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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 9:40:28 GMT
Looked at a potential purchase on Saturday. We were browsing to what might be for sale here that was LHD and might make a good car to use in Italy in lieu of the 500. Not looking for any particular make/model but happened to spot a delivery miles LHD 71-plate Mini One Classic 5dr up for sale in the outer parts of west London for £19,950.
It’s British Racing Green with a black cloth interior and a manual gearbox.
Decent amount of FG as it has around £7k’s worth of options (confirmed by ringing Park Lane and getting VIN checked):
Navigation Pack (which also includes Carplay)
Comfort Plus Pack (which includes heated seats, folding mirrors and reversing camera)
Driver Assistance Pack (active cruise)
17” alloys
Adaptive matrix headlights
Led Fogs
Heated windscreen
Roof rails
Piano black trim
The obvious question was how on earth did a LHD Mini end up on UK plates being offered with delivery miles in London? Especially since it was clearly a pre-facelift car that was older than its registration date. Turns out that it is a 11/2020 build which was apparently one of several cancelled orders built for a European market that then sat around, until Mini Park Lane eventually registered it in 01/2022 and then flogged it off with several other orphan left hookers to this s/h dealer. It wears Mini UK number plates and the V5 records BMW Park Lane as the registered keeper. Park Lane has confirmed that it had all the usual checks before registering and has a full three year warranty from Jan 2022.
In a way I don’t mind it being the “old model”, provided the price is right because the latest facelift has made the current Mini a bit uglier.
Thoughts? I basically told the dealer (who has it advertised as a Cooper Classic rather than a One Classic because he thought it was a Cooper, which he now needs to change) that if he thought it was worth £19950 as a Cooper with that spec, then as a One with the same spec it should be worth £1500 less… this is currently a sticking point between us!
There is actually a second delivery miles LHD one up for sale from the same original source at another s/h dealer - a grey Cooper Exclusive stickered at £22,950. But potentially less is more here.
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 9:43:04 GMT
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Post by Tim on Jun 27, 2022 9:44:22 GMT
What would the same car - on the same build date - cost you in Europe?
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 9:45:16 GMT
Unused, if you could find one, more. Plus we want to keep on Brit plates.
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Post by Big Blue on Jun 27, 2022 15:18:31 GMT
Our second car is a 3-door Cooper of that type. Buy it if you like it: they are basically little BMWs in all ways you can imagine. Cloth seats are a “plus” as far as I’m concerned and the spec on that is pretty much what we have - we have ordinary lights but do have HUD and a self shifting ‘box.
I guarantee you won’t dislike it.
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Post by Roadrunner on Jun 27, 2022 15:59:01 GMT
They are really good cars and the BMW DNA does really shine through. Go for it.
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Post by PetrolEd on Jun 27, 2022 16:16:05 GMT
Is This a car your leaving in Italy on a permanent basis?
If so is it not a bit too posh and would an Italian Panda not be a better bet fo a quarter of the price?
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 17:08:03 GMT
My wife has an irrational dislike of Fiat Pandas. No, not permanently. Original idea was to perhaps take the 500 down but it’s getting on and I have always found it desperately uncomfortable to drive for more than an hour tops so driving it 1,000 miles to Italy would be an ordeal, plus my wife is finally getting bored of it.
The idea was to get a small (but not too small) car that could easily do UK-Italy (and longer trips within Italy to say Puglia or Amalfi) without it feeling like an ordeal, and then be left in the garage there each year over the summer and mean we don’t need to rent something each time. Criteria: nice but not conspicuously fancy or impractical.
And obviously LHD would work well for that. Plus if we did eventually decide to re-register it in Italy, it would be much easier to resell in Italy as a left-hooker.
As for the model, my wife has never been a Mini fan, but these two left hookers popped up (and are very well-priced vs trying to buy an equivalent car in Italy), they seemed worth investigating. Post test-drive my wife is still not the world’s biggest Mini fan (she finds the interior dark and the dash design “messy”) but she did like the way it felt and drove, which is obviously much closer to my car than it is to a 500. So even if we eventually decide not to go for either of these, at least Minis are now options as possible 500 replacements whereas previously the idea was always shot down in flames.
