Discussion
Mrs Bishop has recently got a new job as a secondary school teacher and as such her commute has changed from a 5-minute walk to a 25-mile drive. Our twins currently go to a nursery which is a 10-minute drive from home, but from next year they will (hopefully) go to a primary which you can see from our front door. Thus, for 12 months only, we need 2 cars.
Man maths and logic dictated that a throwaway shed was required for this 12-month period. I do the nursery run and so the original idea was for me to use the shed and Mrs B to take the family CX-7. However, the big Mazda is not exactly cheap to run and so we decided I would keep the Mazda and a more economical shed would be sourced.
Budget was £1000 - £1500, as much MOT as possible and not disastrously uncool for the school car park. After a £400 Mitsubishi Carisma was summarily rejected due to the latter, a trip to Accrington yielded this:
It’s a 1.6 Cooper with 76k on the clock, full (ish) service history and – bonus for us – a fresh 12 months’ MOT and an oil service included in the sale. We had an R56 Cooper S before the kids came along and both absolutely loved it so it’s nice to have a Mini again.
Good points: engine runs like a top, no whines or knocks, paintwork is incredibly clean and tidy for a 17 year old red car, decent aftermarket stereo with USB, electric windows and mirrors all working, leather interior in good order.
Bad points: clutch bite could be lower, air-con doesn’t work (apparently it ‘just wants re-gassing’
), handbrake gaiter ripped/falling to bits and the rear wiper motor runs but the arm doesn’t move. No idea how it passed the MOT with the latter and not sure I want to know either. The car also has the rare ‘variety pack’ tyre option comprising of 1 Pirelli summer, 1 Firestone winter, 1 Dunlop winter, and 1 Goodyear summer. You would hope that the winters and summers would at least be on the same axle. That hope would be in vain.
It has now been pressed into use on the commute and is doing OK so far. Handily, my sister in law also owns a Cooper which decided it no longer needed second gear a couple of weeks ago. They’ve replaced it with another Cooper and the old one has become a donor car to theirs and ours. This afforded an opportunity for a (very) tongue-in-cheek Italian Job tribute…
… and also yielded a replacement rear wiper motor which I set about fitting last week. Having dismantled the old one the reason it wasn’t working became quite apparent:
The handbrake gaiter has also been replaced with a new item.
Next jobs are replacement of the passenger side suspension top mount (sadly the mounts on the donor car are also knackered) at least two new tyres and replacement of the driver’s door lock actuator with the one from the donor car as the lock won’t open with the remote. We’re leaving the air-con alone for now as the car will be mainly be used over the winter and in any case Mrs B would wear a fleece in the Sahara.
The original idea was to trade both cars in next summer against one newer family car but to be honest the Mazda is such a fantastic family bus that I can’t think of anything I’d really want to replace it with. If both cars are still doing OK, and the Mini can get through an MOT without too much pain, I can see us keeping the pair until the first one kicks the bucket.
Man maths and logic dictated that a throwaway shed was required for this 12-month period. I do the nursery run and so the original idea was for me to use the shed and Mrs B to take the family CX-7. However, the big Mazda is not exactly cheap to run and so we decided I would keep the Mazda and a more economical shed would be sourced.
Budget was £1000 - £1500, as much MOT as possible and not disastrously uncool for the school car park. After a £400 Mitsubishi Carisma was summarily rejected due to the latter, a trip to Accrington yielded this:
It’s a 1.6 Cooper with 76k on the clock, full (ish) service history and – bonus for us – a fresh 12 months’ MOT and an oil service included in the sale. We had an R56 Cooper S before the kids came along and both absolutely loved it so it’s nice to have a Mini again.
Good points: engine runs like a top, no whines or knocks, paintwork is incredibly clean and tidy for a 17 year old red car, decent aftermarket stereo with USB, electric windows and mirrors all working, leather interior in good order.
Bad points: clutch bite could be lower, air-con doesn’t work (apparently it ‘just wants re-gassing’
), handbrake gaiter ripped/falling to bits and the rear wiper motor runs but the arm doesn’t move. No idea how it passed the MOT with the latter and not sure I want to know either. The car also has the rare ‘variety pack’ tyre option comprising of 1 Pirelli summer, 1 Firestone winter, 1 Dunlop winter, and 1 Goodyear summer. You would hope that the winters and summers would at least be on the same axle. That hope would be in vain.It has now been pressed into use on the commute and is doing OK so far. Handily, my sister in law also owns a Cooper which decided it no longer needed second gear a couple of weeks ago. They’ve replaced it with another Cooper and the old one has become a donor car to theirs and ours. This afforded an opportunity for a (very) tongue-in-cheek Italian Job tribute…
… and also yielded a replacement rear wiper motor which I set about fitting last week. Having dismantled the old one the reason it wasn’t working became quite apparent:
The handbrake gaiter has also been replaced with a new item.
