Thinking of buying a Mini (old skool)....

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... so your thoughts on the matter would be appreciated!

I need a car for getting to work and it needs to be fairly cheap to buy (c£1000-£1500), cheap to insure, cheap to run, reliable and fun.

Now my question is will a Mini fulfill these requirements. My other car is a TVR Chimaera (without PAS) and where I will be working has the nastiest car park so a small car would be more suitable.

Am I hoping for too much here from the Mini?

Over to you chaps and if any of you have one to sell/know of a good one in my price range, please feel free to e-mail me.

Ohhh, and what models are best to go for and what dates?

Thanks!

Ace-T

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Thanks very much for the replies guys.

A bit more info, we have had classic MG's for a while and ran them as everyday cars so not that bothered about the more modern comforts . Judas will be driving the Chimaera and I will be driving the Mini for the most part however swapping occasionally would be on the cards (and he is 6' with disproportionally long legs) so possibly this may need to be taken into account too.

Cheers

Ace-T

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Mustard you are spot on, it probably will become another plaything. But I don't think I can go back to blandoid Eurotrash

Swind, I already have an MGB roadster too so if we do get a Mini we will start charging for entry to the museum!!!

Don't wanna buy foreign rubbish, good old British trash is good enough for me!

Ace-T

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An unexpected party! Well almost.

Met a neighbour tonight who has a new BMW mini (no shouting please I used to have one too ) and we got chatting. Turns out another neighbour is the head of the Notts Mini club. So we have spent a very enjoyable evening with them drinking beer and talking cars - Cool!

Going to the next meet and he is going to let me know about the price of a couple of cars he knows are for sale!

It was the least I could do to offer passenger rides in the TVR's! My quest for a Mini is well and truly started!

Will keep you posted

Ace-T

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Well we did have an interesting weekend.

Went to our local Mini dealers and saw quite a nice silver Mini Equinox. 30k on the clock, P reg, neat inside, pretty good body work. Dealer originally sold the car a year or so ago and had it back as part ex for a bigger car cos they had a kid.

Now the dealer has given me a price but says it would be negotiable. What kind of numbers do you guys think it should be?

Secondly, we went to see a Mini Cooper today. It was owned by the neighbour of a close relation. We take the checklist from Minimans web site (thanks mate - very comprehensive! So we take it for a test drive after checking it and when we get back we tell the bloke that we are interested but that we have to get a second opinion from someone who knows what they are talking about and do the standard HPI check etc. He then turns round to us and gets really upset saying we have accused him of trying to sell a pup and that he is upset that we would think such a thing especially as he is a neighbour etc, says he is not selling the car to us then storms into his house.

We just stand there on his drive absolutely gobsmacked (even our relative couldn't work out what we had said to upset him so much). It was like someone had turned a switch on. It was totally Just worried now that the relative is going to get fallout from this

We of course are not going to be buying the car now. Shame because it had a few questions but didn't seem bad overall.

People are weird...

Anyway, any help with the Mini Equinox would be gratefully received

Ace-T

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Well I've done it! I've bought a Mini Equinox

We decide that it would be a better investment to go for something that we could get rid of very easily if we need to, for the same or similar price that we bought it at.

Went and checked it out thoroughly today using the checklist (thanks AGAIN Miniman - and for that other offer too ).

The bodywork is in very good nick, so is the under carriage (old waxoyl on it) the engine is smooth, gears are good. Has got service history too. Got 3 month warranty parts and labour (as I will be doing a least 50 miles a day I reckon it will go sooner rather than later if there is anything wrong with it), new stereo, new MOT, a years tax, HPI report is clear (only 2 previous owners). Dealer is going to fit the longer chair runners for free and we got him down on price too.

And the insurance is with Tesco at £195.

Piccies are here:

Front
Back
Threequarter
Rear threequarter
Badge

Ace-T

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mustard said:

So come on Ace-T, just how much did the £1500 budget grow by? LOL Looks nice (for a mini ) where did you get him from in the end?

Um...enough to be embarrased by the question! But we have a master plan! It is waaayyy cheaper than the TVR's to run (obviously) so when I get a lift into work Judas will be using the Mini instead of the Chim. If we need to sell, it is in a very tidy condtion and will have the majority of a years tax and MOT which means we should get back most if not all that we paid for it.

So pretty much cheap as chips motoring! Thank you to everyone who has offered help and advice - you are all stars!

Ace-T

PS Got it from a local dealer BTW.

>> Edited by ace-t on Saturday 27th March 23:49

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We have got it! Woohoo!

More pics will be issued when it stops raining!

Ace-T