[kmpowell]

Afternoon All

A newbie here with a few questions.

The doris started her new job last month (fresh from university) and has decided she would like to treat herself to a new car. With around £10k to spend max, it looked like a Mini was on the cards, so today we nipped up the local Mini dealer, where she has now fallen for the following car (see attached for pics);

Its a Pure Silver/Cloth/Lea KALEIDO, Manual, Sept 02 Cooper, fitted with the following 'Options';
37,000 miles
17" S-Spoke Alloy Wheels
6 Disc CD Boot Changer
ASC + T
CHILI Pack
Elec Panoramic Glass Roof
Heated Mirrors/Washerjets
Metallic paint
Park Distance Control
Remote Control Alarm
Roof In Body Colour
Sports suspension PLUS
Xenon Headlights & Wash

So onto the questions (the dealership was shut, so we couldn't ask);
1.Although not listed by the dealer as you can see from the attached pics,the car is fitted with the Aero Kit(?) - but where the rear arch meets the bumper there seems to be some silver paint flake in the join as if it wasn't masked correctly, it's also on the black trim at the bottom of the rear bumper, again in 'flake' effect.

Can this kit be retrofitted (therefore it might be a crap sprayjob&fitment) or has the dealer just tried to bodge up a minor prange do you reckon. Either way it does seem to be a bit of a concern. Failing that the car does seem to be in tip top condition for it's age. Which brings me on to the second question...

2. Not knowing how Mini's are priced, I can only go on other cars on the market, and this one does seem to be all it's money at £10,250. Looking on parkers, it seems to suggest £8k, so given the options and dealer peace of mind, I would say it was nearer £9k?

I will obviously be ringing the dealer tommorow when it opens, but before I do that your opinions on thw car would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance
Kevin

[Goonery]

I think you can get a later car with as many extras for the same money TBH

Take some time before you invest and shop around

[Paul]

Agree with the above, take a look in the MINI2 Classifieds here and also MINI Cherished.co.uk as well as autotrader.co.uk and the like. Take your time and shop around, then go in well informed, and bargain hard.

[kmpowell]

Thanks for the quick replies!

I should mention that the car we saw today is at an official Mini Dealer, hence the price I presume(?)

After seeing the car today she has now decided that the Cooper (non S) she gets is preferably SIlver, but it MUST have the Bodykit, Panormaic sunroof and a CD player/changer of some sort. So things have somewhat narrowed down in potential cars to purchse!

[Dainewb]

It is a lot of money for a 4.5 year old car. With the new model out there are lots of cars out there for less money or newer for the same. e.g on the classifieds a BRG (wrong colour) with aero kit, chilli pack etc for 9.75k It is june 04 build so still has warranty helping to remove the risk of private purchase.

I'm sure a dealer would not have any where near such an estimate if trading it in!

[kmpowell]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dainewb (original)

It is a lot of money for a 4.5 year old car. With the new model out there are lots of cars out there for less money or newer for the same. e.g on the classifieds a BRG (wrong colour) with aero kit, chilli pack etc for 9.75k It is june 04 build so still has warranty helping to remove the risk of private purchase.

I'm sure a dealer would not have any where near such an estimate if trading it in!

Thanks for that. I must admit those are my thoughts exactly about age/price. I do realise that these things have rock solid residuals though, and appreciate I'm not going to get something brand new, as such. With the spec she wants and only £10k max to spend it kind of puts us in cars outside of warranty if we go private, so for peace of mind I'd rather spend a bit more and get one from the dealer with a 12 month warranty (i'm presuming that's what we would get?).

I'm quite happy to go into the dealer and negotiate (I love it!), however I do have reservations about what appears to be a bit of a bodge job on the rear bumper.

What i'll do is take some pictures when I'm out there during the week, get the dealers story, and then if it's ok with you chaps you can comment on what you think might be going on with it.

Thanks again
Kevin

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by kmpowell (original)

Thanks for the quick replies!

I should mention that the car we saw today is at an official Mini Dealer, hence the price I presume(?)

After seeing the car today she has now decided that the Cooper (non S) she gets is preferably SIlver, but it MUST have the Bodykit, Panormaic sunroof and a CD player/changer of some sort. So things have somewhat narrowed down in potential cars to purchse!

Sunroof, can be a problem (rattly etc) so will worth checking that over before purchasing. Body kit - can be added later, CD - Can be added later. So not such a problem.

[kmpowell]

Just had a good look through Pistonheads, Autotrader and the Class's on here, and there doesn't seem to be much out there with Aero and a Sunroof.

What I have found though is the £10,250 is VERY strong! I reckon it's about £9k tops, so the exercise was worthwhile. WE're going to take a trip to the dealer midweek, have a good look round the car, and then see what happens when I broach th esubject of price.

