Hello ladies and sirs,
I recently moved to London and looking to replace my european car with proper english mini (haha). Well, i always kind of wanted to have one and they are relatively cheap here (not cheap as cheap, but used ones are like twice cheaper than my previous country)
Anyway, since i don't actually have much use for a car in London besides going for picnics, grocery and occasional exploration of nearby Scotland and France i figured that i am probably not going to invest into a new car and going to go with used. And i probably want it to be fun to drive so i ll go with S version and also automatic, since well, my GF wants to drive it as well ><. I don't mind automatic really but that raises lots of questions and probably eats through at least an extra 1k of budget.
I don't care much about predicted running cost, but i would obviously want it to be sort of reliable and cut the unpredicted ones, considering it's not even going to be used that often.
Now the questions are (in no particular order):
0. Is there something i absolutely shouldn't buy as far as automatic transmission is concerned?
1. Is it worth it to save 30% and go with 2004-2005 (they are 1 second slower and have different engine vs 2007 right?)
2. Should i go with cabrio if i happen to find one? (my friend has cabrio bmw and he is fixing roof every year lol)
3. When do the problems usually start? Most of the cars i am looking at has around 50-60k miles under the belt.
4. Should i trust the ones with "full service history" and "3 months warranty" etc or should i just check it in independent service anyway?
Ultimately i am choosing between years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 — and the price seems to be around 4500 and 7000 GBP the difference being quite big. Initially wanted to make it around 4000 but i guess i am not finding decent automatic in this range. Anything i should know?
And btw, if you know reliable sellers, please let me know.
Looking to join the club
Cheers
I recently moved to London and looking to replace my european car with proper english mini (haha). Well, i always kind of wanted to have one and they are relatively cheap here (not cheap as cheap, but used ones are like twice cheaper than my previous country)
Anyway, since i don't actually have much use for a car in London besides going for picnics, grocery and occasional exploration of nearby Scotland and France i figured that i am probably not going to invest into a new car and going to go with used. And i probably want it to be fun to drive so i ll go with S version and also automatic, since well, my GF wants to drive it as well ><. I don't mind automatic really but that raises lots of questions and probably eats through at least an extra 1k of budget.
I don't care much about predicted running cost, but i would obviously want it to be sort of reliable and cut the unpredicted ones, considering it's not even going to be used that often.
Now the questions are (in no particular order):
0. Is there something i absolutely shouldn't buy as far as automatic transmission is concerned?
1. Is it worth it to save 30% and go with 2004-2005 (they are 1 second slower and have different engine vs 2007 right?)
2. Should i go with cabrio if i happen to find one? (my friend has cabrio bmw and he is fixing roof every year lol)
3. When do the problems usually start? Most of the cars i am looking at has around 50-60k miles under the belt.
4. Should i trust the ones with "full service history" and "3 months warranty" etc or should i just check it in independent service anyway?
Ultimately i am choosing between years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 — and the price seems to be around 4500 and 7000 GBP the difference being quite big. Initially wanted to make it around 4000 but i guess i am not finding decent automatic in this range. Anything i should know?
And btw, if you know reliable sellers, please let me know.
Looking to join the club
Cheers