MINI One Convertible Auto - Yes or No?

MINI One Convertible Auto - Yes or No?

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ehyouwhat

Original Poster:

4,606 posts

218 months

Thursday 23rd February 2006
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Hi all,

Despite agreeing on the idea of buying a cheapish second-hand Auto car, the girlfriend is becoming very interested in the prospect of buying a new MINI convertible. She wants to budget a monthly amount for her car-related spending and so the MINI with TLC package seems like an ideal solution. However she does have a monthly spend-limit (with a little help from me) and so I think the 'One' is the only one really in her price range.

I used to own a MINI Cooper with JCW kit and I thought it was lovely machine. My girlfriend will need an auto box though, which is something I know nothing about.

What do you all reckon to buying such a car new? Is this a better option than buying used? Are they worth the cash, and do you expect residuals to be reasonable? Any advice given would be greatly appreciated.

ehyouwhat

Original Poster:

4,606 posts

218 months

Thursday 2nd March 2006
quotequote all
Girlfriend has now decided that MINI is definately the direction she wants to go, but she's not gonna bother with a convertible as she reckons she just won't use it enough.

So she's now looking at a brand new MINI Cooper auto. In terms of options she doesn't want to go silly, but she does want something that's got a bit of spec to it. So the suggestion so far is to have: CVT tiptronic box, chili pack (with half-leather, 16" alloys, trip computer, etc), auto air-con, heated mirrors and washer jets, xenon headlight pack, TLC package. It's coming in at about £16k I think which, whilst being a fair old wedge of cash, is not too much more than a poverty spec Corsa or something.

Do these options seem wise in terms of helping residuals, etc? Is there anything else that anyone would recommend? Does anyone know the difference between auto air-con and manual air-con, other than cost?

In terms of colour she wanted to go for the Black Eye Purple. However they are apparently ending production of this colour in week 14 (beginning of April) which is probably a month or two early for her. So she is now thinking of Solid Red with white roof, alloys and mirror caps.