BMW Minis

[Bailes1992]

I've always hated the BMW Mini, always thought of it as a hairdressers car. Always thought it was made to be easy to drive 'girls' car aimed to keep the masses happy.

Yesterday my Fathers 6 month old 3 series went in for repair to fix the faulty start stop, the broken windscreen wipers, intermittent instrument cluster failure and broken screen washers.
They phoned up at 3:30pm saying all was fixed and to come pick it up. So me and the girlfriend went down to Cardiff so I could pick it up on behalf of my father.
Long story short they done a software update on the BMW and didn't think to make sure the fault was fixed. After I dragged my feet and kicked up a fuss they gave me a BMW Mini

It's a BMW Mini Cooper 'London Edition'. It has full leather, climate, cruise control, iDrive, trip computer and a lovely 1.6 N/A engine.
The engine has a nice amount of torque right across the rev range, you can get a move on yet never really take it above 4k. Yet will scream down to 6,500rpm quite happily!

I am seriously impressed with it, you can chuck it about and thrash the living daylights off it without fuss. Yet it has a ride that could shame most higher end cars, especially on the motorway. 60mph is dealt with in 6th gear at 2000rpm, the engine doesn't labor or struggle, put your foot down and it will pull quite steadily. Nothing like a diesel, but it's adequate!

I really am surprised by how good of an all rounder it is. Really good fun to drive yet can be extremely civilized when you need it to be.

Sat on Autotrader now seeing what I can afford. Maybe a nice Cooper D?

[lozz]

The minis are alrite,

one big problem with them atm, so it seems, there on the hit list,
theres been loads going out to the car in the morning, to find bits missing, Mirrors headlights and wheels,

My guess is there going to end up sky high on insurance,

is there a Shortage of parts for them ?

plenty of info on the forums
http://www.mini2.com/forum/general-disc ... rrors.html

[Ares]

I belive they are quality car as much as a car can be in this times but i must say they look horribly,that look,i like mini morris,but this new mini is simply
small,roundish,girly ....but i like long cars like 406 so i am not objective

[steve_earwig]

So you prefer phallic cars (i.e. penis-shaped cars) to ones shaped like breasts

I reckon the beef we all have with the bmw mini is that it looks like a proper Mini, when they were first released in the 60s they were small, economical, innovative, easy to drive and above all, fashionable and BRITISH. BMW are just trying to cash in on this (like VW's horrible new beetle and Fiat's whatever it's called) but their Mini is a fat pig by comparison. Anyway, if you do get one we promise not to mention handbags too often and you'll be able to keep us entertained by the same sort of trouble-free motoring your father is enjoying with his 3 series

Btw has anyone else noticed that the design of the rear ends of current bimmers makes them look like they've already been rear-ended?

[Ares]

So you prefer phallic cars (i.e. penis-shaped cars) to ones shaped like breasts

hahah yep,i love that phallic shaped car

Btw has anyone else noticed that the design of the rear ends of current bimmers makes them look like they've already been rear-ended?

Few weeks ago i mentioned that to my dad,they look ok but the rear could be better.

[rwb]

Don't BMW get their small petrol engines from PSA?

I'd have thought they'd have made them themselves since they shamelessly pillaged Rover for technology to make small cars.

[rapport25]

And diesels :-):-):-)

[rwb]

Don't PSA get their small diesel from Ford? lol

I was thinking of the 1.6, but isn't there also a 1.4? Do they put that in mopeds?

[Bailes1992]

Earlier Cooper D's used a PSA 1.6 diesel pump.
Later ones used BMW's own engine. More power and better economy.

I don't think I will get one, spend abit much on it the last month or two on the mondeo (and someone keyed my f*cking bonnet ) so I'd be loosing alot of money.

I'm hankering after a second car though and had my mind set on a Mondeo ST200 for a while. Maybe an early 2003/2004 Mini Cooper would be the way to go?

BMW's don't come with the 1.6 Diesel though. The smallest diesel engine you can have in any BMW (Bar the mini) is the Twinpower 2.0 Diesel.

[steve_earwig]

You're after a second car? Are you made of money? Can I have some?

[rwb]

*** gets in the queue

(3-series in the family implies more brass n sense :p )

[Bailes1992]

You're after a second car? Are you made of money? Can I have some?

I think I have more money than I actually have Thus why I own the car I do!

Somone has key'd the bottom of my bonnet, going to cost me about £150 to have it smart repaired

Oh and it's cheaper to lease a 3 series than a MK4 Mondeo even though the Mondeo was £4000 less! Go figure.

[steve_earwig]

Anything to do with the BMW's shorter average life expectancy? None of it makes any sense to me, I'm always wondering if there's some financial skulduggery going on in the background that we don't know about, like Pug insurance being much more expensive yet they're far less likely to be driven by reckless imbeciles, how does that work?

[lozz]

You're after a second car? Are you made of money? Can I have some?

I think I have more money than I actually have Thus why I own the car I do!

Somone has key'd the bottom of my bonnet, going to cost me about £150 to have it smart repaired

Oh and it's cheaper to lease a 3 series than a MK4 Mondeo even though the Mondeo was £4000 less! Go figure.

Theres some bastards out there, what do they get out of scratching peoples cars

[rwb]

Somone has key'd the bottom of my bonnet, going to cost me about £150 to have it smart repaired

It's sickening
Can't have owt can you.