Mini one or cooper convertible (:

I dont know if this was the point NYPrincess was trying to make, but when I got my Mini I was under the assumption it had a BMW engine until my driving instructor told me they weren't.

Well yes and no. They aren't bmw engines like the ones built in germany used in actual bmw's but the engines used pre 2006 were made by a company co-owned by bmw called tritec and now they are made by another bmw co-owned company called prince. Infact the post 2006 prince engines are actually co-developed by bmw not just owned by them, so in that sense yes they are bmw. At the end of the day mini is only owned by bmw it is not bmw, mini is a car make in it's own right. Just like ferrari might be owned by fiat but is still a ferrari and not a fiat.

It's true I wouldn't use it that often as a convertible, I just want one and they don't cost much more really! And there is non-convertible coopers - I will have a look now :P

The amount of incorrect information, and pure bull**** at the start of this thread made me cringe.

Then again the typical Mini buyer isn't usually informed about anything.

You could lookout for either of the cars with a sunroof instead of having a convertible.

Anyway a new MINI will be launched next year, expect prices of the current model ones to fall further as the new one will be significantly better than the outgoing one as it is an all new car designed to use BMW engines rather than PSA engines.

As for Cooper or One, it is quite difficult to judge as both had huge lists of options and some One can be even better equipped than a Cooper. I had a One D last year, it was orange with red leather seats where many of the Coopers only had cloth seats.

If you're buying one that is 1-2 years old, it might be worth paying a bit more and getting it through MINI or BMW garage instead of a used car trader. Depending on the garage, some of them would throw in up to 3 more servicing and extend the factory warranty for up to 5 years.

After owning 2 MINIs, I can tell you parts for this car isn't cheap and many things that go wrong can be rather expensive to rectify especially anything to do with the gearbox.

How much by do you think prices would fall and how long would it take?!