For many of you who read my stuff, you’ll know there’s been a bit of activity over recent months regarding cars in our home. We are car tarts after all.
To re-cap, we had to get rid of Vicki’s lovely VW Polo GTI at the beginning of the year due to a health issue. 6 months later all cleared, and we started looking into what we could get for her that would be a nice little run-around.
The decision was made that because we’d enjoyed a good bit of time finance free, we’d just grab £1,500 from savings and chuck it at a cheapy motor to get her back into driving again.
Yeah, that didn’t work. We grabbed a 52-plate automatic Mini. On the face of things, this car looked great. Bearing in mind, we’d mooched around and all we’d come up with previous to this one were total sheds.
And I seriously mean sheds.
How some people think they can even charge anything for some of these cars is beyond me. Utterly pointless purchases, and if anyone did buy them, then I pity their decision. (Pretty much like I did our own on this one!)
We finally came across one that, whilst it was a little on the tired side, was relatively clean and tidy with a very smooth engine. Really smooth!
It only had around 63k on the clock which was good for the age. We spent £20 online and did all the right checks to make sure we weren’t buying a lemon, and then agreed on the sale, driving off into the sunset (literally) while Vicki had a massive smile on her face.
There’s a reason I emphasised the “auto” bit about this car. (We both prefer autos these days as they’re just bloody easier)
Here’s the point where anyone in the motor trade is cringing. Since buying this, I’ve done a lot of reading and learned that between 2002 and 2006, Mini sold cars with a CVT gearbox. This is different from a normal box as it doesn’t have actual gears. CVT means continuously variable transmission. In theory, really good and smooth. In reality…Yeah. Well. That.
A 40 min journey home and all good. Grab dinner, pop out for a run to the shops. Within 10 mins we were sat on the side of the road waiting for the RAC. The gearbox had failed.
I should note here, this was a private sale/purchase, so no comeback.
We left at 8 pm. We got home at gone midnight. Very upset and very annoyed.
We then went through the rigmarole of getting it over to a mini specialist that I know, who did his best and performed miracles.
He performed a “re-adaption” which is a lengthy and frustrating process. Also including a full service with new gearbox oil etc. A couple of zeros later and we were back on the road!
For 2 weeks…
Then it failed again. This time, we were out shopping on a Saturday afternoon and got stuck in a Halford's car park of all places. While waiting for the RAC again, I did a lot more research. Apparently, a lot of people found a fix to this exact issue was to replace the battery with a modern/updated one and then had thousands of miles of fun in their cars. Another couple of zeros after walking into Halfords, fired it up, drove off.
Nope. Stayed in the car park and continued to wait for the RAC.
They took the car back to my mate who then spent a couple of weeks (nicely though, free of charge) tinkering, re-adapting, and playing with it.
“Sorry mate, I’m afraid I’m at a loss. I’ve got it running again but unlikely it will last more than a week or two again. Needs a new gearbox”…
We cut our losses and went to blow a lot more money.
Just FYI on this one. The CVT was canned in 2006. But Mini, after numerous legal cases, continued to replace these things FoC right up to 2014. If you didn’t get it changed in that time, it was your own fault.
Vicki had her heart set on a mini as they were a perfect size car for her and – when working – great fun!
We picked up a lovely 2011 Mini Couper S Coupe. The rarer one. A 1.6 turbo petrol with the newer (normal) auto box and only 29k miles on the clock. Stunning car. All the toys, digital screens, sat-nav, Bluetooth, cruise, keyless entry and drive, leather seats, great upgraded stereo with DAB radio, etc etc etc.
Deal done, let’s drive home. Bearing in mind, Vicki would follow me back while we’re on the phone and she’s reporting how giddy she is over the rapid little go-kart we’d just picked up.
Half
Way
Home…
“BONG”
Engine management light comes on. Limp mode activated…
Now, this time we had bought from a dealer with a 12-month warranty. They literally picked it up the next day and took it away.
We collected 2 days later after an airflow sensor had been replaced.
Again, Vicki followed me home. No lights, no warnings, no noises.
Well, apart from the fact that now, the car “blipped” every now and again. A bit like a slight misfire. Only tiny. More noticeable if accelerating, but slightly noticeable when just cruising along. When standing still at lights or junctions, if it did this little misfire, the engine would just cut out.
