MiniMike20
Well-known member
First off, big thanks to Walt for assisting me with this - A few months ago I sold my own personal Gen 1 Cooper S Convertible to a client who needed a short term runaround whose needs have now become long term. While I love the Supercharger noise and stupidity of the early first gen's its not something you can live with, without compromising a hell of a lot, which I knew, its precisely why I sold it.
Fast forward to last week and my client calls and say look, he loves "charlotte", the astutely named gen 1 but she is hard, and loud and has no bluetooth, no keyless entry and since they staying for another 1-2 years he wanted something newer and so we set off to find a MINI Cooper S that had all the things the old one was missing....
And did we luck out. F*ck me did we.
2017 MINI Cooper S Convertible with 97 000km on the clock, from We Buy Cars in Silverlakes for R270k. Let me name a few options:
MINI Yours Vanity Wheels (19s)
MINI Yours Cotton Wood Trim
MINI Yours Chester Brown Leather
Harman Kardon
Navigation
LED Everything
Black Pack Interior
When MINI sells a MINI Yours product its a bespoke offering - It is Brabus to MINI. Just the first 3 options alone would have added R100k to the list price of this car.
Walt rushed through, had a look, gave me the all clear and a very thorough report on the condition of the vehicle followed by DO IT.
Did a deal, paid for the car, booked flights and accommodation. Walt took delivery of the MINI and even took the time to give the seats, steering wheel and gear lever a clean up as it was shockingly dirty. Tiaan and I flew up Saturday morning. Walt got us at Lanseria and after a breakfast we hit the road to Cape Town and here are some photo's.
Now I need to clarify, I do not like the F Series MINI. I have also owned two MINI Convertibles which were in my opinion, rubbish. I fully expected the same from this car and lecture from Walt about just how kak it would be, because they couldn't get it right the first 2 times so why would this be different.
More so, I have owned 5 MINI's and the F Series is just simply not a car I am interested in - It is driven by a BMW engine (from the current M135i). It is a 1 Series chassis and it is fundamentally 100% a BMW product with MINI themed gimmicky things thrown at it to give it personality because to be frank, its duller than dish soap and has absolutely none of the MINI flair and personality the older cars had and that matters because you knew when you bought an older MINI you were overpaying for a driving experience, not build quality or reliability.
At the same time, MINI is now a R430k car for the base MINI One, where in 2011 a One was R190k. Its also got a range that includes 3/5 door hatches, the ultra versatile Clubman and the Countryman with the two latter vehicles getting the 225kw hotted up M135i motor with Xdrive as well. In short, this car cannot be average, it cannot be quirky and weird and by virtue it cannot be MINI, it has to compete and from day one I have avoided the F series because in order to compete it had to be normal and it had to be good.
Honestly, if you want good, solid, normal car you dont start at MINI and then buy a GTi, or just get the 1 series, you just buy the Golf.
But.
I have no back pain today. I have no ridiculous aches or fatigue. I did 1450km in a convertible MINI on 19 inch wheels and loved every bloody second of it. The seats are superb, the Harman Kardon is easily better than a 32 speaker Meridian system in a Range Rover and the performance from that 2.0T is silly. 150+ at 3000Rpm for the bulk of the trip, overtaking effortlessly without any rattles, creaks, excessive wind noise or drama, is it even a MINI if its not rattling itself to pieces.
This is not a revelation, personally, the car still does nothing for me. It is excellent at the cost of character, it is brilliant at the cost of soul and yes it has Go-Kart mode, it has a valved exhaust and it is easily the dumbest way to come out of a corner backwards, especially with the roof down and because of that all what I have just said means nothing because this stupid little soft top is a damn good little car.
MINI has been making good cars for a while now and this 2017 Convertible is no exception, its no longer a compromised operation, it is simply superb at being a mileage muncher, a thrill seeker and it is the epitome of the Germans using a British brand like MINI to have a sense of humour. The thunder grey exterior with the massive diamond cut wheels and suave interior and effectiveness of everything from the audio system to the gearbox is staggering and in this specification, for this price, its genuinely a complete package.
In Closing, Walt and I are going to have one hell of a handbag fight in two years when this car comes up for sale - I have never wanted a F Series MINI more.
