speedzer

Hey guys

thinking about a mini for a week or so and I've become very interested. I'll prob be opting for the base hatch which for 17.5k isn't a bad price. So the question for members who test drove one or have one.

Can I just go the dealership and pick one off the showroom or does everyone have to order theirs? Also, can you haggle on the price or is it like the scion tc where its non-negotiable?

going to the dealership tomorrow. If the price and car is right, hopefully I can just drive one home and not wait for an order.

Shoofin

You could find cars available. It's just if you're being picky about colors and options, then you may have to order one, or have them change an ordered car. You could also haggle on price a bit, but there isn't a whole lot of money in it, especially on a basic car. Some area dealers may not even allow price negotiation because of low volume production/sales. There's around 1,000 between invoice and msrp for the basic cars, and the number goes up depending on how loaded it is. On a good note, the resale is pretty frikkin high. Also stick with the leatherette, looks better than the panther leather, IMHO (not to mention cheaper)

SpeedyV6

Try sending a pm to Moog-Type-S.

Stapler

I don't own one, but my mom is on her seccond, I had the oportunity to drive it back from the dealer the first day. Her other I drove quite frequently.

Her first car was a auto (cvt) mini cooper with pretty much all the options but sat-nav. She got it as 03 the october prior to 03. The build quality was pretty good, with good quality leather and the other fabric bits feel pretty good, but the plastic grey stuff on the dash was kinda chincy. It turned out to be a really nice highway car as it feels rock solid at high speed. Of-coarse being a mini and having such a short wheelbase it handles fairly well too even though she doesn't have any of the suspension or tire upgrades.

Since she got that car 1 window regulator died, and thats about it. The Tranny is quite odd though. Neither I or my Father got used to it as with the lack of gears it always felt like it was hunting for the correct ratio. The tranny also doesn't enspire faith in reliability for me either, but if your anything like me you will get a manual anyway so that doesnt really matter. Also there is one rattle in the rear hatch that developed over the last year.

Her new mini is the Cooper S with a couple less options than she got lastime, still a auto, but she ditched the dsc and full leather seats. Instead she went for the piano black interior which is leather and red cloth inserts. The interior does have much better fit and finish than the old car though, it even borows some of the little interior lights from my dad's old 740 making it look pretty neat at night. It turns out that the cloth attracts dirt though and is quite noticable. It's quite a bit twitcier than the other mini, it has the low profile tires and taughter suspension. Once againe she also went with a auto, but this one luckily is a conventional auto and as you may expece the extra 30 or 40 hp really make it pull quite well. The stiffer suspension makes it a bit nervous on the highway though, there were times when i went on over passes that the non s mini would have taken in stride that I thought I was gonna fly off the road. I did get to take it into some mountains a month or so ago, and I really couldn't complain about the highway anymore.

Usually you have to order it, depending on what city your dealer is in. The one here in Arizona only sells used mini's off the floor. But there are other dealers here in az with new mini's but they usually charge a premium as they bought them for the list price from a dealer in vegas.
The dealer here also doesn't do the haggling thing, you just print off what you want from the website, and thats the price (before tax). I have heard not all dealers do that either though. The wait times now arent that long I think, why my mom got her first one she had to wait 10 months from when she ordered it, her new one I think was only a couple.

Anywho, Cooper S manual with whatever should make most people happy. But you will be down on hp compared to a new civic si or jetta.

98CLChick

I drove a manual Cooper and I thought it was the slooooooooooowest car ever. But then again there was a beefy sales guy in the front seat and Jesal in the back.

ilitig8

In my opinion the most fun and character for the buck in new cars. You will probably have to order one to get what you want due to the huge number of combos and likely few/no strippers on the lot. This tends to be the way many BMWs and Minis are sold, outside of Porsche BMW/Mini probably does the most order cars.

gdcwatt

A friend had one for about a year, until the novelty wore off. It was great in the city traffic and good on gas. I think they had the S, and he said it was a lot of fun.

The killer was that they have a 9-year old son, and while the Mini seats 4 adults well, it's not so good for kids; the bottom cushion is too long for their legs, which then have to stick straight out, into the back of the front seat(s), which makes it uncomfortable for the people up front.

There are lots of comments on tirerack.com about the OEM tires; are they run-flats? The popular opinion seems to be "they suck."

DownUnder

You can get an '03 Cooper S with low miles for around $18 to 19K. I wouldn't even consider the base Mini.

speedzer

thanks for the replies guys...really appreciate it......now I'm kinda iffy on the mini. I'll still test drive one but will probably hesitate to pull the trigger. I'll see how it goes

speedzer

Holy crapper!!!! I just checked out autotrader for used Minis and I am shocked. Most were in the 24,000 miles and are going for 25k a pop. How can a used mini cost soo damn much? I think getting a new one is cheaper than what these sellers are asking.

agranado

yea, that might slow'r down

speedzer

came back from the test drive....one word to describe the car. AWESOME!!! I am in love with the car.... but damn, the dealer will not move on the price. not one cent. The sales guy basically said that Mini is a non-negotiable company. probably spewing bullshit to me.

The car is pretty peppy. I don't race so its perfect for me. One gripe about the car was the speedometer sitting smack dab in the middle of the car.

TypeSAddict

My dad has one that I have driiven pretty extensively. Very very fun car, but get used to fielding lots of questions from lesbians.

MJMeucci

If you get the nav the speedo moves to the "correct" location

Sarlacc

I built a mini vert a couple weeks ago, and loaded it up with all the goodies.....$50g

fuck that.

dark inspire

are you serious! DAMN!

SakiGT

I read up on the mini forums b/c I was interested in a nice looking fuel efficient 2nd car... The S's gas mileage we can discount due to the added power...but most people are only getting 24mpg on the n/a mini's Huh?? My modded turbo PT gets that.

speedzer

yup....the salesman even stated that they range from 17.5k to 55k loaded. I don't think minis are worth more than 25k.

Stapler

Another thing about my mom's mimi's, the S gets better millage than the regular cooper in city driving, but they are both about the same on the highway.

CL Platano

lol, that's hilarious I did see someone the other day with a rainbow flag on theirs..