Hey all,

My wife finally agreed to let me buy a Mini!!!

So I thought I'd get a little more familiar with these forums and try to get a lot more familiar with the local St. Louis Mini scene.

The deal is that if I sell my motorcycle I can buy a Mini... well, there are a couple other stipulations too, mainly price so I won't be ordering a new one or anything. I'll have to buy used.

I'll be putting my motorcycle up for sale soon and I've posted here on NAM that it's available for trade too:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=69936

Regardless... if you or anyone you know has a Cooper S that they are ready to part with I'll be interested. I've seen a few here and there in the Auto Trader and on these forums for around $17K... this is definitely my price range... I doubt I'll be able to spend more than $18K. So, from what I've seen I may have to get a higher mileage '02/'03 model... and that's fine... I don't mind.

Well, thanks for looking at my thread!!!

Heath
"zymurguy"

 

Welcome zymurguy! We are also new to the Mini scene, we took delivery yesturday and we are signed up for our first outing this Sunday. What we have seen so far is that is looks like a great club. We are looking foward to making new friends....starting Sunday!

Good luck selling your motorcycle.

And Hurry Up and get that Mini.

 

Welcome to NAM and to the obsession! Best of luck in your quest. Don't forget to tell your wife how much safer in the MINI you will be than on the bike (should be good for maybe a couple more thousand) !

 

Welcome Zymurguy!!

I have to agree with Rhawth99 about the safety issue... my husband had been itching for a motorcycle for quite awhile now but I think this mini is the cure Bikes are not inherently dangerous, IMHO it's the fools driving around the bikes (and occasionally the fools on the bikes) Either way, I didn't get excited about the idea of a bike. So if he said I can buy a bike for 18k or a mini for 23k (or whatever it took) I would go with the mini as long as we could affort it (ie:wouldn't lose our house!)

Hey! Maybe the insurance would be less??? I have no idea about the insurance rates on bikes, but last time I checked, there were no air bags!

Best of luck! You should both come to the car show on Sunday... maybe the atmosphere will sway her

Debbie

 

Congratulations! My wife agreed to get one right after her test drive

The Club is great fun. Come by Sunday for the car show!

 

Thank you all very much. I hope to come by the show this weekend. I think I might have to swing by a Mini dealership and get her to test drive one (now that's a good tip!)

 

There are two MINIs on the lot of the Dean Team Lot on Manchester accross from the PetCo. I saw them on my drive into work today. One is a Silver/Black MCS, and the other is a Red/Checked, saw this one from the side, so no idea if it was a S or not. The Red one has a checked roof, and coustom checked rear pillers. They did not have a price tag on them, so I don't know what year or anything on them. But I think the checked one just got there, or they just moved them to the front of the line.

 

Awesome!

I think I'm going to visit a local used car dealer (like the Dean Team) and test drive one. Gotta make totally sure I fit and feel good in one (I'm 6'3" 245lbs.) Shouldn't be a prob... I've ridden shotgun in one before (he was a member of your club - Clint Cope) and I've even ridden in the back

Still, gotta take one out to try.

 

Don't forget to start thinkin of you own stipulations too, because once you have your Mini, it won't be long till the Mrs. wants one too.

Welcome to the club and good luck with your search !!

 

I hope she does want her own! I think she knows that if she test drives one she'll fall in love with 'em.

Thanks a ton everyone! You've all been real helpful and supportive. As soon as i get my Mini I'm definitely joining the club!

 

You'll fit. 6'3, and at the time I got my MINI 340. I'm down to 300 now. =) Got to slim down for a slimmer car.

 

There are a lot of people nationally who either want the 2006 because the model is changing in 07 or they are planning/ordering the 07 because they want to be first. I think personally I'd look around and try to find a private sale from someone within a few hundred miles who is upgrading...you can help them and they can help you. I know our little guys don't depreciate much right now, but whatever a dealer charges for selling used is going to be what he paid + some profit. I'd cut that middle man out and find someone with an 04/05 who needs/wants to upgrade soon.

 

MC Mini, I agree 100% with you. Chances are the used Mini's on the lot come from an auction. Or if they are trade-in-cars they raped the post-mini owners. The used car business is a big money maker.

A coulpe of years ago I had this scenario at a Ford dealership...

We were in the process of buying our Focus and I went in with my Ford F150 to trade it in. This is when pick-up trucks held their value and ours was valued at $7500 and that was with 150,000miles. The dealer ship only wanted to give me $3500 for the trade.

The Focus sticker was 14,900 and invoice was 14,100.

The saleman was on my side....his boss was wanting to screw me. just look a the math.

They would only make 800 on the Focus sale

It would have been a $4000 profite if they sold my old pick-up.

It got so ugly I walked and the salesman walked out with me and told me when I sold the truck come back on a different day and he will make up for it......he knew I was 100% correct. I sold the truck later in the week for 7500 and got the Focus for invoce with a different sales manager.

My point is....this is what dealerships do.....including our beloved Mini dealer....work all day trying to get the most out of our pocket and least out of theirs.