Regarding residual or resale value, I think its inevitable that it will decline. Part of the current resale value on the mini is that it is still new, hot and relatively rare compared to other vehicles. All cars, even this fantastic little fun machine, are poor investments from a financial standpoint.

 

My rant...This car is too responsive, and way too much fun to drive. I hate all the safety features, and the heavy doors (oooh, watch out for strong winds, it'll blow your doors off). I dislike the great fuel economy I get off a very well made CVT transmission, and I am mightily pissed off by the comfortable heated seats, cool key remote, excellent auto AC, and general coolness of the car.

I don't know what I was expecting for under $22K, but definitely not this car!!

Also, woe is me, I expected this car to be an investment- that's why I took all my money out of real estate and bought cars with it!!!

 

>>Regarding residual or resale value, I think its inevitable that it will decline. Part of the current resale value on the mini is that it is still new, hot and relatively rare compared to other vehicles. All cars, even this fantastic little fun machine, are poor investments from a financial standpoint.


Well, I beg to differ. The car has been on sale for around 25 months and 60K MINIs have been sold since March 2002 in US soil. Hardly a "novelty" much anymore but the car stills sells briskly at MSRP and in many parts of the country still with added mark-up.


The VW Beetle and PT Cruiser didn't last more than 12-15 months selling at sticker and by six months into the market, they had already flooded it completely.


BMW has been clever enough in the engineering and marketing of the MINI. They paid close attention to the lessons learned by Volkswagen and Daimler-Chrysler. Keep production numbers low, have very few dealers and far in between, don't flood the market, build up a "Culture" and fan base around the car (How many VW Beetle or PT Cruiser "meets" have you been?) but most importantly, keep the car refreshed and interesting something that VW and DCX failed to do in thier due time. The MINI sells on its own engineering and appealing merits, not on rebates and 0% financing. Also the MINI is not a fad car like the Beetle or PT Cruiser....its the "Real McCoy" and it does deliver the goods, day in and day out.


A Cabriolet is coming up in September and this will only drive up the resale values and popularity of the car and a station wagon model should follow in 2006.

The MINI is not just a car, but a lifestyle statement and this will keep it a top for a long time to come. The car is a niche that has no real competition outside of it.

 

Let's say MINI has sold 60,000 cars in the U.S. now.

For perspective, VW sold 80,000 New Beetles the first year. So it was much easier for them to get the supply to meet up with the demand.

MINI still has long waitlists . Most western U.S. dealers are either still able to command $3000+ over MSRP OR they have a 10 month wait. That tells me that MINI hasn't come close to meeting the demand yet, so residuals should stay high for a good time to come.

 

With respect, Cooper4us, the MINI is still new, and the prices are coming down - note below MSRP deals are now showing up. It's still an amazing little car, but supply eventually catches up with demand. More cars, even with different form factors (convert, wagon) will not drive resale prices up.
But hey, you don't care, right, 'cause you're not looking to sell it.

The MINI trend reminds me of the Miata trend - huge markups for the first year or two, then things settle down a bit. It fits a similar niche and has an amazingly loyal following (I've met miata owners from over 20 countries), and a broad aftermarket.

I don't own a PT Cruiser, but know a guy who sells to that market and attended a PT meet with hundreds (close to a thousand, IIRC) of cars. Definitely a different crowd from MINIs or Miatas, but still there.

I look forward to joining the MINI family soon - and am happy to have been warned about all the possible issues. Now I know what to look for, and what to avoid.

Happy motoring!

E
'91 miata, '92 miata, '85 CRX - 183K and ready to make way for a MINI!

 

>>My rant...This car is too responsive, and way too much fun to drive. I hate all the safety features, and the heavy doors (oooh, watch out for strong winds, it'll blow your doors off). I dislike the great fuel economy I get off a very well made CVT transmission, and I am mightily pissed off by the comfortable heated seats, cool key remote, excellent auto AC, and general coolness of the car.
>>
>>I don't know what I was expecting for under $22K, but definitely not this car!!
>>
>>Also, woe is me, I expected this car to be an investment- that's why I took all my money out of real estate and bought cars with it!!!
I love the fact that this car is cheap to run even with the loan
at $50 a week for gas doing 500 miles a week should I be upset
no
the BMW loan was good
the car is not an investment but it is not a loss
I need to drive 500+ miles a week
it's fun it's hip its a MINI and nothing else is

 

This is my first official complaint about my 3 months old MCS. A few minutes ago, I noticed that the windshield has a STRESS CRACK on the upper left corner.

_________________

 

>>Minor dealer rant. Refused warranty work for rattles in seatbelt mount (due to aftermarket springs) and refused to warranty warped front brake rotors (due to EBC Green pads). This from the same dealer, Rasmussen, as davecsumini.
_______________

EBC Green Stuff pads causing warped rotors? This is something new to me. The Green Stuff is mostly Kevlar material. Does anyone else also have this same problem with Green Stuff causing their rotors to warp and having the dealer invalidate this portion of the warranty? I'll have to hold off installing my Green Stuff (which is sitting on the garage shelf) until I hear more about this.

