Newbie advice for a potential female owner

[Black Pearl]

Hi all - Firstly hello and what a fab site! I have finally made the hard decision of selling my BMW 318 TI Sport Compact and have decided upon a Mini Cooper. I test drove one last week and absolutely loved it!

Unfortunately I am currently changing job and my house too, so money is a bit tight. I have a budget of £7-8K and my ideal car would be a park lane or pepper white convertible cooper with chilli pack. Realising my budget obviously wont allow for either of those, I have narrowed it down to a cooper with chilli pack in either white, blue, black or silver.

I went to view a 2002 black cooper today with chilli pack (aircon, half leather) and 17" Cooper S alloys, advertised at £7250. It's not the most loved of cars I have to say, every alloy has been rimmed so they will need to be refurbed, which I would think of doing and making them white to match the white roof. It also has scratches to the nearside body panels, one potentially may not come out and has suffered a small bump to the rear bumper which has broken the chrome trim and left a very small crease to the bumper. It has a full BMW service history and tlc pack with one voucher left. It will also need a new wing mirror cover as this is damaged and prob one new tyre soon but it is recently MOT'd and taxed. It has done 28,000 miles and the interior is in ok condition.

I think I could get this car for £6800, what do you think? Is this good value?

Any advice welcome, I cant wait to be a fully fledged mini owner! Thanx

[neilobe]

Hi,,

To be honest if it has these little things wrong with it.... i wouldnt buy it, probalary has not been looked after, there are plenty of second hand coopers too chose from now the new R56 is out,, Can you not stretch another £1000,, buy a cooper S..

[nylo]

You say your budget won't stretch to a PW Cooper convertible, but have you considered a ONE convertible? NickyJ has one of the loveliest cabrios I have ever seen:



They have the same engine etc, so if at some stage you decided it didn't have enough power, you could get it chipped.

Just a thought. Oh, and welcome to mini2

[Black Pearl]

Hi Neilobe,

Thanks for you reply, yes potentially I could stretch another £1000 but I don't think the insurance would be realistic for me on a Cooper S, lovely as they are!

I am only 23, so until I hit 25 I think it's prob out of the question, what with a mortgage to think about now too. I guess buying a Cooper S would also mean that I am looking at the lower end of those e.g. older and higher mileage, so I would rather a younger standard Cooper really.

I guess it's just figuring out what is good value. The others I have seen advertised have been £8-£9K for 2002 normal mileage or high mileage 03's. So I guess I saw this one as being quite low mileage and maybe with some tlc I could bring it back into tip top condition. I would even consider respraying the quarter panel at that price if its the only scratch I cant get out.

P.S I have deliberatly not let myself drive a Cooper S, because I know damn well I'll want it!

[ru81]

Quote: Originally Posted by neilobe (original)

To be honest if it has these little things wrong with it.... i wouldnt buy it, probalary has not been looked after, there are plenty of second hand coopers too chose from now the new R56 is out,

I agree. There will be loads of other second hand Minis available that will be in a much better condition than this for a similar price. Keep searching!

[neilobe]

Black Pearl.

Ok fair point about driving the S,, depending on were your location is , have you thought of a car auction? BCA run them , and they tend to do BMW special sales, were there are mini ones and coopers going through usually 2 -3 years old,, my mate just brought a 05 reg mini one.. 1 owner, 9000 miles for £7950,, still has tlc on it and just under a years warranty..

[superdupercooper]

I would keep hunting, if your budgetary concious think of how tempting it will be to play with it as you "fix" it. You will end up investing more and more and it would become a beautiful car, BUT, you said you wanted to keep the budget down?

I would keep hunting for one in better nick, good luck either way.

James

[Phoenix]

Think you will find that the TLC voucher is no good now as this is an 02 car and I think the TLC is a max of 5 years.

Stand to be corrected.

[supa-dupa-cooper]

Hi, Welcome to MINI2

Was that one at a dealers?!

Why not try and find something under MINI Cherished @ at a dealer? That way the car should be in good order, will come with a years warrenty no matter how old, and a year Emergency Roadside cover. Plus from a dealer you will have better back up if anything goes wrong (rather than buying from a private individual).

For the budget you've got, i'd look for a MINI ONE instead, just as much fun and you will probably find you'll get more for your money (maybe a younger car or one with more spec or lower mileage)

Good Luck!

[Black Pearl]

Hmmnn... I'm sensing a resounding 'no' to the black 02 one I found! All good advice though so thank you very much.

I have a friend who has his own business buying cars through auctions for people, so I think I will definitely give him a call tommorrow and see what he thinks I could get one for. Would certainly give me a comparison for this one.

Am finding it frustrating not being able to spend more, but I know that I cant really...roof over wheels and all that!

[supa-dupa-cooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by Black Pearl (original)

Am finding it frustrating not being able to spend more, but I know that I cant really...roof over wheels and all that!

Spend more on the MINI and live in that