Next jobs are replacement of the passenger side suspension top mount (sadly the mounts on the donor car are also knackered) at least two new tyres and replacement of the driver’s door lock actuator with the one from the donor car as the lock won’t open with the remote. We’re leaving the air-con alone for now as the car will be mainly be used over the winter and in any case Mrs B would wear a fleece in the Sahara.
The original idea was to trade both cars in next summer against one newer family car but to be honest the Mazda is such a fantastic family bus that I can’t think of anything I’d really want to replace it with. If both cars are still doing OK, and the Mini can get through an MOT without too much pain, I can see us keeping the pair until the first one kicks the bucket.
Looks a sensible purchase! And with the fortuitous donor car providing fixes, you might get back what you paid for the car when you come to sell.
I never understand how people end up putting different tyre brands on the same car and I've never heard of 4 completely different tyres on the one vehicle! Usually there's 2 the same.
I never understand how people end up putting different tyre brands on the same car and I've never heard of 4 completely different tyres on the one vehicle! Usually there's 2 the same.
Looks good. Depending on happens with work, if I'm needed to get into Leeds a couple of times a week once things ease then given the absolute zero chance of me using the train again I'll be on the lookout for a cheap Mini. Had an R50 before, got an R55 now and I find they're addictive little things. Easy to work on, spares are plentiful and cheap and even the early cars like this still look fresh.
A few weeks in and the Mini is soldiering along nicely - we've put about 4000 miles on it now and it is doing its job well. Some *very* rough calculations suggest it's doing around 40mpg which we're quite chuffed with.
I took it to our friendly local garage at half-term to replace the (very) knackered strut top mounting as well as two tyres which were worn out.
I asked them to give it a check over while it was in and the only thing they found was a broken exhaust bracket which has now been replaced. It has also been treated to a new set of Bosch flat wiper blades as although the old ones worked OK they were age-hardened and very noisy.
Only other costs have been a headlight bulb and two rear wiper blades due to buying the wrong one the first time
Me and Mrs B are becoming quite attached to it, and may even be guilty of engaging in such silliness as parking it next to other Minis for photo purposes...
I took it to our friendly local garage at half-term to replace the (very) knackered strut top mounting as well as two tyres which were worn out.
I asked them to give it a check over while it was in and the only thing they found was a broken exhaust bracket which has now been replaced. It has also been treated to a new set of Bosch flat wiper blades as although the old ones worked OK they were age-hardened and very noisy.
Only other costs have been a headlight bulb and two rear wiper blades due to buying the wrong one the first time
Me and Mrs B are becoming quite attached to it, and may even be guilty of engaging in such silliness as parking it next to other Minis for photo purposes...
HaroldBishop said:
The car also has the rare ‘variety pack’ tyre option comprising of 1 Pirelli summer, 1 Firestone winter, 1 Dunlop winter, and 1 Goodyear summer. You would hope that the winters and summers would at least be on the same axle. That hope would be in vain.
I think this is a tactical choice so that whatever the weather you'll have front and rear grip assuming they're diagonal, otherwise in the winter it'll have it's own special drift mode on certain cornersRetro_Jim said:
HaroldBishop said:
The car also has the rare ‘variety pack’ tyre option comprising of 1 Pirelli summer, 1 Firestone winter, 1 Dunlop winter, and 1 Goodyear summer. You would hope that the winters and summers would at least be on the same axle. That hope would be in vain.
I think this is a tactical choice so that whatever the weather you'll have front and rear grip assuming they're diagonal, otherwise in the winter it'll have it's own special drift mode on certain corners
In which season do you generally prefer your understeer sir?We've thought about white bonnet stripes but the only issue is that the bonnet has a small dent in it from the inside outward, presumably where someone has shut it with a tool sat on the engine or something. It's not obvious at the minute but it's right where the stripes would sit.
Thanks for the tip about Minitopia, will check them out.
HaroldBishop said:
We've thought about white bonnet stripes but the only issue is that the bonnet has a small dent in it from the inside outward, presumably where someone has shut it with a tool sat on the engine or something. It's not obvious at the minute but it's right where the stripes would sit.
I can see this following the attempt to knock the dent back in
Do these really return anywhere near 40 mpg? What type of journey? Majority of submissions on HonestJohn seem to report 29 average. Even the numbers on Fuelly don't get close.
I am not nit-picking, I am considering one as a replacement for our ageing Audi A4. I feel like chocolate gearbox issues scare me a bit, but I have no real world experience with them.
