- Joined
- Feb 10, 2017
- Messages
- 3,091
- Location
- Barrybados
- Car
- Toyota RAV4 3dr , SLK55amg, ML320 (2 ) A210 , E320 ( all gone )
Having decided we were in no hurry to replace my SLK 55 my wife's RAV4 decided to suddenly become unreliable ( now sorted at not inconsiderable expense ). 5 days without a set of wheels meant I was spending too much time on my iPad looking at cars for sale.
On checking my local garages I happened to see a lovely Bentley Continental with 39k on the clock and a brilliant service record.
Just had to check it out , but having done so remembered there was no way I could afford the sort of repair bills that might come my way , let alone the cost of servicing it.
However my wife had already told me many times she liked the Mini and that she would like me to buy my next car with seats she found comfortable and that she might enjoy driving.
I was suddenly drawn to a 2015 3 door Mini Cooper Automatic, basic spec, no extras but one lady owner and 19k miles on the website for a really good price, ignoring the Tesla, Viper , new Top Gear CooperS Rally car and others for sale!
The garage has a very good reputation locally so off we went to see it ( and the Bentley
)
Have agreed to buy it, having had a test drive, it has covered only 300 miles in the last 15 months but drove beautifully, remarkably quick ( well if not compared with the SLK )
It passed the MOT yesterday, no advisories, having a service tomorrow and a new boot seal as there was a sign of damp in the boot.
My wife is happy and I hope I will not regret it ( but already thinking about 16/17 inch alloys instead of 15inch and wishing it had not got halogens
Picking it up on Friday,
Hope moving to the dark side ( well Grey really ) will not mean my ejection from the forum
On checking my local garages I happened to see a lovely Bentley Continental with 39k on the clock and a brilliant service record.
Just had to check it out , but having done so remembered there was no way I could afford the sort of repair bills that might come my way , let alone the cost of servicing it.
However my wife had already told me many times she liked the Mini and that she would like me to buy my next car with seats she found comfortable and that she might enjoy driving.
I was suddenly drawn to a 2015 3 door Mini Cooper Automatic, basic spec, no extras but one lady owner and 19k miles on the website for a really good price, ignoring the Tesla, Viper , new Top Gear CooperS Rally car and others for sale!
The garage has a very good reputation locally so off we went to see it ( and the Bentley
) Have agreed to buy it, having had a test drive, it has covered only 300 miles in the last 15 months but drove beautifully, remarkably quick ( well if not compared with the SLK )
It passed the MOT yesterday, no advisories, having a service tomorrow and a new boot seal as there was a sign of damp in the boot.
My wife is happy and I hope I will not regret it ( but already thinking about 16/17 inch alloys instead of 15inch and wishing it had not got halogens
Picking it up on Friday,
Hope moving to the dark side ( well Grey really ) will not mean my ejection from the forum
) and the build quality is good for a relatively inexpensive car and discovered last night even the halogen headlights are very acceptable and the interior, even without any extras to the Std.spec, has LED, illumination of door handles and below the central controls , a very pleasant surprise. Front seats in the Cooper are comfortable although I must say we are both reasonably slim and both well under 6' but seems plenty of adjustment available. In all considering it was bought without too much thought and without driving it for more than 15 minutes and only about 4-5 miles it has turned out to be brilliant and it seems hardly to use any petrol despite being given plenty of heavy right foot! Am sure you will enjoy an S but might be worth trying a Cooper, the test figures don't show the S to be much faster.