Have a look here there are a few more photo's on my hubbies work Instagram with a little bit more detail on the car for a write up / promo thing I did for him - https://www.instagram.com/tiaanatmini/
Fast forward to last week and my client calls and say look, he loves "charlotte", the astutely named gen 1 but she is hard, and loud and has no bluetooth, no keyless entry and since they staying for another 1-2 years he wanted something newer and so we set off to find a MINI Cooper S that had all the things the old one was missing....
And did we luck out. F*ck me did we.
2017 MINI Cooper S Convertible with 97 000km on the clock, from We Buy Cars in Silverlakes for R270k. Let me name a few options:
MINI Yours Vanity Wheels (19s)
MINI Yours Cotton Wood Trim
MINI Yours Chester Brown Leather
Harman Kardon
Navigation
LED Everything
Black Pack Interior
When MINI sells a MINI Yours product its a bespoke offering - It is Brabus to MINI. Just the first 3 options alone would have added R100k to the list price of this car.
Walt rushed through, had a look, gave me the all clear and a very thorough report on the condition of the vehicle followed by DO IT.
Did a deal, paid for the car, booked flights and accommodation. Walt took delivery of the MINI and even took the time to give the seats, steering wheel and gear lever a clean up as it was shockingly dirty. Tiaan and I flew up Saturday morning. Walt got us at Lanseria and after a breakfast we hit the road to Cape Town and here are some photo's.
Now I need to clarify, I do not like the F Series MINI. I have also owned two MINI Convertibles which were in my opinion, rubbish. I fully expected the same from this car and lecture from Walt about just how kak it would be, because they couldn't get it right the first 2 times so why would this be different.
More so, I have owned 5 MINI's and the F Series is just simply not a car I am interested in - It is driven by a BMW engine (from the current M135i). It is a 1 Series chassis and it is fundamentally 100% a BMW product with MINI themed gimmicky things thrown at it to give it personality because to be frank, its duller than dish soap and has absolutely none of the MINI flair and personality the older cars had and that matters because you knew when you bought an older MINI you were overpaying for a driving experience, not build quality or reliability.
At the same time, MINI is now a R430k car for the base MINI One, where in 2011 a One was R190k. Its also got a range that includes 3/5 door hatches, the ultra versatile Clubman and the Countryman with the two latter vehicles getting the 225kw hotted up M135i motor with Xdrive as well. In short, this car cannot be average, it cannot be quirky and weird and by virtue it cannot be MINI, it has to compete and from day one I have avoided the F series because in order to compete it had to be normal and it had to be good.
Honestly, if you want good, solid, normal car you dont start at MINI and then buy a GTi, or just get the 1 series, you just buy the Golf.
But.
I have no back pain today. I have no ridiculous aches or fatigue. I did 1450km in a convertible MINI on 19 inch wheels and loved every bloody second of it. The seats are superb, the Harman Kardon is easily better than a 32 speaker Meridian system in a Range Rover and the performance from that 2.0T is silly. 150+ at 3000Rpm for the bulk of the trip, overtaking effortlessly without any rattles, creaks, excessive wind noise or drama, is it even a MINI if its not rattling itself to pieces.
This is not a revelation, personally, the car still does nothing for me. It is excellent at the cost of character, it is brilliant at the cost of soul and yes it has Go-Kart mode, it has a valved exhaust and it is easily the dumbest way to come out of a corner backwards, especially with the roof down and because of that all what I have just said means nothing because this stupid little soft top is a damn good little car.
MINI has been making good cars for a while now and this 2017 Convertible is no exception, its no longer a compromised operation, it is simply superb at being a mileage muncher, a thrill seeker and it is the epitome of the Germans using a British brand like MINI to have a sense of humour. The thunder grey exterior with the massive diamond cut wheels and suave interior and effectiveness of everything from the audio system to the gearbox is staggering and in this specification, for this price, its genuinely a complete package.
In Closing, Walt and I are going to have one hell of a handbag fight in two years when this car comes up for sale - I have never wanted a F Series MINI more.
Have a look here there are a few more photo's on my hubbies work Instagram with a little bit more detail on the car for a write up / promo thing I did for him - https://www.instagram.com/tiaanatmini/
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