Topgear Magazine (long post)

[jpringle819]

Has anyone read the article by Jason the "industry expert" in this months magazine.

Article from magazine:
Flicking through the 20-page Mini 'options and accessories' price list, I decided to conduct an experiment. I'm a rational adult, I know a bit about cars and I rarely cry at movies. So, if I was buying a new Mini Cooper S, what options would I choose? I started gently, nothing expensive, just useful stuff, mats (£50), a warning triangle (£25). I began to notice a couple of options I would have expected as standard, like tinted glass (£100) and a CD Player (£235). And I became pretty hacked off when I realised I would have to spend £210 to add DSC to my new 163bhp, front-whell-drice Cooper.

Soon I decided that it would be sensible to spend a few quid extra on a car I would keep for three years and 60,000 miles. On went leather (£890), satnav (£1,410) and automatic aircon (£830).

My girlfriend reckoned that 'pretty though the car is, you should make it look better.' So: roof spoiler (£155), bonnet stripes (£42) and alloys (£2,010).

The basic price for the Cooper S is £14,600. I'd selected the extras with care; how bad could it be? £18,000? £19,000? Surely not £20,000.

Well, my little two-door hatchback, with its humble 1.6 litre engine, no rear legroom and mediocre boot was going to cost me £25,970.

For that kind of money I could buy a real car - save myself £4,000 and buy a brand new Subaru Impreza WRX. For £24,000, I could buy an Audi TT coupe, which corners on rails and holds its value. BMW expect me to pay £26,000 for a Mini when they sell a proper car for the same money. It looks good, holds its value and is better built - the BMW 325Ci coupe. No contest.


Sorry for the long post but this guy has really annoyed me. I have just built an S on the website and with all the options it comes to £20,645 you could still add the works pack and spend less than he reckons.

And as for buying a TT or 325Ci for that sort of money, you'd be looking at more like £30,000.

James

[Tonyt3]

Quote:

Originally posted by jpringle819
Has anyone read the article by Jason the "industry expert" in this months magazine.

Article from magazine:
Flicking through the 20-page Mini 'options and accessories' price list, I decided to conduct an experiment. I'm a rational adult, I know a bit about cars and I rarely cry at movies. So, if I was buying a new Mini Cooper S, what options would I choose? I started gently, nothing expensive, just useful stuff, mats (£50), a warning triangle (£25). I began to notice a couple of options I would have expected as standard, like tinted glass (£100) and a CD Player (£235). And I became pretty hacked off when I realised I would have to spend £210 to add DSC to my new 163bhp, front-whell-drice Cooper.

Soon I decided that it would be sensible to spend a few quid extra on a car I would keep for three years and 60,000 miles. On went leather (£890), satnav (£1,410) and automatic aircon (£830).

My girlfriend reckoned that 'pretty though the car is, you should make it look better.' So: roof spoiler (£155), bonnet stripes (£42) and alloys (£2,010).

The basic price for the Cooper S is £14,600. I'd selected the extras with care; how bad could it be? £18,000? £19,000? Surely not £20,000.

Well, my little two-door hatchback, with its humble 1.6 litre engine, no rear legroom and mediocre boot was going to cost me £25,970.

For that kind of money I could buy a real car - save myself £4,000 and buy a brand new Subaru Impreza WRX. For £24,000, I could buy an Audi TT coupe, which corners on rails and holds its value. BMW expect me to pay £26,000 for a Mini when they sell a proper car for the same money. It looks good, holds its value and is better built - the BMW 325Ci coupe. No contest.


Sorry for the long post but this guy has really annoyed me. I have just built an S on the website and with all the options it comes to £20,645 you could still add the works pack and spend less than he reckons.

And as for buying a TT or 325Ci for that sort of money, you'd be looking at more like £30,000.

James

He has made some pretty stupid mistakes, like not specing Chilli pack etc to reduce overall prices. I suspect though that he has still made additional errors with his sums too..... many journalists are these days so pre-occupied with trying to 'make' stories rather than their real job which is to 'report' stories, that they cannot see beyond their own headlines.... I suspect that many are paid for 'piece' work, as in free-lance, and therefore reporting the actuall facts does not get their article published, therefore they don't get paid...