I am not nit-picking, I am considering one as a replacement for our ageing Audi A4. I feel like chocolate gearbox issues scare me a bit, but I have no real world experience with them.
RazerSauber said:
I can see this following the attempt to knock the dent back in
With my mechanical skills you're probably not far wrong there!
Re. MPG - It does 50 miles each weekday on country roads with my wife at the helm. Her right foot is famously made of feathers and she's always been able to get far better economy out of all of our cars than I ever can. It hardly does any town driving/short journeys so really it's ideal conditions for a good MPG return. I daresay if we did more mixed driving, and I drove it more regularly, it would probably be nearer the mid 30s.
Re. gearboxes, look out for the obvious whining and crunching but don't be too worried if it crunches into reverse - 'they all do that sir'.
Edited by HaroldBishop on Tuesday 17th November 14:48
Mrs Bishop's commute has now changed from a 25 mile drive to a walk up the stairs to our study and as such the Mini has been furloughed since her school finished in December. We've considered taking it off the road but we've nowhere to put it and the tax isn't expensive so it might as well stay as it is.
I've used it a couple of times to nip to the shops and each time it's fired up without a problem. It also looked on smugly just before Christmas when the big Mazda ran up a £300 bill for a seized brake caliper...
One problem that has developed however is that the passenger side window has stopped working - I haven't really bothered looking at it properly but the donor car mentioned above is still knocking about so hopefully any parts needed can be harvested from that.
The rear washer nozzle blocks on a regular basis but this has been resolved by sticking a pin from Mrs B's sewing kit into the parcel shelf - simply take out the pin, wiggle it about in the nozzle and voila.
It's a shame to see it sat around tbh as it's been running really well and starting to look like a proper winter hack...
I've used it a couple of times to nip to the shops and each time it's fired up without a problem. It also looked on smugly just before Christmas when the big Mazda ran up a £300 bill for a seized brake caliper...
One problem that has developed however is that the passenger side window has stopped working - I haven't really bothered looking at it properly but the donor car mentioned above is still knocking about so hopefully any parts needed can be harvested from that.
The rear washer nozzle blocks on a regular basis but this has been resolved by sticking a pin from Mrs B's sewing kit into the parcel shelf - simply take out the pin, wiggle it about in the nozzle and voila.
It's a shame to see it sat around tbh as it's been running really well and starting to look like a proper winter hack...
Non working window? Common MINI issue so give the door card a smack just above the lower speaker and then try again. If that gets it back to life run the window up and down a few times to clean up the brushes and commutator in the window motor as they often only get cycled between the fully closed and door release positions.
Thank you for the tip, will give that a go over the weekend and see if we can get any life into it.
It would make sense as I don't think we've had it fully open since we bought the car - I only tried to drop it to get a clearer view of the mirror whilst parallel parking it in the wet the other night. It's nearly impossible to see out the back of it in the dark because of the mega tintz that a previous owner has put on
It would make sense as I don't think we've had it fully open since we bought the car - I only tried to drop it to get a clearer view of the mirror whilst parallel parking it in the wet the other night. It's nearly impossible to see out the back of it in the dark because of the mega tintz that a previous owner has put on
As above, give the door card a good whack. Not a flimsy nudge, a f*****g good belt with a hand-hammer. My mums has had this for 2 years now and it still works. I've noticed if I've been in the car while she's doing it that some people do give her funny looks lol.
Just spent more time fixing my mum's mini as it happens. Wheel bearing was absolute toast!
The noise that thing made when going down the road was unbelievable! The gearbox was repaired on it just under a year ago but the garage who did it has changed hands due to retirement. I was praying we weren't in for another gearbox repair. Thank the lord for bolt in hubs, that's all I'll say!
Just spent more time fixing my mum's mini as it happens. Wheel bearing was absolute toast!
The noise that thing made when going down the road was unbelievable! The gearbox was repaired on it just under a year ago but the garage who did it has changed hands due to retirement. I was praying we weren't in for another gearbox repair. Thank the lord for bolt in hubs, that's all I'll say!
Now that school is back the Mini has been pressed back into use. Sadly the tip kindly provided above didn't fix the passenger side window but it did fix the driver's window when that packed in a few weeks later
Mrs B's first day back was a Friday so I checked the car over the weekend before. It had been used occasionally but not really done anything so it wasn't a great surprise to find the battery flat. A quick borrow of the jump pack from work sorted that out; oil topped up, tyres checked, a run out to charge the battery and we were good to go. I thought about just trying it again on the Thursday night but didn't, so of course on Friday morning it was flat again
Off Mrs B went in the Mazda leaving me with a dead car and two toddlers to get to nursery. Grandparents to the rescue for the latter and the local garage to the rescue for the former. Standing over the winter had killed off the battery so a replacement was fitted.