[jonathan li]

small world, just a few weeks ago i was looking at that car, Mini garage near cribbs causeway right ???

its nice very nice looking ride but it was a little bit out of my budget at the time

but the main reason is that its high is because its from a proper mini dealer which gives you a manufacturers warranty and usual dealer benefits...

I bought mine from a dealer in london for like £8,800 in the end, with a years warranty, some stupid insurance on the paintwork, insurance on if i right off the car that i will get the full value that i paid for it for up to three years, a free years service, taxed, blah blah blah...

might be costly but at least you know the car is proper and nothings wrong with it ( or so it seems lol )

[kmpowell]

Quote: Originally Posted by jonathan li (original)

small world, just a few weeks ago i was looking at that car, Mini garage near cribbs causeway right ???

Yep, that's the one, Lovett Mini at Cribbs.

Did you see it in the flesh and happen to notice the paint issues I mentioned above? When we saw it today it was parked in the compound out back.

[Restyle]

The one your looking at is just too overpriced, especially with the dodgy paintwork.
I`ve just been having a search on AUTOTRADER for your spec, & found loads better cars for under 10K.
The best one being a 2005 Cooper with 53,000 miles for £9.5K.
Seems lots of MINI cherished ads up on there as well.
Remember even if you buy private, the car will have 3 yrs warranty from new.
Facelift MINIs came about from July 2004, see if you like the look of them rather than the older aerokit ? Facelifts also came with CD players that could play MP3 discs, making the old changers somewhat redundant, along with improved Engines & Gearboxs

[kmpowell]

Quote: Originally Posted by Restyle (original)

The best one being a 2005 Cooper with 53,000 miles for £9.5K

2005 car with 53K miles!

Amy does 500 miles a week to get to and from work, so the car will have to be quite low milage, so it retains it's value in the future.

Thanks for the info on the 2004 facelift though, I wasn't aware of that. She defo wants an Aerokit though, so it looks a bit special and stands out from the hundreds of other Minis in Bristol.

[morrisminiminor]

I'd try and get an 03 or later car. A lot of the niggly problems were sorted by then. You might even get a facelifted car if you keep looking.

morrisminiminor

[M1TCH]

The quoted price on Parkers doesn't take extras into account at all. It's giving a price from the very basic new price of a mini.

But for that money you could get a nice cooper s. our R53 on a 53 reg with 21k miles and satnav, 6 disc changer, great condition was only worth £11200 - £1180 from looking at the market and mini took it for £11k so something with slightly more mile could be got for about £10k I'm sure.

[kmpowell]

Ok chaps, just to bring this back to the top, we went and looked at this car this morning, and all became clear about the rear bumper.

As you probably already know the arch part of the bumpers are masked off and the rest bumper sprayed the body colour - however, in its life this car has stupidly had the whole of the rear bumper(inlcuding the arch section) sprayed silver and then some matt black sprayed onto the arch section of the rear bumper. The matt black is flaking and that is what's giving it a tatty look.

I pointed this out to the dealer and he seemed a bit surprised that such a botch job had been done and why it hadn't been spotted when it was taken in as p/x. When I asked what he could do, he said the rear bumper is not available to order seperatly (sounded like ********?), but what they could do was spray all the arches and bumpers silver to match the car.

The car also hadn't been prepped, so the interior handles were scratched and the leather a bit worn on the drivers seat, but he assured us that the leather and any scuffs on the car would be sorted. So the only thing concerning us was the rear bumper and the price. Clearly it is overpriced, and without pushing it seemed to be negotiable, so that's not an issue, therefore all we have to do now is decide on what to do with the bumper.

So, if you're still awake from reading this tedious post, what do people think the car would look like with it's arches colour coded? The dealer said they have done a hyper blue Cooper with colour coded arches and it looked good, but i'm finding it hard to vsulaize it. Here are the pics of the car again...




Does anybody have any opinions on this? Or even better do you have any pics of a Pure Silver Cooper with the Aero kit completely colour coded?

Cheers
Kevin

[kmpowell]

You chaps aren't going to beleive it (to be honest i'm not sure I do!), but I just had a scan of Pistonheads and found a Hyper Blue fully painted Aero kit..... in Bristol!

Exactly the same as the dealer claimed they had recently painted. I have attached pictures of it.

A bit of a co-incidence, but it seems to have settled the qunadry some what. I'm not 100% comvinced it will look right with silver, and more importantly neither is Amy convinced (less so than me!), so it's back on the hunt for a;

Cooper
under 35000 miles
AERO Kit
Sunroof
17" wheels
Any other opions a bonus