We did also see low mileage LHD MX5 GT/coupe thing within budget which looked nice but (a) impractical and (b) automatic, which would be a bit of a tragedy in that sort of car.
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 17:09:00 GMT
Otherwise we end up leaving my car there for several months at a time and being without here.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jun 27, 2022 19:23:40 GMT
I struggle with the looks of the four door MINI but at the end of the day it’s a nice car to drive, we’ll specced, and ticks all the boxes. If the price is right it might be too good to pass up.
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Post by ChrisM on Jun 27, 2022 19:36:40 GMT
^
I also struggle with the looks but it seems a genuinely good buy so I'd contact the dealer tomorrow and offer £18250 if they can complete the sale this week (less whatever you think the 500 is worth if you are going to be trading it in)
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Post by PetrolEd on Jun 27, 2022 19:47:34 GMT
So with the Macan coming at the end of the year can you not just keep the 4 series, a car you love which is probably worth a similar amount to the mini but would tick all the boxes, apart from the LHD thing?
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Post by ChrisM on Jun 27, 2022 20:03:37 GMT
I think Mrs 'Tray may find the 4 GC a bit of a handful in London
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Post by Roadrunner on Jun 27, 2022 20:29:29 GMT
My only additional thought is that Cooper might be better suited to the cross-continent schlep than a One. I would also add that, IMO, the style-over-function design of the dashboard makes the HUD an essential option.
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Post by Martin on Jun 27, 2022 20:33:59 GMT
I don’t like the 5 door at all, but appreciate there isn’t a lot of choice when looking for a small LHD car in the UK. I don’t think a ‘ONE’ (1.2 / 100hp?) would be a great choice for longer cross continental trips either, even just a couple a year.
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Post by Stuntman on Jun 27, 2022 21:03:06 GMT
I think the exterior looks lovely, and perhaps very much in line with your personal tastes.
I also think that James, Martin and others have made good points about whether a Cooper might be better-suited to your intended use than a One.
Otherwise - I reckon it would make a fine purchase assuming it also gets the thumbs-up from Mrs Racing in terms of how it looks and how it drives.
Buona fortuna!
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 21:19:42 GMT
I struggle with the looks of the four door MINI but at the end of the day it’s a nice car to drive, we’ll specced, and ticks all the boxes. If the price is right it might be too good to pass up. You me both but I hadn’t appreciated that the 5dr has usefully more space, including a much more usable amount of boot space. |
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Post by racingteatray on Jun 27, 2022 21:27:20 GMT
I think the exterior looks lovely, and perhaps very much in line with your personal tastes. I also think that James, Martin and others have made good points about whether a Cooper might be better-suited to your intended use than a One. Otherwise - I reckon it would make a fine purchase assuming it also gets the thumbs-up from Mrs Racing in terms of how it looks and how it drives. Buona fortuna! The One was advertised as Cooper otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gone to see it. But I only discovered it when I fed the number plate into an insurance quote site afterwards. Which explained why it hadn’t felt as perky as I expected on a brief test drive. Needless to say Mrs RT felt it perfectly adequate. |
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Post by johnc on Jun 28, 2022 8:51:12 GMT
My daughter's Mini One will sit very comfortably on the motorway and it tramps along at closer to 80 with ease.
Back to back there isn't really much real world difference in the performance of a Cooper or a One. The Cooper certainly feels quicker away from a standstill but in everyday driving it isn't a great loss to have a One.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jun 28, 2022 13:29:01 GMT
When the MINI was first re-launched in 2001 the One and the Cooper used exactly the same 1.6 litre engine, with the One's just detuned in the ECU. It was a a simple re-programme to give a One the same performance as a Cooper. I don't suppose that is still the case.
