faith in mini completely lost ?!?!?!?

[GirlyMini]

Well I've just been back to the garage where I bought my 51 reg mc and got my money back !!!! (NB: it was not a mini dealership)

I've had 4 weeks of complete nightmare. Heater relay broke twice, airbag light came on, power steering pump electrics failure, promised to fit new discs and pads all round but only fitted the rear ones, paid £100 towards a Mini CD HU but they then said they couldn't get one. Its not just the faults with the car, it was the poor customer service I received from the service department and sales manager: false promises, un-replied telephone calls, numerous uneccesary trips to the garage etc etc. I have driven the courtesy car more than the mini !!!!

Some of the problems wern't the garages fault becuase the repairs were done at the local mini dealership. But the last straw was this morning when we collected the car after dropping it off 2 weeks ago, only to discover that the heater realy was broken again!!!

The sales manager said he was just as peeved off with the whole situation as we were and offered to completly refund my money.

I've now completly lost my faith in mini's and im debating whether to buy another one !!
My dilema is that I cant afford to buy a brand new MC as my maximum budget is £10,500. So im still looking at an 02 or 52 reg or earlier and im now worried that im going to have the same problems with the next car.

Any comments would be appreciated, good or bad !!!

[Nameless]

Quote: Originally Posted by GirlyMini

Well I've just been back to the garage where I bought my 51 reg mc and got my money back !!!! (NB: it was not a mini dealership)

I've had 4 weeks of complete nightmare. Heater relay broke twice, airbag light came on, power steering pump electrics failure, promised to fit new discs and pads all round but only fitted the rear ones, paid £100 towards a Mini CD HU but they then said they couldn't get one. Its not just the faults with the car, it was the poor customer service I received from the service department and sales manager: false promises, un-replied telephone calls, numerous uneccesary trips to the garage etc etc. I have driven the courtesy car more than the mini !!!!

Some of the problems wern't the garages fault becuase the repairs were done at the local mini dealership. But the last straw was this morning when we collected the car after dropping it off 2 weeks ago, only to discover that the heater realy was broken again!!!

The sales manager said he was just as peeved off with the whole situation as we were and offered to completly refund my money.

I've now completly lost my faith in mini's and im debating whether to buy another one !!
My dilema is that I cant afford to buy a brand new MC as my maximum budget is £10,500. So im still looking at an 02 or 52 reg or earlier and im now worried that im going to have the same problems with the next car.

Any comments would be appreciated, good or bad !!!

Sounds like a dud!

I've got a cooper, but to be honest a One would do - there's very little difference.

'S''s in particular are getting an 'XR3/Chav' image now that they are cheap second-hand, and this image is starting to affect the cooper as well.

How about a nice new One? - 99.9% the same car as a cooper, without any image problems

[ALD0]

Unfortunately many of the nw MINI's had questionable build Quality issues and Niggly Faults-How many miles had this 51 plate done?
I'm sure you will be able to pick a 52 plate onwards up for under £11k-Keep an eye on the For Sale forum here as it's betetr to buy Privately as you will get a newer and better Specced car for your money

[GirlyMini]

Quote: Originally Posted by Monkeyhanger

Sounds like a dud!

I've got a cooper, but to be honest a One would do - there's very little difference.

'S''s in particular are getting an 'XR3/Chav' image now that they are cheap second-hand, and this image is starting to affect the cooper as well.

How about a nice new One? - 99.9% the same car as a cooper, without any image problems

I'd set my heart on a cooper, silver and black. I will have a look on the mini configerator to see what i can get new. it had about 47,000 on the clock

[oRb]

Unless you're absolutely set on a Cooper, you'll get a better car by buying a One. My high mileage 52 One went for less than £8K (trade in for a new Cooper) and it was faultless.

As Monkeyhanger said, there's not a lot of difference between the Cooper & the One. I have a Cooper now, but if the budget hadn't been able to stretch I would have happily had another One.

Rob

[oRb]

Quote: Originally Posted by GirlyMini

I'd set my heart on a cooper, silver and black. I will have a look on the mini configerator to see what i can get new. it had about 47,000 on the clock

Get a silver One on something like a 53 plate & have the roof painted black

[GirlyMini]

I've been on the mini configurator, my spec of mini one would cost £12,202. added extras are, alloys, AC & CD HU. my budget wont stretch that far,
Ive seen a couple of MC in the local trader, so i will go and look at them

[Restyle]

See theres quite a few Silver / Black Coopers of your spec in your area on the online autotrader searcher that may be worth looking at
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW...xact=1&photo=1

[Ady]

Try looking on the autotrader website , their search engine allows you to select mileage, year and price range. I looked for a friend the other day and was surprised at some of the good deals.

Ady

[Jonesy]

Quote:

'S''s in particular are getting an 'XR3/Chav' image now that they are cheap second-hand, and this image is starting to affect the cooper as well.

I haven't seen any of these Chav MCSs that people talk about ! hmmm... I have only seen geez'd up Coopers as they seem to be more accessable to the Chav fraternity. Either way, good on them for saving up and deciding on a good car! I doubt it will affect the price at all.... I have seen numerous types of cars that have been Chav'd with little affect on the price - except those cars that are actually chav'd!!!

[jon vital]

Even second hand S's are hardly cheap?

[Dawn]

Quote: Originally Posted by Monkeyhanger

Sounds like a dud!

I've got a cooper, but to be honest a One would do - there's very little difference.

'S''s in particular are getting an 'XR3/Chav' image now that they are cheap second-hand, and this image is starting to affect the cooper as well.

How about a nice new One? - 99.9% the same car as a cooper, without any image problems

On whos planet IMHO S or nothin

[Dawn]

Quote: Originally Posted by jon vital

Even second hand S's are hardly cheap?

Here , here

[Nameless]

Quote: Originally Posted by jon vital

Even second hand S's are hardly cheap?

OK - I don't mean to offend anyone! -

But you can get an early S for £11K now, so it's becoming within reach of the "saturday night on the seafront" crowd.

At one of the last run's the carpark at the finish ended up one of the, erm, less intelligent S drivers taunting the local kids in clio's and showing them how fast an S could spin it's wheels in a car-park. Not the best publicity for MINI2.

- these are the sad folk who will damage the 'S' image - Maybe Chav's the wrong term.

I'm old enough to remember when the Sierra Cosworth was a respected motor-car, before it became cheap and developed a yob reputation - I worry about the S going the same way - and 'S' prices are starting to fall.

I was gonna get an 'S' someday, but to be honest I don't want to be associated with the image now. - I'll have a one-clicked One , and buy a track-day car with the change, I think.....