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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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 Just keeping it running. 2nd hand downpipes from Autolusso. €45 for the part, £90 delivery to NL  Probably €50ish to have it fitted. The car sounds absolutely s  t at the moment, so I am presuming the last ditch welding they did for the MOT as failed (unsurprisingly). Even with paying the frankly hideous postage costs its still 1/2 price of a new OE part and about 1/3 cheaper than sourcing something on this side of the water. There doesnt seem to be any off the shelf after market alternative for the downpipes....
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emicen
5,688 posts
87 months
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lordf said: A lex said: Whilst I obviously like the idea of improving the handling, I cant say its too shabby at the moment  90% of its use is by my OH and she literally wont care if it goes around a corner 10% better or not. The over-riding factor is that the wheels and tyres are brand new, no need to be shelling out dosh when its not needed, and I really like the S spoke design TBH. Most of the better brands of coilover ride better than stock (KW Variants, AP and since you in Holland theres Cobra who are rather good) I used to sell all this stuff for minis over the years, my cooper was on lighter wheels and AP coilovers (bit soft for my liking as my S was on race suspension). but the overall effect took a lot of the crashing and banging out of it. Since he's in Holland, AST 
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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Straight through, no advisories. Even got a comment from the tester as to what good condition its in . Happy with that
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omgus
4,841 posts
44 months
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 Although less entertaining than your normal MOT stories.
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greggy50
3,098 posts
60 months
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Makes a nice change from the alfa
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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I must say, it was a welcome relief
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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Here comes 2hrs of my life I won't get back.....  Stupidity = new windscreen needed 
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BlackCircles91
51 posts
11 months
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Ouch!! Hopefully you have windscreen cover on your insurance policy?
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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BlackCircles91 said: Ouch!! Hopefully you have windscreen cover on your insurance policy? Yup. Got the full works insurance on this one, all itll cost me is €10 for a new set of windscreen wipers (on offer )
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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So, the new windscreen is fitted - very good it is too As a bonus they also replaced (FOC) the black exterior trim on the A-pillar that has been damaged since I bought the car. They are £35 from BMW, so thats a nice bonus. I also had some new Bosch wipers fitted for a bargain 11euro! Very impressed with CarGlass - all done in 1h45m and a decent enough area to sit in with WiFi and free coffee. They hoovered the interior and cleaned all the glass too As an update: We took the Mini to Paris about two weeks ago, a great little trip and really gobbled up the 800km motorway journey with ease and was absolutely brilliant in the Parisian traffic melee. Last weekend we took it to the UK and whilst there I had a new exhaust fitted (it was the exhaust the cracked the windscreen ). I got a complete CAT back system from eBay for £55 delivered!! BMW in NL want about 800eur for the same thing - haha! I paid £25 to have it mounted and Bobs your mothers brother. Im sure it wont quite have the longevity of an OE item, but honestly at £55 who gives a monkeys. At the moment its not sitting quite right at the back, but I have been under the car today and found that the two back box rubber mounts are completely shot and need replacing - thats a job on to the to-do list. Over the last 3 tanks its averaged an honest 40mpg, which is impressive. The next job coming up is a service in 1500km time - Id be very happy to do it myself (piece of piss) but its got a fully stamped book and itd be a shame to spoil that at this point, so itll be going to our local specialist for the work. Broken trim:  New trim:  Exhaust: 
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illmonkey
6,124 posts
67 months
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How does an exhaust crack the windscreen?
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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illmonkey said: How does an exhaust crack the windscreen? C'mon, surely with a bit of imagination you can get there....?  The exhaust is one piece from the Cat back on the Mini. It was mail ordered to my UK address and I needed to get it to our local garage....... I was 'carefully' loading it in to the car and the above was the result
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omgus
4,841 posts
44 months
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A lex said: C'mon, surely with a bit of imagination you can get there....? The exhaust is one piece from the Cat back on the Mini. It was mail ordered to my UK address and I needed to get it to our local garage....... I was 'carefully' loading it in to the car and the above was the result 
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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The car is off for a service on Friday - Inspection 1, oil change and a coolant change. Its going to BMW, I still havent decided whether I am nuts to be doing this on a 9yr old/120k mile Mini, but the book is otherwise fully BMW stamped and it would be a shame to lose that now, especially if we are going to punt it on next year some time. I did manage to strike a deal with the dealer in that I am supplying my own oil - ive bought 5L of Millers 5w-30 LL-04 fully synth from the internets for £32 delivered. BMW here in NL wanted nearly €200 for their own oil. hahaha! In other news the passenger window stopped working - after some Googling the appropriate remedy of punching the door card a lot seems to have fixed it
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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Inspection 1 completed today at Keram BMW in Maastricht. 190,500km on the clocks.
I also had the coolant changed as it was looking pretty dirty.
Total price was a rather horrifying 300eur! But at least it keeps its full complement of BMW stamps and they did valet it for 'free'. I can only take solice in the fact that had I not provided my own oil it would have been 500eur.
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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Snow has arrived. The 4-season tyres are really quite good - a marked improvement over summers, but noticably different (worse) than my full winters, as is to be expected. The only problem I had with the car this morning is that the door handles were frozen solid!! It was down to about -10c last night. I do however very much like the quick heater on the Mini, much better than my diesel Volvo! I added a set of new HT leads last week which have made a massive difference to the cold running of the car and have solved a slight misfire/hesitancy the car had on cold start. Happy for 23 quid!  
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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33-LG-LZ end of year report:
As of 20.12.12 - (190,500 km)
Bought: 23.05.12 - (180,200 km) for €7,000
Fuel
Distance: 10,300 km at approx 40mpg
Cost: €1,400 (approx)
Insurance (pro-rata)
Cost: €245
VED (pro-rata)
7m
Cost: €277
Repairs
1 x new washer bottle pump
1 x new windscreen & A-pillar trim (free on insurance)
1 x new exhaust
1 x new set HT leads
Cost: €190
Maintenance
1 x Inspection I and coolant change. Oil self supplied. BMW main dealer.
Cost: €360
Upgrades
1 xLohen L01 tuning package
Cost: €380
Sundries
ISO cable harness, front badge, radio surround, LED lights, new number plates, MOT cost.
Cost: €125
Depreciation
Cars keep their value better here, using an honest best guess id say its worth about €6,000, meaning I have lost about €1,000.
Total cost to run the car: €3,977
That gives an approx. cost (inc. depreciation) of €0.61 per mile.
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va1o
11,550 posts
76 months
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Good thread. What power gains did you see from the tuning package? Sorry if has already been mentioned.
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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va1o said: Good thread. What power gains did you see from the tuning package? Sorry if has already been mentioned. Lohen quote 130bhp (basically a Cooper plus a bit more) but from driving it, i'd say thats rather ambitious. It is almost 10yrs and 120k miles old - from having quite a few small cars and hot hatches over the years I guesstimate its gone from about 80bhp to 115bhp. The main difference is the top end power, on the std. map it was completely gutless above 4k rpm, whereas now it really screams its way round to the redline. It makes it much more drivable and a more realistic daily prospect.
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A lex
Original Poster
8,829 posts
102 months
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The OH had a lucky escape this morning. Making sensible progress at around 20mph when the left wheel grabbed a rut or a pile of snow and spun her around. Nothing coming the other way and the only point on that particular road where there isnt a 6ft deep ditch. Phew! A valuable lesson for her; that all-seasons are not magical tyres, although having watched the video theres was nothing to be done to save it once the spin had started. http://youtu.be/7hXzcethxq4(Video has no sound).
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