Paul,my wife and I are going looking at MINIs tomorrow as well, its a second car for her, I fancied a Cooper, she prefers the One ( strangely enough, our dealer is pushing the One hard too, due to its second car status & her mileage around 6000 per year) - she fancies silver, with a sunroof and salt pack, with 8 spoke wheels - a basic specification, which the dealer reckons will hold its value pretty respectably. Only other car available at short notice is a fully loaded Cooper which pushes the price into the stratosphere.
Mine's red without the chrome inserts on the bumpers. I've seen one in Indi Blue and it suits the car well - but you have to pay extra.
I think alloys are essential (has anyone bought a ONE with the steel wheels?) but I think the 15 inch spoked alloys look good and the handling's great on this wheel/tyre combo.
I've seen a few One's at dealers with steel wheels but the majority had alloys. I've even seen a Cooper with steel wheels at a dealer.
While the cost does start to close the price gap between the One and the Cooper, I really think 15" alloys add so much to the car's appearance. If it were a choice between alloys wheels and metallic paint I'd get the wheels. For what its worth I prefer the 7-hole to the 8-spoke, but that's just my opinion.
No!!!!! If avoidable, don't buy a MINI ONE without getting alloy wheels! IMHO the wheels make so much of a visual difference and the standard wheel trims do not make the MINI look stunning at all.
Smiffy, I dont think it's worth de-badging a One (although it's not my decision to make), as I know I always think 'no badges = bottom of the range model'.
On re-sale value - conventional wisdom is that you loose money on optional extras come re-sale, not gain. But with high spec Minis being the norm, "conventional wisdom" may not apply. It will be interesting to see if a Mini with £1,000 of extras is worth £1,000 more than a basic model in three or so years time.
On de-badging - I wonder if British psychology is different to German psychology. When the practice of de-badging arose in Germany, I read that it was the owners of top of the range cars who removed their badges, not the owners of bottom of the range cars. Maybe it started at the time when conspicuous consumption was not fashionable. Could any German members comment?
By re-sale I don't really mean value, I just mean chance of selling.
If you're looking for a car, there's one with say alloys and a sunroof for only a couple of hundred more than one with out, I THINK you would most likely spend a couple of hundred more pounds to buy the one with the roof and alloys, and the seller who doesn't have them may loose less money, but may not sell the car so quickly, or have to drop the price to counter act the lack of goodies.
Plus. as you you say, very low spec MINI's are VERY thin on the ground, in two or three years time I dont fancy chances of selling a MINI One with nothing on it at all.
That £1,000 of accessories will of course depreciate along with the rest of the car, and in 3 years time will perhaps only add £500 to the value of the car. But, if the owner enjoys the car more because it does have the extras (e.g. sunroof, HK system, etc.), then that's where benefit lies.
They say that metalic paint, alarm & alloys will always add value to a car
My delaer said it always easier to shift a car that has either air con or a sunroof though
When I ordered my wife's ONE I wanted alloy wheels but didn't like any of the types offered so I thought I would buy some aftermarket ones. However, the narrowest 15" alloys I can find are 6J and the steels are 51/2J. This means buying new tyres which I'm not exactly over the moon about. Does anyone know of a source for 51/2J x 15" alloys?
Incidentally 15" wheel covers are as common as rocking horse doo doo.
I guess we're a little biased Paul but I prefer the Yellow over the Black any day!
The windows somehow look more tinted and the black grille is a great contrast with the Yellow - it all seems to band together in contrast with the wheel arch trims etc though. I think £80 is a worthwhile investment for the chrome though - when it comes to re-selling it, it may well be the deciding factor for someone who couldn't afford a Cooper but still wants the 'look'..
Have a look at my recent pics from yesterday's Yorkshire MINI meet if Abi needs any more pursuading?.
Get yourself over to Bishops Stortford J8M11 services on Sunday at 3pm. You will see an all Black, hopefully an all Red and the famous "Apple" plus with any luck, a few others.
Or,
save yourself a 100 mile round trip and just accept that the all Black MINI one is by far the best choice - with the chrome inserts and alloys at the least.
Get yourself over to Bishops Stortford J8M11 services on Sunday at 3pm. You will see an all Black, hopefully an all Red and the famous "Apple" plus with any luck, a few others.
Or,
save yourself a 100 mile round trip and just accept that the all Black MINI one is by far the best choice - with the chrome inserts and alloys at the least.
If you were to come over to Bishops Stortford on Sunday you sould be able to see a all red Mini becasue mine will be there.
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