Today I am mostly wanting......

I confess I don’t know what makes DCT more fun/schporty than a normal auto?

I really like that MINI and for once, don't mind the black wheels (but i'd still prefer silver). The seats look really good.
My Mother in Law had a Cooper, then had a short spell with a 4 Series and now has the Cooper S. She is only 5' tall although she always says she is 5'1"

She enjoys the extra performance and still gets an easy 40mpg for the kind of driving she does. I also think the S looks better with its additional vents etc.

Ah, well, yes, that I can imagine. The 6spd automatic in my mother's 66-plate Countryman Cooper S is noticeably a generation behind the 8spd one in my 66-plate GC.

Apparently new car sales have dropped off a cliff and s/h not great either, due to consumers opting to wait and see what happens with Brexit and also Corbyn.

Sure those prices are great for cash buyers but for anything thinking of taking out a new 3-4 yr PCP, now doesn’t feel the most sensible moment unless it’s absolutely necessary.

My dealership contacts tell me it’s more to do with buyers not sure what’s happening with diesels and waiting to see what the electric market is going to look like.

But some of the discounts and very low or zero % apr's have to make this period about as cheap as they are going to get. A no deal Brexit will bring a minimum 10% tariff and that may also sway the manufacturers to produce less vehicles and maintain higher margins.

EDIT: I have a couple of used car dealers who operate at the up to £10K level with most of the stuff they sell - they can't get enough good stock to satisfy demand, so prices at that end of the market are firming up. A 4 to 5 yr old one or two owner small car with less than 50K on the clock will sell in a couple of days.

Just sold the Gt4 to get out of the high monthly payments. I don't want to be caught out if the bubble bursts. I may end up regretting that decision if the WTO adds a large chunk onto the cost of our cars.

I'll keep the Focus St as my run around until next year and see what the market looks like.

Sorry to hear the GT4 has gone Ed but the timing was probably right with the new GT4 and Brexit. A client of mine has just sold their FF RR and bought a 3 yr old Merc E Class with the balance left after clearing finance - he senses a lot of uncertainty and unease in the markets and the public at large. If a depression comes it will be an entirely man made one!

Must have been a difficult decision, but as others have said, I think your timing is pretty good for a number of reasons. £7k in 18 months is great value for money, will be difficult to do as well in the future with something special.

Anyway, what’s the point of a GT4 when you’ve got a Volvo Bus!

You've made me feel bad now...sorry!

Haha, I deserve the hard time to be fair.

See the thread about unexpected car purchases - I went from a Nissan 370Z to a diesel Micra.
Could've been worse though as we did consider a VW Up but that would've been in ultra basic spec with something like 66BHP 
Fortunately most of my mates are not car guys so any slagging is easily offset by pointing out the array of boring or shit motors they drive.

I want that.

Was having a chat with a mate yesterday and we both agreed that with a bit more garage space (and money) we'd both be looking at collecting a few unusual E39s - either something like the above or an Alpina. This was precipitated by one of his friends having just bought an Alpina B?? 4.4 estate in E39 flavour for a ridiculously small sum of money.

How much ??