 

Agree! They stand in line to buy them here. And used ones for sale are rare, don't seem to be on the market for long, and people pay top $ for them. But it's not unreasonable to expect BMW to listen to our concerns/problems and offer some sort of responses and soultions. We all know they did their research when the car was in the development and design phase. Further I can't imagine why they (BMW) would tolerate some of the Dealer behaviour I read about here. My ACURA dealer has always been concerned about how I feel about the way I'm treated and HONDA/ACURA sends me a survey to fill out whenever we have the car serviced. THst's one of the reasons we've had six different ACURAs and HONDAs in our garage during the past 12 years. My MINI sits in the garage between a 04 TL and a 02 Honda van.................mgg

 

I don't know if you complainers have seen these, but take a look at some VW sites. I haven't found any of these on MINI. If your mad about your MINI purchase, just remember, you could've bought a passat!


http://www.myvwlemon.com/
http://www.cars-that-suck.com/
http://www.mycarsucks.com/rants/volk...wagenSucks.htm
http://www.stahrinteractive.com/vw/
http://www.suckercars.com/

 

Christina,

Sorry, but why should we sell something BMW sold to us with known flaws (that is illegal).

I Lemoned mine here in FL, and I encourage anyone else who is not satisfied with the BMW run around software fiasco to do the same.

Don't get me wrong now, I like the look/idea of this car as much as (maybe more) than any of you, but BMW have totally soured the experience with their denials and deceit.

>>>>How many of these "what's wrong with your mini / bmw is evil" post can we have? My whole MINI experience has been wonderful. No issues with my car and Rassmussen MINI in Portland has been wonderful to work with. Maybe I'm just a rare "lucky" owner, but if I had a lemon, I would get rid of it ASAP. I mean we can still sell our cars for close to MSRP! Don't mean to offend, but I feel lucky to have such a wonderful automobile.
>>
>>
>>I completely agree with you... We seriously need to stop our whining. Our cars are amazing... if you don't agree, sell it. There are a ton of customers that would love thier own MINI. But please stop dragging MINIs through the mud... because all you are really doing is dragging our residuals down.
>>
>>my .02 today. Thanks for listening.


_________________
'03 S DS

 

Who ever said we should just sell our cars so we don't bring down the residual is just being ridiculous. It isn't the person that got screwed by BMW's fault. If BMW would take care of the customers (even the customers under lemon law) there would be a problem. I had fully planned on replacing my MC with a MCS after lemon law but that is looking very unlikely after the way they delt with the whole thing.

>>Christina,
>>
>>Sorry, but why should we sell something BMW sold to us with known flaws (that is illegal).
>>
>>I Lemoned mine here in FL, and I encourage anyone else who is not satisfied with the BMW run around software fiasco to do the same.
>>
>>Don't get me wrong now, I like the look/idea of this car as much as (maybe more) than any of you, but BMW have totally soured the experience with their denials and deceit.
>>
>>>>>>How many of these "what's wrong with your mini / bmw is evil" post can we have? My whole MINI experience has been wonderful. No issues with my car and Rassmussen MINI in Portland has been wonderful to work with. Maybe I'm just a rare "lucky" owner, but if I had a lemon, I would get rid of it ASAP. I mean we can still sell our cars for close to MSRP! Don't mean to offend, but I feel lucky to have such a wonderful automobile.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I completely agree with you... We seriously need to stop our whining. Our cars are amazing... if you don't agree, sell it. There are a ton of customers that would love thier own MINI. But please stop dragging MINIs through the mud... because all you are really doing is dragging our residuals down.
>>>>
>>>>my .02 today. Thanks for listening.
>>
>>
>>_________________
>>'03 S DS

 

I meant there would Not be a problem. Sorry about that.

 

Dude, you're amazing. Give it some gas when you take off, it's geared high. If you want to shoot off the line get a dang Camaro. And it's whose fault you didn't get the bumpers when you picked up the car? And why is it that you needed them? I read so much about the problems some guys have but some guys are that way arent they! Drive your car and have fun or else stay at home on the couch!

 

>>Dude, you're amazing. Give it some gas when you take off, it's geared high. If you want to shoot off the line get a dang Camaro. And it's whose fault you didn't get the bumpers when you picked up the car? And why is it that you needed them? I read so much about the problems some guys have but some guys are that way arent they! Drive your car and have fun or else stay at home on the couch!


We didn't get the bumpers because they didn't give them to me. We requested them everytime we went in after that, and was always told they are looking for them.

Why did we need them. We paid for the car, shouldn't we have the original bumpers? What if we got in an accident, and couldn't replace the aero kit right away?

and lastly... screw you and your attitude