Halting the horse power but increasing the fun - mini cooper
Discussion
Thought I'd share my latest purchase:
Had my Subaru Legacy for just shy of 3 years and it's been great, JDM import with the Twinscroll turbo engine and 4wd. Been very reliable but MPG in the low 20s and only being ran on Super unleaded was starting to hurt so I needed something smaller but still fun.
I need a car for work so had to buy the new before I sold the old, was expecting to wait a while with the Subaru as I know the market for these isn't huge.
Set about looking for a £4k ish Mini. When this one popped up 20 mins from home. Its a few years older than I was aiming for but was well under budget and being sold by a lady in her 70s selling as Grandkids were getting too big for the back seats, was in a really nice area, only 61k and mechanically spot on including a recent new clutch and 12 months MOT.
The bodywork had a few small dents and hadn't seen any polish in a long time.
Picked it up and got my good friend who is a PDR guy to remove some small dents, booked in for a full machine polish next weekend and then treated him (my son named him Josh, no idea why) to a few little bits: new wipers, spare key fixed and refurbished, new aerial and new number plates (not yet fitted)
I'm surprised how much fun he is, reminds me of the hot hatches I drove in my teens and twenties but with better build quality. Half the horse power of the Subaru but more fun.
Once the machine polish is done, future plans are a once over at the local independent mini specialist and a wheel refurb.
Photos as he is today, will post again after a polish
Haven't got the original order form so trying to work out the spec, so far I know it's Nightfire red with a white roof, has sports seats and steering wheel and a chrome dash, trying to find out what the wheels are called and anything else I can about the spec, any help much appreciated
Had my Subaru Legacy for just shy of 3 years and it's been great, JDM import with the Twinscroll turbo engine and 4wd. Been very reliable but MPG in the low 20s and only being ran on Super unleaded was starting to hurt so I needed something smaller but still fun.
I need a car for work so had to buy the new before I sold the old, was expecting to wait a while with the Subaru as I know the market for these isn't huge.
Set about looking for a £4k ish Mini. When this one popped up 20 mins from home. Its a few years older than I was aiming for but was well under budget and being sold by a lady in her 70s selling as Grandkids were getting too big for the back seats, was in a really nice area, only 61k and mechanically spot on including a recent new clutch and 12 months MOT.
The bodywork had a few small dents and hadn't seen any polish in a long time.
Picked it up and got my good friend who is a PDR guy to remove some small dents, booked in for a full machine polish next weekend and then treated him (my son named him Josh, no idea why) to a few little bits: new wipers, spare key fixed and refurbished, new aerial and new number plates (not yet fitted)
I'm surprised how much fun he is, reminds me of the hot hatches I drove in my teens and twenties but with better build quality. Half the horse power of the Subaru but more fun.
Once the machine polish is done, future plans are a once over at the local independent mini specialist and a wheel refurb.
Photos as he is today, will post again after a polish
Haven't got the original order form so trying to work out the spec, so far I know it's Nightfire red with a white roof, has sports seats and steering wheel and a chrome dash, trying to find out what the wheels are called and anything else I can about the spec, any help much appreciated
Looks very smart! Nightfire Red wasn't available for long, and I think it looks great with the white roof.
Your car has the 17 inch Crown Spokes, which were likely upgraded from 16 inch wheels that came with the optional Chili Pack, which it looks like this car has judging by the half leather sports seats and you mention the 3 spoke steering wheel.
The Chili Pack came with manual Air Con (upgradable to climate for a couple of hundred pounds), rear spoiler, sports seats, sports steering wheel, chrome exterior, rear fog light, and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. You can input the VIN into a VIN decoder which will tell you all of the options, however it's more fun if you can post a few pictures and see if we can work out your options
You also have the clear indicator lens option, a whole £50 back in 2008!
Being a Y* registered car, it's likely this would have been registered to MINI UK as a demo or a staff car.
Your car has the 17 inch Crown Spokes, which were likely upgraded from 16 inch wheels that came with the optional Chili Pack, which it looks like this car has judging by the half leather sports seats and you mention the 3 spoke steering wheel.
The Chili Pack came with manual Air Con (upgradable to climate for a couple of hundred pounds), rear spoiler, sports seats, sports steering wheel, chrome exterior, rear fog light, and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. You can input the VIN into a VIN decoder which will tell you all of the options, however it's more fun if you can post a few pictures and see if we can work out your options
You also have the clear indicator lens option, a whole £50 back in 2008!Being a Y* registered car, it's likely this would have been registered to MINI UK as a demo or a staff car.
okv3 said:
Looks very smart! Nightfire Red wasn't available for long, and I think it looks great with the white roof.
Your car has the 17 inch Crown Spokes, which were likely upgraded from 16 inch wheels that came with the optional Chili Pack, which it looks like this car has judging by the half leather sports seats and you mention the 3 spoke steering wheel.
The Chili Pack came with manual Air Con (upgradable to climate for a couple of hundred pounds), rear spoiler, sports seats, sports steering wheel, chrome exterior, rear fog light, and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. You can input the VIN into a VIN decoder which will tell you all of the options, however it's more fun if you can post a few pictures and see if we can work out your options You also have the clear indicator lens option, a whole £50 back in 2008!
Being a Y* registered car, it's likely this would have been registered to MINI UK as a demo or a staff car.
Thank you, I tried the inline decoders but not much luckYour car has the 17 inch Crown Spokes, which were likely upgraded from 16 inch wheels that came with the optional Chili Pack, which it looks like this car has judging by the half leather sports seats and you mention the 3 spoke steering wheel.
The Chili Pack came with manual Air Con (upgradable to climate for a couple of hundred pounds), rear spoiler, sports seats, sports steering wheel, chrome exterior, rear fog light, and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. You can input the VIN into a VIN decoder which will tell you all of the options, however it's more fun if you can post a few pictures and see if we can work out your options
You also have the clear indicator lens option, a whole £50 back in 2008!Being a Y* registered car, it's likely this would have been registered to MINI UK as a demo or a staff car.
Reg started YF if that helps, the service book shows PDI at Oxford then first service was at Blue Bell mini, does suggest that forms short term it wasn't with a customer
Roboticarm said:
Thank you, I tried the inline decoders but not much luck
Reg started YF if that helps, the service book shows PDI at Oxford then first service was at Blue Bell mini, does suggest that forms short term it wasn't with a customer
My old 330i was a YF car and had BMW UK plates rather then dealer plates.Reg started YF if that helps, the service book shows PDI at Oxford then first service was at Blue Bell mini, does suggest that forms short term it wasn't with a customer
Quite possible that it was a staff car given the MINI factory is Oxford.
It looks nice in that colour.
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