I am thinking of down grading my Clubman S to a Clubman Cooper:frown:
Has anyone else done this?
Due to the credit crunch it would be good to save some money on fuel,tax and insurance etc as i have just got a house in june.
The problem I have is down grading in power.
Advice would be great
Paul

I chipped in an 55 plate Cooper S for a Cooper Clubman without even test driving it.
I must say the Cooper has got some poke to it and the sport button helps too. I miss the noise of the of the S exhaust but its not the same on the R55 anyway. The power was nice but on the mundane Monday to Friday slog it could be a bit wearing all that power and nowhere to go.
Getting average 40mpg and insurance is around £400 35 years old 15 years no claims but live in worst possible post code.

Surely you'll lose such a large amount of money on the trade in that it would be better sense to keep what you've got? Second hand values are just rubbish right now so any savings you make on the running costs by downgrading would be irrelevant?

I would agree with Step_7...........you would lose too much on the changeover to justify it.

if you want to save cash stick with the car you have,

it will cost you cash to change now unless you go for a lot older one. you've the saying that you lose 20% of the value the moment you drive off the forecourt.

Well now its more like 40%.

Stick with what you have.

Sorry to continue the doom and gloom but I have to agree. I have just bought a fully loaded Clubman S which in June would have been £25k. Lets just say I saved about 35% on the new price. And prices are still dropping, there is excess stock out there. The one model that does seem to be fairing better is the D. The loss on trade in alone will far out weigh any savings to be made. I hope I stand corrected though:)

Thanks for the replys. It was mostley saving on the monthly payment. But I forgot about the lost on the clubman. I thought with car dealerships having problems selling cars I could get a good deal anyway

I did. :) Sold my GP and bought a Cooper Clubman. It isn't nearly as fast but the mileage is wonderful. I would have bought a Clubman S, but it wasn't available in yellow. ;)

In the UK the Road Fund Tax is the same on both the Cooper and Cooper S.
The difference in fuel saving would be negligible compared with the cost of changing vehicles.
I think you would regret it

Think people have a point trade in would be poop right now and fuel costs are down at the moment compared with 110p a litre.
The margin between an S and a Cooper on fuel is much better these days my R53 was doing around 23mg despite what a few fans of red eye wear would say.
Best bet get down the dealers and see f you can have a Cooper Clubman for a few hours I did when i was thinking of getting one a while ago. Couldn't live with the Engine and 5 speed box on the old Coper though.

Cheers Shaun. I was thinking about a big test drive in cooper clubman first . I traded in my R53 for a clubman S to save money. There is a good difference in savings on fuel and the fact fuel is at a good price at the mo. I would see what deal I could get before a test drive no dout.

Hi
My Cooper "S" clubman has been off the road for a few days and the garage lent me a Cooper, all I can say is I won't swap........I find the "S" a better drive, better low down pull etc
Stick with the "S"

Over here diesel is still cheaper that unleaded, so the Clubman D is the way we are going - it seemed to be much more drivable than the petrol model (we did back-to-back tests) and the pulling power through the gears uphill was great :-)

But in UK, so long as diesel costs more, there is probably no point...

Dont do it !

You will regret it in not very long. I had a Cooper D Clubman that was great but still missed my S hence the swap to a Cooper S Clubman 3 weeks ago :D

I think you will find the diffrence even greater if you buy a Cooper than if you bought a D

I couldnt get more than 53 mpg from my D on my daily run to work and my S is doing 41mpg on the same run along with the diffrence in petrol and deisel prices its costing me the same to run!

My insurance is also £100 cheaper for the S than the D dont know how that worked I was told it was because it is classed as an estate car :confused: that makes up for the extra tax so im very happy :D

I didnt pay much more for my 6week old S with 10 miles on the clock than I got px for my D :eek:

eh there IS a fuel consumption difference between S/non-S (by definition) however everyone else is right in that to "downgrade" you will blow alot of $$