We spoke with the dealer and explained. They said to trial for a couple of days and see if it cleared up. 4 days later they collected. We never saw it again. After 4+ weeks, I called them and asked for a full refund. We received this within 24 hours.
Now, it’s time I should mention the fact that the bigger picture discussion around cars, at the beginning of all of this, was back to the thought process of finance-free driving. I was seriously also considering selling my BMW 7 series (66 plates) and buying something far less luxurious and far cheaper. Then we’d run around in these things for a year or two and decide how we felt and if we wanted to go back to newer cars!
As I’m sure you can understand, at this point, my heart and brain were saying “do NOT do it, Daniels”…
After all the mini rubbish, we walked away from that thought process. Back in 2013, I bought a Seat Leon FR Coupe. I loved that car. It had literally everything you could want from a spec perspective. It had everything you could want from a comfort and a capacity (boot space etc) perspective. And most importantly, I drove it from 2k to 92k miles and it was utterly bombproof.
Because of that, and that we both loved that car, we went and bought a 64 plate one for Vicki and it is brilliant. She loves it. 100% loves everything about it just as I loved mine. If you want a second-hand motor and want something that’s practical, fun, and solid, buy one.
So, then it was time for me to make my decision…
I took my car and had it valeted inside and out. Then took about a thousand photos.
Initially, I put it on “Motorway” dot com. All the adverts sounded great. Free to advertise and they put the car out across over 3000 dealers who then bid to buy my car. Typically, you get the best price possible.
Absolute total and utter tosh. They push you to confirm a low-ball number and promise you that you can haggle and wait for the best price. No…
That is really not the case. You get one offer. You cannot haggle etc at all. You don’t get multiple bids at all. You get the one. And then a ton of calls, texts, and emails trying to force you to commit.
No thanks.
I then paid to place on auto trader. Where I sold it. After 18 months and 20k miles, I sold it for a profit, paid off the finance, and had around 6k to play with if I wanted something outright. Or I could have placed a nice deposit on something with smaller finance.
I took the first option and decided to try and find something that would do me nicely for 12 or so months. Here we go again with the sheds…
But, one thing I had stated, was that I wouldn’t look at anything over 110k miles on the clock.
Guess what…
I wanted something that was smaller this time. Something a little fun. Clearly, I wasn’t going to have the luxury and the beast-type car I had just sold. So, the mindset was, go different, have fun, save money and ultimately make sure you’re still happy.
I got my heart set on something similar to the Leon, but not exactly the same. And then I found the VW Scirocco…
There were a few on there, some good, some not so good.
The one that physically looked the best, and seemingly had all the maintenance required, was the one with 133k miles on the clock!
Bloody typical.
I was very hesitant, but Vicki suggested I should still go and have a look at it, especially when I spoke with the dealership who assured me (of course they did) that it had everything I’d want.
We went.
It was…
Immaculate! I mean, utterly immaculate. All 4 wheels were mint. The bodywork was almost pristine other than a standard couple of stone chips on the bonnet. (Still not as bad as I would have expected)
Then I opened the door. Has anyone actually ever sat in here and held on to anything!?!?
I couldn’t believe how clean and tidy it was inside. It was genuinely like a new car.
And to top it off, it had the following:
Heated seats, DSG gearbox, 2 litre TDI GT model, Bluetooth, upgraded stereo, auto lights, auto wipers, dimming rearview mirror, active suspension, cruise control…the list went on.
It was priced accordingly because of the mileage and had a full-service history including 2 x DSG gearbox services (one done the day before) and the belt and water pump had been done 20k miles back. The engine was smooth, and it drove perfectly.
We paid them the £4,995 asking price there and then, did the documents and I drove it home. And yes, it made it. And yes, I’m still driving it around even after having it checked by my local garage. “You got a bargain there mate”
I am genuinely so surprised at this thing; I’ll say what I said earlier about the Leon. Buy one.
I had change from my sale and now will be paying out to have a few more bits looked at just to make 100% certain. But for now, I’ve got a new car that I’m properly happy with and all I need to do is swap my plates back to the private one when the V5 arrives.
Come on DVLA…I want to make it mine!!
Oh, and to finish, I’ll write again when the turbo goes bang….
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