i would say go for the stripped but after driving my used 2002 cooper i have to say the sports seats are great and i wouldn't want to have a car without them.

I don't have cruise control and i figured i could probably add it later like i did on my XB scion but the dealer said it would be very costly. (dont remember the price)

With that said if i would of ordered a new stripped mini knowing what i know now i think it would be a mistake. but i would rather have a stripped mini than no mini.

 

Another fan of the lightly-optioned MINI here, too!!

 

I got my 2007 MCS with the cold weather package, sport package, sport suspension, LSD and the MFSW. Oh, and rubber floor mats. $25K plus tax. Not completely bare bones but close. Good performance, light weight, everything I needed to really enjoy the Mini and nothing more. And, has been said already, the resale will still be pretty good.

 

^^^^...and it looks good in snow!!!

 

I am going to be receiving my stripped MCS 6-spd within 2 or 3 weeks. I just need a car not an options and I think I will be happy.

 

Mine is lightly optioned just like I wanted and it only cost me $25k. Besides the standard stuff, I have the MFSW, Cruise Control, Limited Slip Differential, 17" Crown Wheels and Roster Red/Piano Black interior. It was light on the pocket book and has less things to go wrong...

 

Mine is lightly optioned. You can do w/ out everything but the turbo.

 

Maybe not, but it's the only way to get cruise control, and that MAY factor in. It certainly makes a trip nicer.

 

Unless you're "dumping" the car in a short time, I'd worry more about YOUR desires, not resale. Don't you want LSD, for example? And if you're in the country, xenons? What about a safety feature like DSC? I optioned mine out to what I thought I'd like, and one year later the only thing I'd change would be to add rear fogs. I could have added a lot more, but I'm happy with a mid-price MCS.

 

Lightly optioned is good!!! If I had speced out a 30K+ mini, I'd have bought something else. (like a 135I)

If DCS and MFSW were standard I could buy a car off the lot. But with keen marketing they leave out a couple of key options from the standard list to get you in the configurator and into the youification bug. Don't buy it, get exactly what you need and want and if that is lightly optioned, then go for it. I kept mine fairly lightly optioned, base cooper at 21,900, but even then, I probably over did it a little. If I were to do it again, it would be closer to 20,500-21,000.

On a DSC footnote it is interesting to note that DSC is standard on the clubman for 08, but not on the Coopers. I'm wondering if that says more about the engineers at BMW impressions of driving dynamics of the longer wheel base or are we going to finally see dsc standard across the brand?

 

I still support getting the sport package as i've mentioned
in my other posts.

My mini is stripped down except for sport package
(bought off the lot) I don't regret it at all.

I do regret not getting a new mini stripped down
back in 2005. I was trying to hold out for
fully loaded but never really came up with the money.
So I got a used 3 series fully loaded.

stripped new mini > x 100 used fully loaded 3.

 

My MINI is fairly well optioned and I love it, but I think you hit on the two most essential options there and they're not very expensive.

I don't know about the newer cars (mine is 9/07) but I am also very glad I got rain sensing wipers. I never use the intermittent setting because it's just too darn fast, but if they've fixed that, stock wipers would be fine.

 

We were trying to keep the purchase price reasonable on our R56. So, my partner and I went back and forth and any options had to have some kind of "justification."

Here's the list of what we ended up with and why :
- Sport seats (I drive the car 100 miles a day and these felt better)
- Cold weather package (for the seat heaters, see above)
- Front & Rear fogs (to increase our visibility)
- Sunroof (because she wanted the view)
- 16" Crown Spokes (because I liked the looks)
- MFS (because the MA threw it in insisting that it would help resale)

We're almost 10k miles into it and I like the combination.
Plus, it fills up all of the switches on the console ...

Peace !
Spearsy

 

Certain options add some value, but not the cost of the option to the resale...

I'd llok closely at the options that you cannot easily add later, and consider only those... 17" wheels, leather seats, painted interior bits, ect. can easily be added, so I'd skip those, but sunroof or DSC or LSD or Xenons would be more difficult.

BTW, my R53 has cruise, trip computer/mutli fxn wheel, and LSD.
on the rare occasion, I'd have liked the sunroof or heated seats... but I bought the car CPO.
I passed on heavier optioned cars for this one due to its lower mileage and lighter weight = more fun + better handling...

HTH!

 

I forwent the MFSW not because of the money, and I certainly wanted cruise control. Then why didn't I get it? I hate buttons on my steering wheel!

 

The MFSW might not strictly add to the resale value, but good luck selling a car without cruise control to a private party, especially a "premium" car like the MINI.

 

It's just a hatch. A fun hatch but just a hatch.

 

You weren't talking about mine, were you? Because I wrote the check for about $27,000, INCLUDING tax, title, license. That's a purchase price right off the MINI website, no special deals.

 

Another reason is that you can routinely get Mazdas for quite a bit under list price with a rebate on top. But I don't understand 30k for a regular 6. We paid less than that for our Mazdaspeed 6 GT.

Cars are a bit like houses - you never want the most expensive one in the neighborhood because you'll suffer on resale. I'm sure that 30k+ MINIs do better than 30k Mazda 6s but they probably still take a beating relative to a moderately optioned car.

 

To me, Ive always liked the added features on most cars. and if price is an issue then why not get a nicely equipted mini that is a few years old with an extended warranty? youll be better optioned for less $ and still covered.

 

No I was just thinking in general. I have a MC anyway so 30k+ would be really heavy optioned hence my comment. You have a MCS, so in my book 27K is not heavily optioned.

 

Minimalistic 2008 MC with:
Floor and boot mats
Cruise Control
Heated Seats (Cold Package)
Bonnet Stripes

$21,000 on the road
Greg

 

Try to get the mats free--they were thrown in with mine, and I've heard that's common at the various dealers. I might add that I was in the process of adding them to my order when they were "thrown in."

 

Minimalistic 2008 MCS with:
Carpeted floor mats and limited slip
$22550 out the door with TTL
Loving every minute of it!!!!

Would have bought used "but" used was more expensive.

 

It matters not a bit what you pay as to resale value. You'll get more for a heavily optioned Mini and less for bare bones. Like many have said just get what you can afford and what you really want on the car. Somebody will buy it when it's time to sell.