for the upgrade) crown spokes and either the sunroof or aircon. The sunroof would be my first choice after having it in both my previous MO's but after hearing that a few owners have found it noisy I thought i would try the manual aircon for a change, I must admit to wishing I had specced the aircon on my current MO during a long afternoon last summer sat stuck on the M6 near Birmingham with no breeze and the temperature gauge at about 33 degrees.
Interesting to see your interior cos it's the same as I have gone for, I think it looks better for not having the red on the seats and I also prefer the chequered cloth to the Ray cloth. (this is only my opinion, nobody please take offence ).I had also been looking at the works mats that you have, I think your car looks great.

[DerekH]

Interesting to see your interior cos it's the same as I have gone for, I think it looks better for not having the red on the seats and I also prefer the chequered cloth to the Ray cloth. (this is only my opinion, nobody please take offence ).I had also been looking at the works mats that you have, I think your car looks great.


Thanks Zyo we had looked at lot's of different speced cars to make sure we got a car that looked good at good price dealer gave us free Chequred mats and TLC and Tank of fuel. Got the Spot lights to fit soon should look good.