Dear Alex,
I am thinking of part-exchanging my eight-year-old Mini convertible with 20,000 miles for a three-door hatchback. I have mixed feelings about the new-shape Mini and am wondering whether to buy a year-old example of the outgoing model at £25,000-£30,000 instead. Is that a sensible option?
– AW
Dear AW,
It’s a good idea. You’ll always get more for your money buying a year-old car, getting a better specification for the same budget than you would if you bought new – and you’ll avoid the calamitous first-year depreciation most cars suffer.
The downside, of course, is that you don’t get to choose the colour or specification. In a Mini, that might be a greater obstacle than with most cars, because personalisation is one of the big attractions. But if you take your time, you might be able to find a year-old example with a colour combination you like.
To drive, you probably won’t notice much of a difference between the third – and fourth-generation (current) cars. Indeed, the latest petrol-powered Mini is quite heavily related to the previous generation under the skin and has the same basic engine, which has proven to be reasonably reliable.
Watch out for water leaks around the coolant lines to the turbo – which has to be removed to replace them, so it can be quite a pricey job. Otherwise, though, this latest three-cylinder engine is shaking out to be a lot more robust than the somewhat troublesome Prince four-cylinder unit of the second-generation car.
One other thought, though: do you really need to make the change at all? You already own a third-generation convertible; that generation was still going a year ago, which means in essence you’ll be spending more money to upgrade to a hatchback version of the same car, albeit one that’s been on the receiving end of a facelift.
Given your car’s mileage is so low, it would seem to have plenty of life left. You could keep it running for many years yet, which would be the financially prudent thing to do.
Life is too short to be financially prudent all the time, however – and if your heart is yearning for a change, then upgrading to the year-old example would seem the best way to please both heart and head.
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