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Post by johnc on Jun 28, 2022 14:08:18 GMT
When the MINI was first re-launched in 2001 the One and the Cooper used exactly the same 1.6 litre engine, with the One's just detuned in the ECU. It was a a simple re-programme to give a One the same performance as a Cooper. I don't suppose that is still the case. I think it is! |
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Post by Andy C on Jun 28, 2022 14:20:31 GMT
They are really good cars and the BMW DNA does really shine through. Go for it. I agree |
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Post by Roadrunner on Jun 28, 2022 14:36:38 GMT
When the MINI was first re-launched in 2001 the One and the Cooper used exactly the same 1.6 litre engine, with the One's just detuned in the ECU. It was a a simple re-programme to give a One the same performance as a Cooper. I don't suppose that is still the case. I think it is! Yes, they both share the same 1.5 three-cylinder engine. About 105 PS in the One and 136 PS in the Cooper. Both have a six speed box, but I don't know if the Cooper has a higher final drive ratio. 0 to 60 about 10.5 for the One and 8.6 for the Cooper, I think. Official MPG figures are much the same. |
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Post by PG on Jun 28, 2022 15:31:40 GMT
I think a Mini is a great shout as a smaller car that can do both local and longer runs. Subject to a coupe of caveats.
On the One v Cooper thing, before you buy it ask to go and take it on a good motorway thrash. And then do the same with the Cooper that is also for sale. I had a One as a loan car and it was perfectly OK on the motorway, just took a bit longer to get up to speed.
Also check on the motorway re tyre noise. Hopefully as a One it's not running on runflats. Our JCW runs on 17s and runflats and there is quite a lot of tyre noise at motorway speeds. Nothing like there was on 18's and runflats (which was why we sold them), but it is more than in a bigger car or in the One with 16s and no runflats that I've driven.
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Post by Grampa on Jun 30, 2022 11:46:17 GMT
A slippery slope - once you buy this and start enjoying it you'll soon want to swap it for a Cooper S or a JCW!
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Post by Ben on Jun 30, 2022 13:43:48 GMT
I like the colour, and these things are quite nice to drive. I actually prefer the One over the Cooper, because they fit right into the Mini ethos of less is more.
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Post by Big Blue on Jun 30, 2022 14:48:20 GMT
A slippery slope - once you buy this and start enjoying it you'll soon want to swap it for a Cooper S or a JCW! Plus it’s in THAT estate agency’s green…….. 😆 |
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Post by bryan on Jun 30, 2022 18:41:11 GMT
I think the 1.2/100bhp maybe a little weedy 5 up up a mountain pass but it chips to 130bhp
Personally I'd use the advert misprint to chip the other LHD cooper to a closer price. They are clearly an oddity with a limited market, if you go by reg date they have been hanging around 6 months already, so bargain hard!
Edit Just found them on Auto trader, the Cooper Exclusive has already dropped £2k since listed, if you like them I'd put a really low ball offer on the table and let it sit with them for a bit.....
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Post by Martin on Jun 30, 2022 20:10:49 GMT
I think the 1.2/100bhp maybe a little weedy 5 up up a mountain pass but it chips to 130bhp Personally I'd use the advert misprint to chip the other LHD cooper to a closer price. They are clearly an oddity with a limited market, if you go by reg date they have been hanging around 6 months already, so bargain hard! Edit Just found them on Auto trader, the Cooper Exclusive has already dropped £2k since listed, if you like them I'd put a really low ball offer on the table and let it sit with them for a bit..... A bit more off the Cooper because they’ve forgotten to add the top coat. Neither will be an easy sell. |
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Post by bryan on Jun 30, 2022 20:53:12 GMT
There is a rhd mini one, new for £19,990, 21 plate models with under 3k miles are c £18k and 70 plate models with 15k miles are c£16k.
Based on that the Mini one should be about £16-17k for a 2 yr old prefacelift LHD orphan.
At that price range perfect for your intended use once chipped
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