Heart or head?
Discussion
I've got about 4k to spend and have narrowed it down to a mini or a Peugeot 207, I hear bad things about the gearbox of the BMW mini I could afford( pre-2005), apparently it is awful regardless of mileage and service history, but some are ok? I really cannot afford big repair costs after the initial purchasing of the car. So should I go with the car I love or the more sensible 207? Is the gearbox in the mini really that bad?
Christ almighty, one of your final two cars is a Peugeot 207? would really like to know what you rejected to come to that decision - only things more hateful than that would maybe be a mobility scooter, or a dumper truck...
if you have any interest at all in driving, for the love of god get the Mini - the only 207s i've ever seen are either dawdling along at 40mph in 60mph zones, stopping at empty, well sighted roundabouts or reversing up slip roads.
if you have any interest at all in driving, for the love of god get the Mini - the only 207s i've ever seen are either dawdling along at 40mph in 60mph zones, stopping at empty, well sighted roundabouts or reversing up slip roads.
I honestly bought my wife a 2001 mini cooper, and rather than use our head and buy a nice Honda jazz with 5 seats and 5 doors, and low insurance, and a decent 1.4 engine, we bought with her heart because ..... and I'm not lying......it was yellow and had a black roof, just like the 1978 mini that I bought her in 1989, as her 1st car.
The later pre-face lift coopers and ones, don't have the "Midlands built" built gearbox, as IIRC the 5 speed getrac box was fitted from late 2004.....That's a guess...but they had so many warranty claims they went back to plan a...
Plan b...was save money and fit a s
t rover box which had a history of being st
Plan a...was pay more and get one which is not st...which was BMW's plan and they were persuaded by the rover transmission team that plan b was better.
Of course Cooper s had a 6 speed getrac box from the off, as they knew that plan b was st.
You'll not regret buying a mini, apart from the practicality of 4 seats and 3 doors vs more of both. In terms of reliability there are enough forums out there with information but you didn't mention the PAS which is also st.
I priced up a recon gearbox exchange and recon PAS, and It's not so bad that you'd actually scrap the car.
You will regret buying a 207. It's French, and gay. (Where gay is not a homophobic insult, but is a description of your sexual orientation if you think it's a worthwhile car)
The later pre-face lift coopers and ones, don't have the "Midlands built" built gearbox, as IIRC the 5 speed getrac box was fitted from late 2004.....That's a guess...but they had so many warranty claims they went back to plan a...
Plan b...was save money and fit a s
t rover box which had a history of being stPlan a...was pay more and get one which is not s
t...which was BMW's plan and they were persuaded by the rover transmission team that plan b was better. Of course Cooper s had a 6 speed getrac box from the off, as they knew that plan b was s
t. You'll not regret buying a mini, apart from the practicality of 4 seats and 3 doors vs more of both. In terms of reliability there are enough forums out there with information but you didn't mention the PAS which is also s
t.I priced up a recon gearbox exchange and recon PAS, and It's not so bad that you'd actually scrap the car.
You will regret buying a 207. It's French, and gay. (Where gay is not a homophobic insult, but is a description of your sexual orientation if you think it's a worthwhile car)
My driving instructor had a 1.4 207, and it was probably one of the worst cars I have ever driven.
Totally numb steering, crap seats, crap brakes, crap ride, and unbelievably slow. My 1.6 X reg Astra at the time felt a hundred times better in every conceivable way.
I did my pass plus in it a good few months after passing, which was a whole day of driving on Highland back roads up to eilean donan castle and back - I wish I had paid my own fuel and brought the Astra instead! It struggled to maintain 60 mph on these roads and overtaking was simply not an option.
It wasn't even economical!
Totally numb steering, crap seats, crap brakes, crap ride, and unbelievably slow. My 1.6 X reg Astra at the time felt a hundred times better in every conceivable way.
I did my pass plus in it a good few months after passing, which was a whole day of driving on Highland back roads up to eilean donan castle and back - I wish I had paid my own fuel and brought the Astra instead! It struggled to maintain 60 mph on these roads and overtaking was simply not an option.
It wasn't even economical!
Girlfriend has just picked up a lovely 54 plate Mini - 50K miles, 2 owners from new (first owner only had the car 9 months). For a bit over £3k
Came with pepper pack, leathers, chrome bits/door mirrors - really really smart for the price. It had a gearbox and clutch swap last year and drives beautifully.
She's chuffed to bits with it
Came with pepper pack, leathers, chrome bits/door mirrors - really really smart for the price. It had a gearbox and clutch swap last year and drives beautifully.
She's chuffed to bits with it
BMW Mini's seem to be a hit or miss motor and i don't really like them odds. my dad had a mini one 06 plate and it had a raft of issues one after another the thing was a money pit. the worst thing about them is the reliability is hit or miss and everything has a BMW price tag (add roughly %40 - %50 to what you think an item should cost)
I ended up getting neither haha,
Stretched to £4,250 and got myself a 60 plate Fiat Punto Evo GP 3 door in white with 60k on the clock, FSH, I added the option of the 3 year warranty for £395
Was really smooth on the test drive with loads of toys too including built in bluetooth, texts being read out loud whilst driving, using the steering wheel to change song on phone/ ring people etc
Stretched to £4,250 and got myself a 60 plate Fiat Punto Evo GP 3 door in white with 60k on the clock, FSH, I added the option of the 3 year warranty for £395
Was really smooth on the test drive with loads of toys too including built in bluetooth, texts being read out loud whilst driving, using the steering wheel to change song on phone/ ring people etc
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