What car do I buy to replace mini?

motorguy

I_Love_Shoes wrote: »

Im looking at the Citroen DS3 but its only 90bhp and my mini is 150bhp for the same size engine (1.6) so that worries me a bit, plus the fact that its French!

Your car seems to be 110BHP, and the DS3 comes with a 110BHP variant from Sport trim upwards.

We dont think your car is 150BHP.... unless you have it modified?

steve-L

pgilc1 wrote: »

Your car seems to be 110BHP, and the DS3 comes with a 110BHP variant from Sport trim upwards.

We dont think your car is 150BHP.... unless you have it modified?

Might explain the 'expense' like new clutch/DMF ..... hard to increase the power without increasing the torque....

I_Love_Shoes

I have you all fooled- its 120 BHP standard and ive had 30bhp added to it, so mine is 150bhp which is pretty much equal to my OHs cooper S, but ALOT cheaper on fuel, 60mpg.
Touch wood my engine has been ok, its the other general stuff thats broken! I've had the DPF filter removed as that got blocked (never even knew it existed, wasnt informed at purchase it needs motorway drives often), the start/stop engine cut out got a hole in the pipe which needed fixing, plus the seat sensor kept going off when nobody was sat in the seat so that was replaced (under warranty luckily) and its just started to lose power now which I dont know what is wrong with it but this may be the first engine fault in it. So I cant really say the engine is awful. The last mini had done 150k miles and the gear box was about to die, but thats probably because of all the miles!
I couldnt drive a volvo, sorry but they are far too dull, even the hatchback new ones!

RDG

pgilc1 wrote: »

Was checking Parkers and they mention a 120BHP variant too - but just noticed there now thats from Aug 10 onwards.

I'd ruled out the SD on the basis that the O/Ps is worth a lot less than the cheapest SD would be.

So you're right it must be 110BHP then?

I thought the 2010 revision was still 110bhp but I could be wrong (current cooper D says 118 on the mini website)

I think most of the European supermini diesels come in at ~90bhp with the sportier models having a 110-120bhp in addition

RDG

Well if your car was modified your not really comparing apples for apples.

If your DPF went then you probably dont do the mileage to justify a diesel as they need decent runs to keep them clear.

If you dont like the volvo then either an Alfa as I suggested earlier or as someone pointed out a Nissan juke?

Herzlos

londonTiger wrote: »

This is a joke right? French cars are boring as hell to drive and have relaibility issues. Theyn only thing good abotu fgrench cars is their safety. But even then - there's just too many compromises to make for a little bit of extra safety.

Not at all, I'm pretty happy with my clio (2008 dCI), whilst it's no M3 it's a pretty impressive all round car for the size; great safety for the class, pretty decent handling, nice to be in, practical, etc. Have you driven a clio and what are you comparing it against?

I don't recall many people before accusing French cars of being boring to drive; the smaller ones tend to be quite good but the large ones regarded as being pretty wallowy. From my experience German cars are the most boring to drive; I'd take the Clio over a Golf/Passat any day.

French cars do have a pretty bad rep for reliability, but I imagine that's based on 10+ year old anecdotes, as I'm under the impression they have much more german/japanese underpinings these days.

LittleMax

almillar wrote: »

You're looking for a small car with character.
Citroen DS3 is a Mini underneath. Shared engines. It's as French as a Mini (OK, maybe a bit more French!)
Fiat 500 but you don't like it.
Beetle but you don't like it.
Guess that's the nature of fashionable cars!

Indeed - OP doesn't just want character, they want the same character as a Mini.

How about a Mini?

But OP will say, no because it's not reliable.

So you have to decide which is most important to you, reliability or character.

A lot of good suggestions have been made, but all have been rejected with little or no consideration. Seems to me that OP is trying to convince themselves that there is nothing else out there.

I_Love_Shoes

This is why I came on here because I have considered most of the ones mentioned, but they are just missing something!
I think I will give the DS3 a test drive and see if its as nippy as my mini

motorguy

I_Love_Shoes wrote: »

This is why I came on here because I have considered most of the ones mentioned, but they are just missing something!
I think I will give the DS3 a test drive and see if its as nippy as my mini

It will hardly be as your car is modified and it wont be, however as its the same engine, then presumably you could get the same mods done again?

Worth noting that at least some of your problems could be contributed to the engine mods though

I_Love_Shoes

I only had it modified in November though...
I was thinking of maybe getting it remapped if I get a DS3