Mini one as first car?

[Steve (sdh2903)]

My step son has his practical test coming up in 3 weeks God help us. So attention has turned to sorting a car. Now obvioulsy insurance restricted we've done a ruck of comparisons on every small car I can think of. Before this id been pointing him towards Citroen C1/pug 107/aygo which are all the same car anyways.

However strangely the Mini one in either 1.4 or older 1.6 petrol or 1.4 diesel are coming in within 20 quid or so of the insurance of the C1 gang. I have been trying to persuade him the c1 etc will be cheaper to run/service/repair but his heads been turned by the Mini (to be fair as would mine)

So has anyone ran one? Are they expensive to run? I've read the usual buyers guides etc.

He's only part time working at present around 6th form so total budget is 3k for car and insurance so if it's a mini it's going to be 2002-06 vintage whereas the c1 would get a 2008-10 model. 

 

[DonPeffers]

C1s have had a bad rep. re. clutch worn out at 30k miles.

[Thrustyjust]

Mrs used to be a driving instructor and used a mini one. This was very trendy with the learners and moreso than a C1 etc. It seemed a good car, although the Yaris she bought afterwards was easier to drive. Remember that Mini ones of that vintage had gearbox problems if its a 5 speed. The bearings were in plastic spacers , which with heat cycles made them last 80 to 100k miles before disintergrating. Other than that , we have had a JCW of that era and was pretty good. Steering pump is also a consumable.

[groucher]

just be careful about going to the dealer for any spare parts, I've just done a head gasket on one for a mate a work, and some of the dealer prices for parts are expensive.

Other than needing mini hands to work on the engine, it was a straight forward job.

My own son has his 17 birthday in 3 months, and I was thinking mini or 1L corsa might do the trick for a few years to keep costs down.

regards

scott

[B.RAD]

Our neighbour has a new Mini, was her car first and then became her 17 year old daughters first car. They've had nothing but trouble with it, everyone I know who has had one has found them to be a nightmare in running/repair/servicing costs, and as a first car their feedback is that it's not great - for a small car it has a long wheelbase and a crap turning circle, making it fairly difficult to park for a small car. That combined with the constant issues has them looking to get rid asap.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

I must admit I'm a bit concerned it's a bit too much of a car for him to start with on his budget, but trying to get it to sink in is like trying to explain to the Mrs she doesn't need another pair of shoes. Even just simple things like tyres are considerably pricier.

[SootySport]

Don't buy the early 5speed models, gearboxes are made of chocolate.

[Rhett Turner - Black Country AO]

The other think with the 107 etc is that they are very cheap to tax, not sure of the mini and seem to run on vapour, my daughter has had one for year and won't part with it. She needed a slightly bigger car for work but still would not get rid of the Pug. It's been reliable bur not perfect, as long as you've got a good independent garage then when it's needed work it has not been expensive. If you look keep an eye out for signs of water ingress (passenger door, boot area) as they can have issues in those areas, it tends to cause condensation issues.

Another point of notes is that because they tend to be cheap to run and insure they seem to hold their value well, I have not looked presently but she'd had it for several years and pranged it, when I say it I thought it could be a write off so did a bit of research and it had hardly lost any value in the three or so years she'd had it. that was 4 or 5 years ago.

[Thrustyjust]

We have an 18 month old Skoda Citigo Monte Carlo as the pop around car. It will be my sons in under 2 years. Costs peanuts to run. Group 2 insurance. Mayba bit pricier, but we picked an ex skoda car for 7.5k with 5k miles on the clock. Cant fault it at all.

Car insurance usually look at statistics to show an 18yr old with a corsa is more likely to crash in the first year than an 18yr old in a Kia Picanto. The usual suspects such as Corsa and fiestas get a higher premium to other cars outside the usual 'lads first mota'

Statistics are usually pretty right, as my daughters friends , all male, crashed pretty soon to passing their tests. Sadly its true and although if I caught my son driving like a tw@t , the car would be sold and he would be walking. Thats 2 years before that happens. He is currently learning to drive and has been doing pretty well. 

[B.RAD]

^ good advice. Can't go wrong with the Skoda. Fabia is a great car too.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

We sat the other day and did comparisons between KA, C1,C2, 107, 207, fox, polo, fiesta, mini, aygo, yaris, corsa, twingo, clio, ibiza, and a couple of obscure ones such as a hyundai i10 and kia picanto. They all ranged between 1000 and 1300 so not a massive spread really with the mini and c1/107/aygo being the cheapest of the lot.

Tax wise yes the c1 esque group are 20 or 30 quid a year, the minis are 115. So not a big difference but all adds up when on a budget. Minis get maybe 35 to 40 mpg, vs the 107 at 50 ish. Again all adds up.

I think I'm going to persuade him away from the minis at least until he's working full time.

Doesn't help when his spoilt s**t of a mate turned up the other night in a brand new audi A1 after deciding he didn't like the corsa he'd been bought, Age 17 and been driving 3 days. How does that help the kids learn the value of anything?

[Thrustyjust]

One of our apprentices had a Volvo V40 estate 1.6 petrol. Full leather, air con, cruise yadda yadda and was cheaper to insure than a basic corsa. 

As for the lad in the Audi, its the way of the world. I wont get drawn into this as we are skint  The Skoda will be 4 years old and we will have known most of the history of it when he has it. We did the same with the daughter. I dont wont an older car I need to be fixing all the time. Also newer cars are safer , cheaper to run and tax.

[Lyonspride]

1 hour ago, Thrustyjust said:

One of our apprentices had a Volvo V40 estate 1.6 petrol. Full leather, air con, cruise yadda yadda and was cheaper to insure than a basic corsa. 

 

This is a shocking truth that most people don't seem to understand, small cars are typically driven by new drivers, they are therefore considered high risk and regardless of insurance groupings, do cost more to insure.

Back in the late 90's, a friend of mine had a 2L Volvo 240 as a first car, insurance was less than half the price of my 998cc Austin Metro.

 

[Peter (Monty)]

I learnt in a Mini Cooper (about ten years ago now), although if memory serves it might have been a 1.8 or something. They are nice cars although certainly not mini in any sense now...

I got an 09 Grande Punto as my first car and am still running it today, so there's no guarantee it won't last him a long time. Mine is approaching 100k miles so I'll probably switch it out for something more interesting after the Westie is built. But it's served me very well.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

We did look at a few oddball larger cars but it seems for 1st year at least the bigger the car = bigger the premium. Plus with the bigger cars comes bigger running costs which is the critical issue at present with his part time working. 

He seems to be accepting of the 107/aygo option now and we've agreed that in 6-12 months if he's kept it in one piece and he's earning a few extra quid there's no reason why he can't look at upgrading then.