[eltel]

yeh, but the point is you can still get one of the world's best cars for 15,000. You have to pay double that to join the Audi and 325 club.

Options are really what you want to pay for being a bit different.

[BRGreenie]

WOW!

er the figures don't seem to add up though - a lot of the pack prices ( Chilli ) would bring the price down - roof spoiler is free as well - not £155,

Mine would speced out at £17,500 including Air con ( Manual but I feel that the climate control is not worth it ) and half leather, 6 CD player and sunroof.. Speccing is of course a personal thing.

BMW more or less invented the expensive add on - and AUDI are not far behind ( set of floor mats £75!!! ) - speak to a dealer to find out the package price or use the configurator on www.mini.com but if you want lots of toys for little money you can always try Hyundai

[dietcokeplease]

There are all sorts of what-ifs? when speccing a MINI.

For £25k you could have a decent used Porsche Boxster or a brand new Vauxhall Omega 3.2 Elite if you're so inclined.

I would drop full leather automatically. MINI leather except maybe the Cordoba leather looks like PVC.

Jounros these days are trying to become personalities like CLarkson rather than writing decent stuff. The evidence? Flick throught Top Gear magazine and most of the names will have appeared on TV. Flick through Car or Evo and see if you can recall anyone.

[jpringle819]

The price I specified for the S includes every option on the configurator, obviously going through the dealer accessories brochure you could add a bit more.

An Audi TT to a similar spec would cost £30,425 and the BMW £32,365.

James

[BRGreenie]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tony*t3
He has made some pretty stupid mistakes, like not specing Chilli pack etc to reduce overall prices. I suspect though that he has still made additional errors with his sums too..... many journalists are these days so pre-occupied with trying to 'make' stories rather than their real job which is to 'report' stories, that they cannot see beyond their own headlines.... I suspect that many are paid for 'piece' work, as in free-lance, and therefore reporting the actuall facts does not get their article published, therefore they don't get paid...

You said it Tony - I have really gone off Top Gear recently - Car Magazine is far superior and votes the MCS as Number 2 in the 100 best cars (TG constanly poo poos them ) Tiff Needel hates front wheel drive and their are too many gimick articles - plus the new TG TV show is very wooden and stiff with JC trying to dominate anyone else in the studio...

[Martin L]

If he's complaining about the additional costs of extras on the MINI why isn't he then b*tching about BMWs options list????
A lot of the options are very similar on both cars, but on the BMW they are about 40% more expensive :shock:
Just take a look at the sat nav, £1500 on the MINI, £2500 on the BMW for exactly the same unit
Go figure

[chughes163]

I agree about Top Gear- the presenters seem too busy posing around. Its a well known fact that Top Gear has never liked BMW as a brand and subsequently, i think this has washed off onto the Mini slightly.

[Paul]

Don't get too upset. The report is factually incorrect, and comes over to those in the know as typical mindless 'provocative' journalism.

But do we care that someone who appears this clueless doesn't like the MINI? I don't.

[rusty]

Bothered!!

[BillO]

$34,000 Dollars US. As I remember a full decked S in the states for 2002 was around $24,000 USD.

BillO

[paul g]

Fully agree with Paul Mullet. He's got his facts all wrong and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Tonyt3]

Quote:

Originally posted by badboyzbadboyz
Well jpringle819 you seem to think "I'm a rational adult, I know a bit about cars", I somewhat disagree. You have taken a Mini Cooper S and then added all the extra's and moaned that for a few grand more you could get a basic Audi TT or BMW 325 Ci Coupe.

If you are talking standard prices then why not use the figure £14,500 for a MINI Cooper S. Go on mate, go buy urself a brand new Audi TT, BMW 325 Ci or even funnier Subaru Impreza WRX with £14,500. Let us know how you get on

Badbayz, suggest you retract what you just said, it is clear to all that Jpringle is actually quoting from a magazine article, not his own thoughts...

[AidenL]

In all fairness to jpringle, its the guy in Top Gear Mag who is saying he will buy the 325/Scooby/TT.....

jpringle has pointed out that his prices are wrong !