Question about a used mini
 

I'm going to be getting rid of the truck at somepoint. I have a good relationship with a local auto group, this is at one of their stores.

http://uftringautogroup.com/Vehicle.aspx?v=1882034

I'm looking for a small, fun, kick-around car. I can't remember when MINI came out with the new motors and all that stuff. I'm assuming this is over-priced, but I don't know much about MINI's. Is this a nice car?

A 3-year old Base MINI with no options, for 19,900? :lol: I'll bet that you could buy a new Base model for that (?).

if you're serious about pursuing this, i'd go to inskip.com and look at what they have so you can see a decent selection of new and CPO MINIs to see what they fetch out on the open market.

and since Penske automotive is nationwide, i somehow think that they could work with you a lot better via long distance.

at that sort of pricing, i'd be sure to get a CPO MINI in warranty, is my opinion.

Buy used if you want a heavily optioned car or a convertible, because they do not hold their value as well. You can get a great deal on a heavily optioned car because it is worth basically the same as a basic model on the used market.

For a basic car like this, you are so much better with a new one. A new one would start at $19,200 and you get the full warranty & maintenance plan and no miles. It looks like the only options I see on this car are metallic paint and chromeline exterior... a combined total of $750 at 2009 prices, so a brand new one like this would be $19,950. :eek: That car probably stickered for about $18,500-18,900 in 2006. :ack: I'd say you should be paying $13000-14000 for this to make sense, and they probably wont sell it to you that cheap.

The new models came out in 2007, do this is the old body-style and old engine.

When people talk about MINI resale and how ridiculously high it is, they do it b/c MINI resale is ridiculously high. I traded my MINI in with 12,000 miles on it and got $500 less than sticker. From a dealer. On a trade in. Sticker!

I imagine that price is the starting price to some extent, but I also wouldn't expect it to change all that much. I would definately do some research though. I don't remember when they switched engines either, but you definately want the new engine. Night and day difference.

Thanks for the info.

They also have this
http://uftringautogroup.com/Vehicle.aspx?v=1784168

Nice Mazda3 for a couple grand less than the value of my truck. Maybe that'll work.

For another data point, we sold our 2002 MINI Cooper S that was relatively high optioned (leather, sport, sunroof, CWP, upgraded wheels).

Sticker was $25 or $26 in Jul '02. We sold it around Christmas '06 (so 4.5 years later). For $15.5k -- and we took ~$800 off the price since it needed two repairs (bumper was cracked after being hit by a flying 2x4, and the driver's seat frame needed to be replaced after a car wash guy broke it the day before we sold the car).

So it only depreciated ~40% over 4.5 years...

The used MINI prices are nuts. We have a fellow in our office who'd love to get one and has been keeping an eye on them for a while. One thing that has held is that the used vs. new price is almost too similar to bother with used.

He figured it this way:

Buy used and pay the same price as new . . . but you get your car now.

Buy new for the same price as used . . . but wait for your car to be ordered / arrive.

Things may have changed but not too long ago there was a semi-substantial order backlog and wait time to get a new MINI. Based on this thread it looks like the used MINI market is still remaining strong.

I seemed to recall the S2000 market did the same thing. For several years the used S2000 prices didn't dip much below new. Then in the last 2 years or so the used prices seem to now be coming down semi-substantially now that it seems the market for S2000 has mostly filled.