Life after Lease: 2010-12 Mini or Fiat 500!

[dgswk]

Wife has a new job, doesn't need to commute into Birmingham anymore, it's now a 2-3 mile local commute rather than 35 each way. In fact, she walks it somedays which is great, but winter is coming and our 2nd car, a leased Renault Zoe goes back next month. Part of her logic for taking the new job at a lower salary, was that we could dump the £350/month lease and actually be no worse off with 1.5hrs a day less commuting....

Anyway, we still need a second car. She likes Fiat 500's and Mini's. We've both had Mini's in the past and both liked them. We also had a 500X and liked that. Rear seat space, headroom etc. simply doesn't matter, kids grown up and left home (almost). It will do < 5,000 a year, if she goes away, she'll take my company car or we'll take the toy car (997 911, no she won't drive it )

Looking about, £3k will get a nice, 60-80,000 mile, 2010-12 Fiat 500, £500-£750 more will get a Mini. Budget really around £3k but we, as always, have scope creep with a Mini..... Oh and it'll be a keeper, until it dies, with a local spanner man servicing it from his barn.

Any thoughts, colour and spec is immaterial, just needs to be cheap to run, my view is you won't go wrong with a 1.2 500, £30 VED.

Any horror stories around with either model? I recall 1.4 Mini's having engine woes. Also seen a few twin air 500's about as well which might add a bit of a revvy buzz to the mix and man maths says £0 VED with one of those can only be a good thing!

Polo's, Corsa's, Ka's etc. have been discounted. Doesn't like, doesn't want.

[ZX10R NIN]

There's also the Alfa Mito with the same drivetrains.

Twin Air:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307300...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308020...

1.4 Veloce:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307169...

155:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307249...

[Louis Balfour]

dgswk said:

Wife has a new job, doesn't need to commute into Birmingham anymore, it's now a 2-3 mile local commute rather than 35 each way. In fact, she walks it somedays which is great, but winter is coming and our 2nd car, a leased Renault Zoe goes back next month. Part of her logic for taking the new job at a lower salary, was that we could dump the £350/month lease and actually be no worse off with 1.5hrs a day less commuting....

Anyway, we still need a second car. She likes Fiat 500's and Mini's. We've both had Mini's in the past and both liked them. We also had a 500X and liked that. Rear seat space, headroom etc. simply doesn't matter, kids grown up and left home (almost). It will do < 5,000 a year, if she goes away, she'll take my company car or we'll take the toy car (997 911, no she won't drive it )

Looking about, £3k will get a nice, 60-80,000 mile, 2010-12 Fiat 500, £500-£750 more will get a Mini. Budget really around £3k but we, as always, have scope creep with a Mini..... Oh and it'll be a keeper, until it dies, with a local spanner man servicing it from his barn.

Any thoughts, colour and spec is immaterial, just needs to be cheap to run, my view is you won't go wrong with a 1.2 500, £30 VED.

Any horror stories around with either model? I recall 1.4 Mini's having engine woes. Also seen a few twin air 500's about as well which might add a bit of a revvy buzz to the mix and man maths says £0 VED with one of those can only be a good thing!

Polo's, Corsa's, Ka's etc. have been discounted. Doesn't like, doesn't want.

We had as a business run-around a Fiat 500 1.2L (Lounge) and now have a 1.5 Sport Mini. They are not particularly similar, IMHO, albeit both are / were newer than you are looking at.

The 500 was a cheerful little thing, but felt flimsy. The plastic seat adjuster handle would flex in your hand as you operated it. We sold it at 5 years old with 15k miles and already some bits had begun to corrode (window frames, exhaust brackets, nothing serious). I believe that other bits tend to break quite early on too, though I imagine they are cheap to fix.

On the plus side, if it was driven in a spirited manner it was quite quick. Four-up it also handled very well (a bit light at the back with 2). It was also not possible to drive the 500 without smiling and the sound system was very good.

The Mini feels altogether better put together and solid. If I were doing any miles in one of the two, the Mini wins.

[chrisch77]

As a serial MINI owner, I’d suggest avoiding that vintage of MINI (R56) and see if the budget will stretch to a 2014 onwards F56 model as they are a much better product. There’s also the option of the 5 door version (F55) should it be relevant to your situation, as they are often a bit cheaper.

