Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences MINI Cooper Prices Paid and Buying Experience
1305 messages, Last post on Nov 27, 2009 at 5:44 PM
You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx
| I recently leased a MINI in San Antonio, TX. Having noticed that some posters to this forum were asking about tax on a lease, I will pass along my experience. The MINI dealer insisted that Texas law requires payment of sales tax on the full car price, and this was added to the advertised lease down payment. Although I got the car anyway, leasing is apparently not a very good deal between "pardners" here in Texas. | |
|
|
|
Replying to: british_rover (Jul 13, 2007 6:14 am) Buy a $25k car with 20% - or 5k down and then in 3 year sell it at the 58% residual value - that is the Edmunds number off this site not mine - of $14,500 means I have spend $15,500. A $430 monthly cost. My investments over the last 3 years have averaged 14.6% so I would lease and invest the difference thus gaining a positive return. If, however, the market is like the 6 MINIs for sale near me: my example is the 2005 conv. at $33k which I compared to the exact same one I built on MINIUSA.COM for a MSRP of $35k WOW, I will pay cash! Oh, but those 3 cars have had For Sale signs on them for 3+ months now. What leasing offers are great things. My intentions was 1. to understand the discrepancies in the form and the used car market where residuals are really strong and Edmunds own analysis which is at industry average; and 2. to communicate a disappointment in the professionalism of the MINI 4 sales people with whom I have interacted. |
|
|
First off I'd like to say you guys are great! I've been reading your posts for 2 hours and have learned a lot. I'm in SoCal (LA) like many of you and I have a lot of questions so I'll try to keep this orderly. I'll start out with the MCS I built online that contains all of the features I would ideally have that cost extra: Mini Cooper S Standard Pure Silver Body/Black Roof Cold Weather Package Premium Package Sport Package Convenience Package Sport Suspension Limited Slip Differential Park Distance Control 10-Speaker. Hi-Fi Sound System Interior Surface Fluid Silver Total MSRP $29,400 Accessory: Mats and Ipod Adapter ($425) (but hopefully the mats will be thrown in!) *************************************** Questions: 1. Are the Sport Suspension, Limited Slip Differential and Dynamic Stability Control worth including for $500 each? Are any of them MUST have's? 2. Is there a noticable performance difference between the 16" and 17" wheels. Is it worth the upgrade to 17" 3. Has anyone gotten the ipod Adaptor. Does it work on the computer display as they say. (FYI, the Mini site allows you to choose ipod adaptor but when you print out your options it doesn't inlude the price in the accossory field. It marks it as $0. Odd.) 4. When the SoCal guys are looking at dealerships have any of you tried Sacremento or Concord to see how their deals are. I'm wondering if they might be more willing to bargain. 5. Do you think it will be possible to find a Lease for $350 a month or less for this $29,400 MSRP? Lease options something like, 36 months, 12K or 10K per year, $2500 down max. Credit Score of 869. 6. Are there any other Mini Discussion board sites that are worth checking out? 7. Does the CA tax make it cost prohibitive from going to Nevada or Arizona to buy/lease the car? Sorry if this question is naive. 8. Does the traditional "wait until the end of the month or buy on a Tuesday, etc." come into play with the MINI's? Or are they still so popular it's the same deal whenever you buy? Thanks for you help. I will keep you all updated as my search begins. I promise to find you all the best deals possible in SoCal (or maybe a little further north.)
|
|
|
1 - sport suspension and limited slip are the ones to get. stability control is actually NOT desireable to enthusiasts. 90% of them turn it off anyways. Worth the money, definitely. Also, manual gearbox. Don't like it? Tough - learn, because automatic Minis are really really hard to move comapred to manuals with the better suspension and diff - which sell almost instantly. 2 - No. The 16 inchers are more than adequate for a car of this weight. In fact, 14 inchers would be adequate. 16 is already overkill and 17 runflats cost more money and are much harder riding. 3 - IPod adaptor is junk. Opt for the MP3 jack in the glovebox and then you can use whatever you want - or just play mp3s. I can fit 100-120 mp3s at 256K on a single MP3 CD. That's more than enough to listen to - and if I get bored, switch to another mix CD for a month. 4 - Nope. Buy exactly as you want for MSRP. Wait the 6-8 weeks. Enjoy. 5 - Buy. The new Minis will depreciate about 1-2K a year, tops, if you get a manual S with the performance only options.(think typical racer boy/enthusiast) 6 - Dunno. 7 - If you live in CA, there's no avoiding the tax. They'll get you one way or another. 8 - nope. Pay MSRP. Buy and wait for it to be built to your order.
|
|
|
Replying to: esgam (Jul 14, 2007 5:08 pm) Here's what we wanted... 07 Mini Cooper Premium Package Sport Package Convenience Package Cold Weather Package HiFi Sound System Oxygen Blue w/ white roof/mirrors MSRP $23,750 We got it for $23,250 (could have gotten it for $23,000 but would have had to drive 7 hours, and felt the extra $250 was worth the gas/time). So my suggestion to esgam is to try to get quotes from other areas, say Phoenix or possibly Vegas, and see if they are willing to deal and take that back to your local dealer.
|
|
|
Replying to: plekto (Jul 14, 2007 10:39 pm) MATS Although the dealer threw in some of the carpet-style mats, I feel like the rubber ones are better, so I got some cheap ones to put on top of thye normal ones and they are too small and slip and slide. So I am going to get new ones. Can anyone recommend a good cheap rubber black mat for the front? IPOD HOLDER ipod holder: I have the aux jack and just plug my ipod. I was looking into the ipod holder but the only ones out there seem to be either 1) the radio tuner ones with you can mount and recharge while you are tuned into a station to play your ipod. My question is--can I use this and recharge WITHOUT tuning in and plugging in from the jack instead? or 2) kensington has an ipod car mount, but it looks like it has adhesive that you stick to the window or dashboard. I'm a little wary of sticking something on, especially if it doesn't work that well and then leaves gunky sticky stuff that's hard to get off. any comments/experience with either of these, or other recommendations to share? BLUETOOTH Love it, I don't have the phone recharger option, just the general bluetooth. Although I can hear perfectly all the time, my callers often say that they can't hear me too well. Anyway to improve on this? thanks
|
|
|
Replying to: tica (Jul 15, 2007 8:37 am) http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102877 |
|
|
1. Which dealership would anyone recommend bying the Mini at? 2. I'm in Fremont, and there's no real close dealership for maintenance. Can I drop off the Mini at any BMW dealership for maintenance?
|
|
|
Replying to: azorglub (Jul 16, 2007 8:44 am) |
|
| Speaking of service, does anyone have any experience dealing with the Mini service department in North Hollywood? | |
You are here:
Forums
Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences MINI Cooper Prices Paid and Buying Experience
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
2010 MINI Cooper
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