Since then the only other expense has been a new rear numberplate. I followed Mrs B home the other day and the condition of the old one irritated me sufficiently for me to order a new one when we got home. I think I need to seek therapy for this.
Lately it's been going well and the lighter nights have allowed me to prize it from Mrs B and get out on the local fell roads. It's actually nicer to drive on my favourite fell hoon than my R56 Cooper S was - that had 17" crown spoke wheels and tramlined like crazy, so the high crown in the road meant it was just constantly trying to throw you into a field. This one, on smaller wheels, gives you much more confidence. Of course you miss the poke from the turbo and there is a feeling of having to kick the car's head in to get any progress out of it but that becomes part of the fun.
Mrs B's first day back was a Friday so I checked the car over the weekend before. It had been used occasionally but not really done anything so it wasn't a great surprise to find the battery flat. A quick borrow of the jump pack from work sorted that out; oil topped up, tyres checked, a run out to charge the battery and we were good to go. I thought about just trying it again on the Thursday night but didn't, so of course on Friday morning it was flat again
Off Mrs B went in the Mazda leaving me with a dead car and two toddlers to get to nursery. Grandparents to the rescue for the latter and the local garage to the rescue for the former. Standing over the winter had killed off the battery so a replacement was fitted.
Since then the only other expense has been a new rear numberplate. I followed Mrs B home the other day and the condition of the old one irritated me sufficiently for me to order a new one when we got home. I think I need to seek therapy for this.
Lately it's been going well and the lighter nights have allowed me to prize it from Mrs B and get out on the local fell roads. It's actually nicer to drive on my favourite fell hoon than my R56 Cooper S was - that had 17" crown spoke wheels and tramlined like crazy, so the high crown in the road meant it was just constantly trying to throw you into a field. This one, on smaller wheels, gives you much more confidence. Of course you miss the poke from the turbo and there is a feeling of having to kick the car's head in to get any progress out of it but that becomes part of the fun.
Bit of an update to this.
In a plot twist, the CX-7 was the first to kick the bucket The Mini has therefore been joined by a new stablemate: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
During the demise of the CX-7, and wait for the new car, the Mini was thrown into use as the main family transport. Highlights of this period included:
- Coming home from Tesco with shopping in the footwells
- Mrs B taking up contortionism in order to perform a PCR Covid test on both kids in the back
- Getting stuck in a whopping traffic jam on a boiling hot day with no air con
- Assisting my mate, who runs a convenience shop, to collect a load of bagged ice from the cash and carry then trying to get it back before the ice melted
- And finally going for a weekend away at a relatively posh hotel (good old Clubcard vouchers) where it was the oldest car in the car park by about 14 years:
Despite the abuse, it went through its MOT last year without any major hassle and has generally been pretty reliable since - that is, up until last week when it limped home sounding like a Fordson Major. Fortunately this turned out be a dodgy ignition coil which we've had repaired - the car lives on and my hours spent fervently searching the classifieds for a Cooper S were in vain.
As we no longer *need* two cars the Mini is very much being run on a shoestring now. To us it's worth keeping though; it costs relatively little to insure and it keeps the miles off the Mazda (PCP yo'). We are going to have to replace the back wiper motor (again) though as you can't see out of the back at the minute...
I think we'll all be rather sad to see it go when it eventually gives up.
In a plot twist, the CX-7 was the first to kick the bucket
The Mini has therefore been joined by a new stablemate: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...During the demise of the CX-7, and wait for the new car, the Mini was thrown into use as the main family transport. Highlights of this period included:
- Coming home from Tesco with shopping in the footwells
- Mrs B taking up contortionism in order to perform a PCR Covid test on both kids in the back
- Getting stuck in a whopping traffic jam on a boiling hot day with no air con
- Assisting my mate, who runs a convenience shop, to collect a load of bagged ice from the cash and carry then trying to get it back before the ice melted
- And finally going for a weekend away at a relatively posh hotel (good old Clubcard vouchers) where it was the oldest car in the car park by about 14 years:
Despite the abuse, it went through its MOT last year without any major hassle and has generally been pretty reliable since - that is, up until last week when it limped home sounding like a Fordson Major. Fortunately this turned out be a dodgy ignition coil which we've had repaired - the car lives on and my hours spent fervently searching the classifieds for a Cooper S were in vain.
As we no longer *need* two cars the Mini is very much being run on a shoestring now. To us it's worth keeping though; it costs relatively little to insure and it keeps the miles off the Mazda (PCP yo'). We are going to have to replace the back wiper motor (again) though as you can't see out of the back at the minute...
I think we'll all be rather sad to see it go when it eventually gives up.
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