Should I trade in my 05 for a 06? I've got a MCS CR/W premium/sport/PDC/crome in/out. I hit 20,o00 miles today. I will need new tires in prob 4-6 months. Thats about $1000-$1500. I figure my car is worth 3-4 grand less than I paid for it. Thats like $2000-$3000 when you factor in the tire cost. Note i'm in S. Florida.

I would prob. order almost the same car but perhaps in another color. The fun of getting a new one, the break in, the ordering, that new car smell.

Is it worth it? Has anyone sold their 05 down here? What did you pay/sell it for? Thoughts?

 

$1500 for four tires? Whats that like almost $400 each? Where are you buying these and are they made out of platinum or what?

Seriously.

$250 I can see and thats stretching it.

 

If you want a new car go for it....if you're trying to make it a smart move financially, I don't think so.

 

If anything, sell your car privately. Trade-ins are simply not worth it even with the "Tax savings" factored in. At 20K miles you still have a virtually brand new car, so why feel compelled to give it away to the dealership on a trade in?

If you want top dollar for your MINI, sell it privately and then order and new '06. I did this when I had my '04 MCS, which I sold privately here in Miami back in February, and then ordered a brand new '05 MCS. By selling it myself I automatically put in my pocket $3,900 cash. Otherwise I would have lost that much money on a trade in in either dealer or Carmax.

It is only worth it if you can minimize your loss to only the taxes/fees (Which are non-recoverable expenses) that you paid for your '05. I would say that if your loss between selling/trading your current car and getting the new one is more than $3K, probably financially it will make no sense.

The MINI has one of the highest resale values in the industry and that is a big plus if you want to upgrade to a newer car, but the reality of it is that getting rid of a car that has only 20K miles is not the most financially sound decision because you will still be losing money in the best of circumstances. The trick here is to keep your losses to an absolute minimum.


Other than changing colors/equipment, the 2006 MCS will drive identical to your '05 MCS, so think long and hard before justifying the added expense. When I sold my '04 and when to my '05 MCS I really felt the difference because of all the mechanical improvements MINI made to the car from one year to the next, so in that context, I felt the change was more than justified because the new car felt much better and drove a lot nicer.

Have fun and ask any questions as I have sold my share of cars privately.

 

I agree. $1,500 I would assume is tires + new rims?

Worn tires alone is a weak justification to trade in a car. Obviously it will be infinetely cheaper to buy new rubber.

 

I put my '04 MCS up for sale and the closest someone came to my price was $20,500... It had all the packs on and HK Sound and only 9k miles

The lesson I learnt... right now with all the additional discounts out there for new cars has depressed the used market across the board, irrespective of brand.

If I were you, I would keep the car a little while longer at least to let the market get over the 'employee discount' phenomenon that is going on right now...

 

There are no discounts going on for MINIs, period. Maybe a handful of very lucky people saving $500 or whatever, but that's it. And I don't know the percentage of people who shop the MINI against other cars that do have discounts, but I bet it's pretty low. Climbing, probably, but low.

I think the main factor in resale prices coming down is that, except for the unlucky folks in California, it's getting pretty easy to spec a new car and get it in six weeks for MSRP.

 

But the other lesson is the "optioned out" lesson. In general, loading your car with "options" will not get you anymore money at tradein time.

A different model, like a DX to a LX to an EX will. But not ... "autodimming mirrors" and crap like that.

As the prices for used MINIs drop, the people who have fully optioned out their cars will be regretting it.

I might add that is particularly true for:

1. Nav. Optioned at $2K ... aftermarket you can take from car to car $800

2. Leather ... personal choice, many ppl can live with and will not pay more for leather. I know I wouldn't pay $1300 for some leather seats

3. Driving lights optioned at $850+ installed. Aftermarket maybe $300.

 

We're waiting for the 07 model.

 

Why? That means your buying a car the first year in its production cycle ... meaning that you get to find all the problems with the new design.

No wait ... someone got to buy them. Good deal!

Just kidding

But you should be aware of the fact that first year cars usually have the bugs in them. Second year cars have most of them sorted out. By the third year, your pretty much settled down.

 

me too, but will buy it at the end of the year, after the first victims

 

First year production cycle of any car is considered to be "Beta testing". I don't think I will do that anymore. From now on, cars in 3-5 year production are safer bets.

 

A friend of mine just did a hybrid "buy from private seller through the dealer" (selling a BMW M3, buying a Porsche). I had never seen this before... The seller negiated the final price with the buyer. The seller then sold the car to the dealer who flipped it directly over to the buyer for the negotiated price. The seller paid a few hundred in fees to the dealer, but he got his trade-in tax break which more than paid for that. He also got a better price from the private sale than he would have from a pure dealer trade-in.

It all seemed pretty cool to me... I had never seen it happen before.

 

The only "optioned out" MINI owners who will regret it are those who plan to sell their cars. I don't - ever!

 

i bought mine for almost 2k under the original sticker price. 10/03 build '04, bought it 3/05 with 11k miles on the clock... from a DEALERSHIP.

Granted, the only options i had were the 16" wheels, sunroof, and the "spoiler." That's all i wanted/needed.

I don't really like any of the new stuff for the 05's/06's. Dont like the bumpers, lights, color options. I DO like the body color dashes. I'd be very happy with an 04 EB/W S, though

 

Wait til' you drive a '05 or '06 MCS and see if you still won't like it

I used to have a '04 MCS and while it was awesome at the time, I am glad I upgraded it to a new '05. The '05-'06 MCS accelerates much, much better and the exhaust pops and rumbles like never before.