New perspective buyer with questions

[Mathew e92]

Hi all,

My names Mathew Anasta and as the title suggests I'm a perspective buyer.
17 turning 18 in a couple months i've been on the hunt for my first car for a while now and I keep coming back to the Mini. The car in mind is a 2010 MINI CABRIO R57 MY10 COOPER S CHILLI .
I've looked at the competition from VW and Renault but the BMW build quality is a big factor in my decision, as well as the renowned handling. Im not looking for "big"power that the John Cooper Works delivers but it MUST have a mini equivalent to sport suspension ( as BMW has the M suspension ).

Im just after some advise and recommendations from you experts and enthusiasts as to what I should look out for.
Any options that are ' Must Haves' and any problems others have experienced.

Look forward to being a mini owner soon

[mav899]

didnt think u could drive a cooper s as it is supercharged and needs an open licence,

[rellik666]

Lovely Car! But as I am assuming you would be on P's and you don't mention a state you could be restricted in your car type....

Where are you and what is your driving situation....

Super/Turbo Chargers make the MINI difficult for P's.

[Mathew e92]

Yeah i'm in Victoria, I had that conversation with my dad a few nights ago. At the chance of sounding silly I'm probably still going to take the risk and just drop the 'S' badges.
We test drove one last week and it was just a dream to drive

[mav899]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mathew e92 (original)

Yeah i'm in Victoria, I had that conversation with my dad a few nights ago. At the chance of sounding silly I'm probably still going to take the risk and just drop the 'S' badges.
We test drove one last week and it was just a dream to drive

cops aint that stupid, get stoped and they wont even let you drive it home,
and dont waste your money on insurance either, cos they wont pay up as you are not licence to drive it,
here in qld you can get a p plate exemption on the supercharged s not sure about the turbo s,

[Mathew e92]

Quote: Originally Posted by mav899 (original)

cops aint that stupid, get stoped and they wont even let you drive it home,
and dont waste your money on insurance either, cos they wont pay up as you are not licence to drive it,
here in qld you can get a p plate exemption on the supercharged s not sure about the turbo s,

Same here in Vic, I have applied for an application to drive a low performance turbo/ supercharged car. Sent that off last week so should be arriving soon.

I test drove both the cabrio and the hatch this weekend and to be honest i prefer the hatch. The shape of the car looks more proportional when fitted with the JCW rims. Also felt a little more nimble, not huge but enough to notice.

[-ralph-]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mathew e92 (original)

At the chance of sounding silly I'm probably still going to take the risk and just drop the 'S' badges

You'll struggle to drop the twin centre exhausts or the bonnet scoop. Cops stop enough cars to know the differences.

Dunno what the law is like over there, but in the UK you wouldn't be insured if you had an accident.

Also in the UK the insurance company will see it's an 'S' from the registration details and won't sell you insurance on the basis you're not licensed to drive it.

Although a 17 year old here would be legally licensed, I doubt they could get insurance for an 'S', unless it was a specialist sports car insurer and it would costs 1000's of pounds.

Also an 'APNR' (automatic number plate recognition) camera in the cop car reads the number plate and automatically checks the car against the national database putting the details on a screen in the car, so the cops here would know it was an 'S' before they even put the blue lights on to stop you.

I don't know how much technology they use there to catch you out, but you already know it's a silly idea as you said so in your post.

[Mathew e92]

Quote: Originally Posted by -ralph- (original)

You'll struggle to drop the twin centre exhausts or the bonnet scoop. Cops stop enough cars to know the differences.

Dunno what the law is like over there, but in the UK you wouldn't be insured if you had an accident.

Also in the UK the insurance company will see it's an 'S' from the registration details and won't sell you insurance on the basis you're not licensed to drive it.

Although a 17 year old here would be legally licensed, I doubt they could get insurance for an 'S', unless it was a specialist sports car insurer and it would costs 1000's of pounds.

Also an 'APNR' (automatic number plate recognition) camera in the cop car reads the number plate and automatically checks the car against the national database putting the details on a screen in the car, so the cops here would know it was an 'S' before they even put the blue lights on to stop you.

I don't know how much technology they use there to catch you out, but you already know it's a silly idea as you said so in your post.

Yeah it was a stupid idea I revived the application form from VIcRoads last week some time and they declined it. So instead of settling for a standard cooper, I ended up buying a BMW 125i which is P plate legal and in straight line performance would fall between the two coopers

[-ralph-]

Good lad (even if you didn't buy a Mini)

So what's the law over there with the P plates then? Sounds like something that would be sensible in the UK, though to be fair the insurance already restricts what young people can drive by being so damn expensive.

[Mathew e92]

Quote: Originally Posted by -ralph- (original)

Good lad (even if you didn't buy a Mini)

So what's the law over there with the P plates then? Sounds like something that would be sensible in the UK, though to be fair the insurance already restricts what young people can drive by being so damn expensive.

The P plate laws here in Australia are crap. Basicly its as follows;
-No turbo or supercharged cars.
-No v8's or above.
-Can't be more then a certian power to weight ratio.
-Only 1 passenger at a time.
-No towing trailers

You can apply for an aplication to drive the following things like a small turbo car or driving a trailer.

and their thinking of bringing in a law when p platers cant drive after 2:00am

And they took $50 off me for the application and then declined it.

[mav899]

when you apply for an exemption you have to prove this is the only car you have access to drive,if you have not brought the car then in there mind you can buy a different one
for example my 17 year old daughter can drive our cooper s as we already owed it, and said it was the only car avalible for her to drive, she also needed it for work and that we did not live on a bus route and it would take 45 mins to walk to a bus stop in the early morning [not a safe thing for a 17 year old girl ]
if we had said we where buying her a cooper s and gave the same reasons qld transport would have said buy her something else and refussed the exemption,

[Mathew e92]

Quote: Originally Posted by mav899 (original)

when you apply for an exemption you have to prove this is the only car you have access to drive,if you have not brought the car then in there mind you can buy a different one
for example my 17 year old daughter can drive our cooper s as we already owed it, and said it was the only car avalible for her to drive, she also needed it for work and that we did not live on a bus route and it would take 45 mins to walk to a bus stop in the early morning [not a safe thing for a 17 year old girl ]
if we had said we where buying her a cooper s and gave the same reasons qld transport would have said buy her something else and refussed the exemption,

Thats fair enough, I couldn't do that because I didnt already own that car. I wouldn't want to have paid for an S and hoped that they say yes because i already own it. but i do understand what your saying

[MickyD]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mathew e92 (original)

And they took $50 off me for the application and then declined it.

buys a 125i at 17, then complains about a $50 charge.

Perspective is the right word....