Will Mickey Hooper get His Mini Cooper?

Englishman

Hmm.. probably not.

Her Ladyship and myself have been really getting excited at the prospect of getting one of the new shape Mini Coopers around now.

A few weeks back, HL's pal came to stay with us and let us drive her Mini around. Oh wow, what fun.

A snag though. It's a super drivers car, but it is no fun whatsoever for the passenger. We accepted the idea of the back seat being little more than an after-thought, but hadn't reckoned that the front seat passenger would find the ride just too firm for distance work. I sat in the passenger seat for about 50 miles and didn't like it at all. £16,000 plus is a lot of money for a car that only the driver can enjoy.

So we're having a re-think. We need a new car pretty quickly and HL is insisting on a new one as opposed to a used vehicle as she's the one who will use it most and contribute the most costwise.

I've looked at the new Nissan Primera with the beefy engine, same with the Toyota Avensis. However, we want a small/medium car that's a lot of fun too and those things are bit like driving a settee..

At the moment we are looking closely at a Ford Focus Zetec. The range is coming to an end because of the new model being launched in September. This means that the last few thousand cars are being packed with goodies and extras to make them more appealing. It comes in around £10,000. 1.6i 16V too.

Anyone had one of these cars?

Any other makes that might be better?

Englishman.

Simon

Your a big geezer to squash into a mini !

The new ones are good but they are big aren't they - same wheel-base as a LandRover Discovery or something like that (I'm sure women buy them as a 'small car' imagining it will make parking easier)

The Focus is nice. A guy I work with has had several big, luxury cars (BMW, Lexus etc...) and after having one for a day as a courtesy car he said it was fantastic. We went for a test drive in one a while back. Nice.

For a fun car, have a look at the Pug 206 CC ... very sporty.

Princess

I'm sure women buy them as a 'small car' imagining it will make parking easier

Wimps

Billygoat

lol@Rachel

Don't you have an Excursion?

jukief

Mike, Rob and Rella are trying to buy a car, and they can't believe the prices in England--not just for new cars but also for used cars. They've looked at the litte mini Mercedes coupes (I don't know the model). Our friend in Scotland had one. It was deceptively roomy inside and gets great mileage. R&R are interested in one of those, but they've also found that you usually have to order a new car and wait a bit for one. I guess that's one of the things you can say about the US of A--we have cars in abundance, no waiting necessary. Most of them get lousy gas mileage, though. :-( Good luck with the hunt. Hope you find something you like. Too bad about the mini Cooper, though. I wanted one of those. Well, that or a Smart Car. :-)

simplesally

How much is 10,000 pounds in US currency?

Englishman

but they've also found that you usually have to order a new car and wait a bit for one

Hi Julie,

You'll probably have to wait for delivery of a Merc or BMW. We're looking at about 1 week so that the car is registered and road-taxed.

BTW, re the Nissan Primera, wasn't that what you and Alan were driving when we met?

Mike.

Simon

£10k is currently $18,277.90 USD

Xena

I have an Infinity J30t, unfortunatly they don't make that style anymore...it is a 4 door car that looks very sporty and drives like a sports car...

I need to get something new but I hate to take on payments and know I won't be able to afford anything as nice as my Infinity next time around (the joys of single parenting!).

Good luck with your car shopping e-man...I do love a new car smell!!!!

Englishman

Thanks, Xena, that's kind of you.

Virtually every car on the road is now in a metallic colour I notice. Mainly silver. When I was in the States I noticed how many cars were actually of a bronze or brown colour.

Englishman.

Will Mickey Hooper get His Mini Cooper?

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