California MINI Car Dealers

Bob Smith Mini in Calabasas, CA promised me that there would be no markups when I plunked down the $1000 deposit for the Countryman (Dec 2010). Unfortunately, when it came time to pick up the car, they did mark up the MF to .0028 and the AF to $925. If that wasn't insulting enough, they insisted that they weren't marking anything up. I had the feeling that I wouldn't have any bargaining leverage by putting money down on the car without making the deal... and I was right.

MSRP 22850 Cooper Base (red) auto trans Roof Bluetooth Selling price 21965.11. I have a trade in with 1805.48 to deposit. Monthly payment is 255 (with 9.75% tax) MF .0017. Residual is 68% (3 yr lease with 10k/yr). Is this a good deal?

I got a 2011 Mini Cooper Red. auto roof Bluetooth. MSRP 22850 Selling price 21965.11 (1330.11 above invoice) Is this a good deal?

I wanted to post my new lease for a 2011 Mini Clubman on 10/22/2010. Thanks Car Man for all your posts that helped a lot. My dealer was Irvine Mini, CA 2011 Mini Clubman (British racing green2 w/ silver top) totally stripped. They threw in rubber floor mats MSRP at $22,300 Term: 36 months Residual %66 of MSRP (12K per year) (%67 for 10K/year) only $8mo more for 12K. Money Factor .00180 Discount of the car $1054 My total drive off was $2842 (CAP reduction $2018 + DMV $362 + first payment + $45 doc fee, etc) No security deposit. Monthly payment $ 208.45 plus tax. Other useful info: Regular HT minis residual was %68 with MF at .00173 What helped me was to have them use their computer to recreate the national lease offer, then input the numbers for my vehicle. I was less MSRP, but also less residual and higher MF for the clubman.

http://www.carsdirect.com/build/options?zipcode=91107&acode=USC00MNC021A0&restor- - - e=false Pasadena, CA. Cars Direct. You should pay around 22.5K *new* with no options, so unless that used Mini is gold plated. I'd skip the option packages and get individual items instead. Ignore the idiocy and stick to get the parts that improve handling and mechanical functionality. But not everything is there - so let's go to the Mini Site: What you want/don't want: + Color. $500. Any decent color seems to cost extra. So be it. I chose Horizon blue. :) + Chrome line exterior makes it look classy. $250. + White turn signals do as well. $100 + Center armrest. + Heated Seats - skip the "leather" - it's not much better than the stock leatherette, to be honest. For $1800 I could get real leather put in at a local uphlolstery shop (I know of two - one in Glendale and one in Pasadena) + Color to match exterior/etc. If not an option, just get piano black as it goes well with the gray. ($0 with my color) Option groups. Skip all of them. 1 - Cold Weather - who needs folding side mirrors? Get the heated seats separately. 2 - Convenience - Just get the ones you want individually. 3 - Sport - skip entirely. Only the Traction Control is actually going to make a difference. The stock wheels are also already far in excess of what a car like this requires. 17 inch run-flat tires also are miserably expensive and rough-riding. In fact, I'd swap the run-flats out from day one for all-seasons. 4 - Premium - I'd honestly get the climate control and premium sound by themselves and save a couple hundred dollars. The dual-pane is basically a terrarium and from the driver's seat you can't see out of it anyways unless you turn your head sideways. I'd say it was great for the passengers, but you can't expect anyone to actually use the rear seats on a Mini. If you want the real deal, just get a convertible instead. 5 - Mayfair and Camden - 4K in useless bling. Performance. Now onto the real important areas: + Manual. The automatic is horrendously expensive to fix and not very reliable, either. In a car this small and light, the manual is almost arcade-game easy and light. If I had to chose a car to learn/have as my first manual, this would be in the top 5. **edit** No, really. Resale value also drops for automatics as enthusiasts want a sport-upgraded manual and the automatic is almost **5000** to fix when, not IF it breaks. ++ Traction Control and Sport suspension. This alone doubles the handling compared to tires alone. Best $700 you can spend on a Mini. This also makes it into a very desirable basic sport-tuner type car for resale value. ie - nobody who is serious about the car for tuning used will settle for one that doesn't have these options as a starting point. Even if it is ten years from now. The general rule is to always either buy max performance or absolute minimum to save pennnies. Rental stripper or highway punisher. Since you got the S, this is a no-brainer upgrade. + Rear fog light is a good addition. + Auto -dimming mirror is also nice. - Xenon/HID. Standard lights are just fine and blind other drivers on high a LOT less. And there is a less expensive and better option (see below) Interior: ++The HK Premium Audio is a must. + Universal remote is also great to have in a car this small. - Bluetooth/USB is nice, but it's also horrendously and I mean idiotically expensive when you can get an aftermarket one for $150. (I get a whopping $850 for this and the handsfree phone prep!) That's more than the sport suspension and traction control! - Auto climate control. It's expensive, and in a car that's so small that you can touch the passenger window while driving, kind of silly. Accessories: + Driving Lights. Very nice to have and TONS better than the HID lights. + Rubber floor mats for front, rear, and boot. + Map light (nice to have, IMO +++ JCW Strut brace - Get this as well - nice handling improvement. If you want to upgrade the brakes(highly recommended!), DIY with some nice aftermarket Brembo or similar multi-piston calipers. This also is a fantastic improvement as OEM brakes are almost always merely adequate. I get $27,413 in this example. Going over to cars direct gets you about 27K - about a 1K savings.(roughly $27000 but that includes delivery of 700)