[martinha]

I'm deciding whether to go for the Pepper or Chilli options. An extra £700 for the Chilli seems a bit steep as it contains sports suspension plus (too hard) different seats (are they more comfy?), a leather gear knob (so what) and fatter tyres (OK I like these). Comments folks?

Also, trying to decide upon the colour. Common sense says red with white stripes but red is a solid non metallic. Does it look shabby after a while? I'm thinking of the slightly more sophisticated (??) silk green. Anyone out there care to comment on my colour choice.

PPS My car prior to my current one was a Puma. Anyone care to comment on the handling between the 2? Hope the MINI is better put together than the Ford (has to get rid due to it going into the garage 8x in a year!!)

PS Although undecided on colour and option package I consider air-con and a CD player as a must. Why did BMW no make these standard kit - most decent cars have this on them these days don't they?

Cheers guys (and guyesses)

[Loui]

In my opinion u should go for the chilli pack. All coopers come with sports suspension, its only the additional SS+ which is in the chilli pack. This is now an additional cost free option. In reality this should not be to different to sports suspension as it is just larger anit rool bars from what ive heard. My cars red and i think its a good colour, it might be a soid but dosent look shabby could be taken to be brand new when claned, as i have a private plate Dont do silk green its an auwful colour.
Before the mini i had a mk5 fiesta, the mini handles better by miles just brings a smile every time u turn the key. My minis been back to BMW a number of times for problems but its never really been a hassle. In my opinion deffinetley go for chilli and aircon.

[KenL]

I have a MINI ONE so can't comment from experience on whether to choose pepper or chilli.

I understand though that Silk Green is being discontinued shortly and replaced with a metallic gold colour.

There are lots of nice colours to choose from - red being one of them which is very popular. Remember that picking a solid colour will save you £250.

Good luck with your choices.

[Rob.]

Have a look in my gallery to see a Cooper, Silk green with black roof.
Dare to be different.
The silk green (IMHO)looks classy and up market. The mini looks good in nearly all the colour choices. At the end of the day it's all about personal peference.
I believe silk green is being replaced soon by gold. So you better be quick.

[GooF]

I find the sports seats do make a difference. Since the MINI is all about cornering this is where you will need your support from. Same goes for the wider tires, I sure wanted those.
The sports plus suspension, well, that might be a bit stiff.
I did change into a mini from a Seat Arosa (which is soft) so it would feel stiff to me but I'm not sure if you need it.. it is included in the Chili package, so I'd say go for it.

As for colour: Black and white rules.

[Hat]

tricky - depends on how your money situation is. Like KenL says, you can save £250 towards the chili pack by choosing non-metallic. Black & red both look great. I have red & it looks great when polished up. I might have gone for black but my previous car was black & its a pain to keep looking clean. My other colour choices would be pepper white or indi blue

As to the Puma, my previous was a Fiesta Zetec S which had much of the running gear & the gearbox from the Puma. The cooper is really loosening up now with 1600 miles on the clock. The engine takes some getting used to - you really have to use the revs. Over 4000 rpm the engine takes on a completely different personality & really rockets the car along.

Part of the fun of this car is speccing it up. Most of us changed our minds several times & annoyed the hell out of our dealers ringing up to add stuff & change the colour (again).

[Shamster]

red with white stripes? I'd say you're onto a winner there!

[MarkL]

Chili v Pepper: It really depends whether the 16" wheels and the cloth/leather seats are important to you, as they together cost more than the difference between the two packs. If they both are then go for Chili, if not, Pepper. Remember too (as others have mentioned) that SS+ is now a no-cost option with the Chili pack, so you don't have to choose it.

Of course, everyone's opinion and priorities are different, but here are my reasons for going for Pepper on the Cooper that I have on order.

Seats: I have a One at present with the standard cloth seats and find them very comfortable, so I don't see any point in going for the cloth/leather seats.

Wheels: I'm not convinced that the benefits of the run-flats are outweighed by their additional initial and replacement costs.

If possible, try out Coopers with both packs to see and feel the differences. You may be surprised at how comfortable SS+ is too (I was).

As for colour, Chili red is probably the safer choice wrt resale compared to Silk Green (which, I believe, is being discontinued) and is, of course, £250 cheaper (before you add stripes).