Motoring crossroads

Barmy_Army_92

I have 2006 MINI cooper, owned it for 4 and 1/2 years, bought it outright for just over £3,000. I've probably spent another £1,000 on repairs etc, needed a new clutch, bushes, and backbox [amoungst over things over this time]. Unfortunately, in recent weeks its developed electric faults, most likely caused by a faulty body control module, with an estimated repair cost of £500-£600. In short, i'm thinking its time to get rid. 

The car will be doing a lot of short trips through the week, I don't particularly want to move to a lower horsepower car, as the 1.6L Mini has been an enjoyable drive, and one of the key requirements of the car will be driving up the Lake District and some of the challenging roads up there. Sadly, looking on autotrader it doesn't look like there are many options fitting the bill below 5k. I've shifted my thinking to spending in the region of 7k-9k, my question is then on what? And how to pay for it? For the price, i don't want to be shelling out at the garage every year. 
Me and my partner will be sharing the car, we are renting currently, and I have savings to cover the cost, but we are looking to buy in 12-18 months. 

AdrianC

I'd go with "Better the devil you know".

£500 or so in sorting the electrics on your Mini, which you know has a good clutch, exhaust, bushes... Or an unknown that takes a big chunk away from your future plans.

clive0510

its up to you. you can get some good deals right now on new cars. with used cars you get what you pair for. sometimes its out of the frying pan into the fire...........

Grumpy_chap

Is the £1k repairs over 4 years of ownership, or recently?  If over the 4 years, and the £500 now is going to keep you good for another year, then I'd get spend the £500.  
If you do decide to swap to a different car, the Mini is a great car and loads of fun, but you could also consider a Fiesta as an alternative with good driving characteristics.

jimbo6977

A 2006 1.6 MINI, from my experiences of driving them in the Alps, is not a particularly enjoyable drive. In a hilly region, torque is king! A 1.4 TSI VAG motor in a Golf or A3 or whatever will probably be a more enjoyable drive than your 1.6 MINI. 

daveyjp

1.4TSi for £7-9k?  They want reliability, that choice is Russian roulette with only one empty chamber.

I'd pay the £500 and get the car I know fixed.

jimbo6977

daveyjp said:

1.4TSi for £7-9k?  They want reliability, that choice is Russian roulette with only one empty chamber.

I'd pay the £500 and get the car I know fixed.

If I had to drive a 2006 Bini uphill (and there was a time when this was indeed something I and past colleagues had to do regularly), I'd be looking to get a different car.

As to reliability, the lack of performance tended to result in overuse and premature wear in gear linkages and brake components.

You could accuse us all of driving like muppets, but I never had any problems with, for instance, the Clio mk2 1600 I used some of the time in the same hilly environment. 

cymruchris

If there are no other known underlying issues - I'd probably get the Mini fixed up and let it run another year. Whatever you buy could have anything go wrong in the first few weeks - and imagine if you had to fit a new clutch - you'd be kicking yourself for not keeping the Mini  

Alanp

Suzuki swift..?

Barmy_Army_92

I paid approx £100 for a diagnostics at a dedicated MINI garage, and luckily the fault was with the rev counter not the body control unit, which cost £18 to replace from Ebay. Happy motoring for a bit longer, thanks for the advice everyone. 

noclaf

Op, I'm in a similar boat to you...don't want to take finance or drop a wad of cash on a new(used) car as saving for a property deposit so I'm still driving my 15 year old shed, am slightly self conscious when I rock up at places but it's been so cheap to run and maintain. Also helps that it's a fun car to throw about on the twisties! It has subframe rust and needs new tyres soon but most importantly passed its MOT last month so I will just run it into the ground whilst it's still going though I think it would keep going for years aside from the rust that will actually kill it.
By end of this year I would of spent £300-400 on servicing and consumables but as others have said better the devil you know and all that.