Recommend me a car...(NLC)

[Sanjøy]

You can get a lot of 60 plate Saab for you money.

[Fluoxetine]

After all that... New car selected, paid for tonight, and to be collected from the dealership tomorrow - all going to plan.

for everyones input!

[Fluoxetine]

So, in summary:

Fun to drive (Road only...Won’t be tracked...)
Economical
Reasonably reliable (or still under warranty!)
Practical(ish) – Needs to cope with an Ikea trip etc, so two seaters are out
Decent array of toys (prefer leather / Bluetooth / iPod connection / nav if possible)
Newer than 01/09/08
Emissions preferably less than 155g/km (£325 PA to tax) – At the very most, 170g/km (£475 PA to tax).

Finally, the budget – Around the £12-14k mark.

So, having decided to keep the peasant spec Peugeot and buy a bicycle for Ireland, I had a wobble and ended up back at square one - I wanted something fun to drive, which fitted with the above criteria.

Many hours of web trawling / deliberation resulted in a decision to get something which was sub-1600cc.

More deliberation excluded the 500 Abarth - Did the small Fiat hatch thing with the Panda 100HP, and the 500 shares much of the Panda's DNA.

In the end, I elected to be a sheep and copy many SE members by purchasing a BINI... I know, I know...

Anyway, I plumped for the R56 Factory John Cooper Works - The engine's much modified from the standard Cooper S, and apparently has 211bhp (although std cars have been spotted above 235bhp on the dyno).

It's also is the only MINI to have multistage DSC, adapted from RWD BMW's. Turn it off, and you have an e-Diff like the new Clio, which emulates an LSD.

Collected it this morning - First impressions are of a good quality cabin, faster than you'd think, and unruly when on the power over rough surfaces. Brakes (316mm 4 pot Brembo's on the front) are bloody good too.

But I especially like the part suede steering wheel (chunkier than the other MINIs). Sad I know.

Old & new...



It's really a BMW M0.5...





A nice place to cover the miles...

[GregR]

Great news, hope you enjoy it.

One request though, please stop capitalising Mini. Very few cars have their make in upper/lower case (Ferrari excepted) and no other brand owners do it

[rossybee]

Great news, hope you enjoy it.

One request though, please stop capitalising Mini. Very few cars have their make in upper/lower case (Ferrari excepted) and no other brand owners do it

Campbell started it

[pete]

Compared to the 205 I'm surprised how small it looks, in my head it would be bigger.

Nice car, look forward to updates. I followed one round Mull for a hile when the JCWs were just out (so Mk1 New Mini) and they make a lovely noise when they are angry, does pop quite so entertainingly on teh over run?

[Doc883]

Compared to the 205 I'm surprised how small it looks, in my head it would be bigger.

+1

[Fluoxetine]

To be honest, I'd never really given the MINI / Mini / mINI / MiNi thing much consideration - I just went with 'MINI', as that was the way the car is referred to in all the manufacturer's literature which accompanied it - I stand corrected

Compared to the 205 I'm surprised how small it looks, in my head it would be bigger.

Nice car, look forward to updates. I followed one round Mull for a hile when the JCWs were just out (so Mk1 New Mini) and they make a lovely noise when they are angry, does pop quite so entertainingly on teh over run?

The 205's actually 5cm longer - But the mini's 11cm wider.

The mini isn't too lardy, at 1150kg - Not quite the 740kg of the Pug, but it does have over 5 times the power, so shouldn't be too much of an issue...(!)

The exhaust still does the farty pop / bang over run thing -

Watch on YouTube

I know the mini gets a lot of hate on motoring forums, but I have to say I'm impressed so far. It's very capable, and fun to drive - Looking forward to seeing how it gets on at KH, especially on a wet TD...

[campbell]

Great news, hope you enjoy it.

One request though, please stop capitalising Mini. Very few cars have their make in upper/lower case (Ferrari excepted) and no other brand owners do it

Campbell started it

Accuracy matters.

[campbell]

F*ckin ell, they're ALL gettin em now man!

MINI. The new ELISE.

Don't you JUST luv IT

It's a MINI advenTURE.

Let's meet to compare shopping loads.

[rossybee]

MINIstry of finance has LOTS to answer for...