Selling Dooper for a cheap Mini petrol

[hewittinspain]

I bought a 2007 Dooper only last week privately for £8500. It has 17 inch alloys,met silver, and the chilli pack and has done 46,000 miles. The guy who I bought it from said it was an ex demo car hence why it had 17 inch alloys to make it look nice. Looking around I think its much better than any other Dooper in its price range so my brother says why dont u advertise it to see if you can make a profit. I put the car online for £9800 and have one guy interested whos offered me £9700. Thats £1200 in a week profit!!!

Thinking later on im now in 2 minds to sell it. I love the Dooper I really do but someone advised me its hard to sell a pricey car but easy to find a cheap good runaround. Part of me thinks I could perhaps get a 2003 Mini One for about £4500 and bank £5300 but then I have to consider higher tax and not as cheap to run. I was also wondering because of the great value that Minis hold I could keep the Dooper 2 yrs and still maybe get around £7000 for it. I dont have huge savings but was thinking of buying my first flat in a few months and the extra could go into a bigger deposit for bricks and mortar.
Its a hard decision when I have a buyer waiting and could make a decent profit in a week and a few people I know have told me to do it!! Ive come on here for advise from true mini owners.

[meddc]

My view - take the money! I'd probably do that even if I wasn't looking to get on the property ladder.

If you're set on a Dooper, you could always shop around for a cheaper one and bank the difference.

I've just faced a similar dilemma over whether to spend more money on a more recent model or less on an older one (never considered an oil burner, though - just can't bring myself to buy a diesel). The important thing is not the age but the overall condition of the car and care it received from the previous owner. OK, an older petrol model will be slightly more expensive to run than a newer model, but I guess it depends how long you're going to keep it.

In the end, I went for a 2003 Cooper S (1 owner, 47k miles) for £5700. On older models, there's more choice but I'd steer clear of heavy mods, very high mileages, multiple owners or models without FSH.