[gonnabuyone?]

I'm thinking about trading in my wifes vectra for a nice shiny red and white cooper with chilli pack (are the extras you get with the pack worthwhile??).

The main thing I want to know is anyone using a mini regularly with a small baby and if so how are they getting on, we have a 9 month daughter and generally travel fairly light with a "normal" car seat and a shopping-type Graco foldable buggy.
I'm currently stuck offshore in the middle of the north sea for another week but was think of going into try a test-drive when I got home, but if any mums and dads out there are having a nightmare with their mini that might change my plan !
Also as an aside has anyone ordered one recently and if so do you know what the current UK waiting list is ?

Have a good new year

Thanks
Steve

 

[dietcokeplease]

Steve,

The value of the Chili Packs extras are subjective. They make the car look and handle better but other MINI2ers have criticised the hard ride of the car - not ideal fer yer sprog. The sports seats are generally thought to be good and much better than the standard seats which are considered to be flat. But then again some MINI2ers find the lumbar on the sports seats to be 'orrible. Swings and Roundabouts! This topic has been covered in previous posts and can be found by using the search function.

I've lent my MINI to my sister over Christmas as she was carless (and careless with her own car!) She found that one side of the rear seatback needed to be permanently folded to fit the buggy in diagonally. Also the ride on some poor roads was jarring to "Bun Larden" (cos his nickname's Bun and he's Porky! with the Sports Suspension +. But she loved the car and the handling. She found access in tight car park spots difficult, esp. to place the babyseat back into the car (because of the door size) and also had problems getting the seat past the passenger seat. I would suggest that you make a family trip to your dealer and put your own buggy/babyseat into the car.

I ordered Isofix for my MINI but due to a factory error it never appeared on the car......and I'm still waiting for my refund.......2 months later....so if yer reading this Mr MINI Customer Services..... gis my 20 squid back.

 

[gonnabuyone?]

Hmmm..

Thanks for your reply pretty much as I was thinking, I thought that 1/2 of the rear seat may have to be folded down. Getting the seat in and out shouldn't be a problem as once her seat is in it generally stays in (getting her in and out herself is a different prospect though !).

I fear a trip to John Clark BMW (has anyone else bought a mini through them?) in Aberdeen is in order to try this thing out - to be quite honest unless it proves to be totally unworkable then I've more or less decided that I'm gonna have to get a cooper anyway - the website and the reviews have pretty much convinced me!

I'll probably have to swap my corrado VR6 later in the year for something with 4 doors and make that the sensible car in the house, shouldn't be too painfull when I've got a Coop to play with !

I was also wondering about this TLC pack - 50000 miles worth of servicing for £100 is it really that easy, cos that seems to be damn good value !

Chilli pack ? Hmm undecided I definitely want some of the things included in it but I'm not that bothered about the 16" wheels so it might be easier to just select the options individually. Have you got the 200 quid remote alarm ? if so is it Thatcham approved and is it worth it ?

Last thing (sorry to be a pain) how much of a deposit do they generally want to place an order ?

Anyway - good idea this forum, lets you learn from other peoples experiences.

Ta Steve

 

[Sirobbo]

gonnabuyone?

The TLC is worth every penny, basically you get a book of servicing vouchers that you use when you get the car serviced, simple!

I have the alarm, not sure if it`s Thatcham approved or not but at least it uses a proper alarm instead of the horn like on my Father`s Audi.For £200 it just seamed like a good idea and Mini`s are quite cheap to insure anyway (50% of my previous Golf).

Think long and hard before you sell your Corrado! I sold my VR6 in 1998 and I`ve missed it every day since, I replaced it with a Golf VR6 but it just wasn`t the same.

Sorry forgot, I gave a £200 deposit to my dealer.

 

[gonnabuyone?]

Sirrobo,

Yip I like the corrado too but it is getting quite miley now and I can't help feeling if I get the Cooper for my missus - which I've just about convinced myself now is gonna happen ! - then I'll probably use the VR6 less and less, although the 2.9 V6 note makes it worth a thrash just for the noise alone !

I'll probably buy something else quick anyway - just something with more doors and a boot (I s'pose we all have to grow up a little bit eventually) - I can always play with the Coop for fun.

The TLC deal looks like a must-have bargain, still unsure about the Chilli pack though I think we'll just spec the bits that we fancy.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[MINXD]

We've got a sprog (2.5) and she goes to nursery every weekday in MINXD.

The child-seat is a Britax jobby and sits reasonably well in the N/S/R passenger seat. Getting her in and out is a bit of an art form but goes something like this.

Open door, push front seat all the way forward, place sprog standing in the footwell, facing forward. Kneal left knee in foot well and lift sprog backwards into seat etc etc...

Not the easiest, but much better than the G60 Corrado we used to have. In the G60, the seat *had* to go in the front as the buckets were too low/tight. Still miss that car, but we traded cars soon after sprog was born for a "familly" car - Impreza Turbo Wagon

Needless to say, no side airbags for us in MINXD & we find that we need to keep the front passenger seat quite well forward, to avoid trapping sprog's legs For her part, sprog loves her "mimi"

Buggys are a pain in the proverbial with MINXD We have a McClaren foldable jobby, but its either jammed in behind the driver's seat facing backwards, or its split fold the other passenger seat In this respect, the mini is not a good car Result is that if we're going somewhere as a familly & know we'll need the buggy, then we generally take either the scoob or my Vectra However, manage to not take the buggy most of the time

TLC is a no brainer - just get it.

 

[JT]

Glad you posted this question gonnabuyone, we found out just after taking delivery of our cooper that we are expecting a small person. We have until june to decide if we will be able to fit everything in but the problem will be the buggy, I have tow suggestions
1. carry the baby round in a papoose, takes up little room, baby could even sit in one of those front mounted ones whilst you drive ?!?!? (joke !!)
2. Hassle BMW to develop a MINI boot friendly buggy, possibly the best route, landrover do a pretty groovy buggy as an accessory themselves....

 

[gonnabuyone?]

Mmm didn't think it would be the easiest, but as long as it is manageable until I change the Corrado we can probably live with the comprimise (he says convincing himself !)

Not sure about the papoose idea, we got one of them when she was a couple of months old and its amazing how heavy a sprog gets after 1/2 an hour wondering around the shops - buggies are the way forward ! (until the little madam gets self-mobile !)

My wife is reading these posts at home - and taking the mickey out of me sitting at work in the middle of the North Sea talking about this and trying to convince myself its a good idea to get the coop !

Later

Steve

 

[Tobes]

Mini is relatively baby friendly!!!

We have two kids 2.5yrs and an 8 month old and they fit fine in the back.

The 8 mth is about to go into a forward facing seat which will make things abit easier. Less bending getting the car seat through the seats each time.

Also we have just brought a new pram from Mamas and Pappas that fits in the boot (no need to remove the shelf or fold the seats down) I think the model is called aria or something

Hope that hepls anyone!

 

[Drakken]

"We've got a sprog (2.5) and she goes to nursery every weekday in MINI"


HAHAHAHA! "Sprog" I love it!!!

I have 2 "sprogs" and they fit in my MINI very well.

 

[Racer]

Our buggy fits fine - only problem is I've got to go downstairs to find out which one it is back soon....

However doing a search for buggy will reveal another thread with buggy's that fit