[dgswk]

Thanks all

The Mito is a great call, didn't realise they did the TwinAir version; we've had many Alfa discussions over the years, she doesn't like them. Why? Because the number plate isn't in the middle. I s@@t you not!!!! But its worthy of investigation as I do like them, and I guess as I'm the one doing the buying, man maths might mean, well, its just such a bargain, we had to get it, it will make so much financial sense

We've had R56 and F56 Mini's, the F56 was a JCW, and the fit / finish between them was leagues apart although as summed up, the 500 is probably more likely to have bits fall off, but nothing else serious. If we were going to stretch the budget properly, we'd probably go for an early 1.4T Arbath.

No serious issues around on the 0.9T TwinAir engine? I've googled, nothing major I can find.

[Whataguy]

I've spent a few weeks driving both, I much prefer the 500 but build quality was flimsy so would probably go with the mini if you want lower running costs.

I had a 500 convertible for a while, which was quite good and actually had reasonable space in the back once you managed to get in. Only problem is the little rear glass window in the soft top can't be repaired so it's 2.5k for a new top if it breaks

[sawman]

Cant tell you much about the minis, but we have had a 2017 500 since 2018 ( at the time 2012 500’s were selling at 3.5- 4k!!) i looked at a few 2012 cars at that time, and couldn’t find one that everything worked on! So bought the nearly new one for 9k.
It now has 70k miles on it. It has been reliable. One door handle fell off, the gearlinkage fell off once, leaving me stuck in 3rd gear, and most recently the sump was replaced due to rust. A few weeks ago the dash lit up like a christmas tree with multiple electronic aids apparently failing. Brake light switch had failed, 10 quid for a new one.
Its confortable on a drive, and although it doesnt go very quick (1.2) its fun. Has averaged 46mpg and costs 20 quid a year to tax.
I keep thinking about trading up to an abarth….

Edited by sawman on Sunday 6th August 08:05

[Earthdweller]

We have a 2015 Fiat 500 1.2 Lounge which we’ve had from new

It hasn’t done many miles as only used as a runabout at a 2nd home, around 20k that’s all but it has been perfectly reliable and is a great little car for what it is and costs very little to tax/insure/service and because it only does about 2k a year very little in petrol

We also have a 2017 Mini Countryman which has done about 60k now, bought as an ex demo car, it feels way more substantial and better built but has had a few niggles and faults but has been reliable

I’m quite attached to the little fiat though it’s got a character and can be fun driven slowly

[Louis Balfour]

Earthdweller said:

I’m quite attached to the little fiat though it’s got a character and can be fun driven slowly

As a chap driving it, you need to be confident in your masculinity, don't you.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Why has no one mentioned the Panda?

[Earthdweller]

Louis Balfour said:

Earthdweller said:

I’m quite attached to the little fiat though it’s got a character and can be fun driven slowly

As a chap driving it, you need to be confident in your masculinity, don't you.

Oh yes. Especially as it’s pale green with a cream interior



( my mother (78) bought it, then a year later had to give up driving and we inherited it, so colour and spec wasn’t my choice but it’s grown on me )

Edited by Earthdweller on Sunday 6th August 08:33

[PlywoodPascal]

Louis Balfour said:

Earthdweller said:

I’m quite attached to the little fiat though it’s got a character and can be fun driven slowly

As a chap driving it, you need to be confident in your masculinity, don't you.

Errrrrrr

No?

It’s a car it’s not a dress

(Partridge dictaphone on): “Business idea: a company than scans the customers genitals and 3D prints a lifelike replica that can be mounted three-point-star style to the front of a car’s bonnet. Target market: insecure men in hatchbacks”. /partridge

Edited by PlywoodPascal on Sunday 6th August 08:36

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Louis Balfour said:

As a chap driving it, you need to be confident in your masculinity, don't you.

I drive a Fiat 500. I've probably had more fist fights in one year than you've had in your entire life sweetie.

[Louis Balfour]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Louis Balfour said:

As a chap driving it, you need to be confident in your masculinity, don't you.

I drive a Fiat 500. I've probably had more fist fights in one year than you've had in your entire life sweetie.

That's BECAUSE you drive a 500.

When we first got ours, I was amazed at how other car drivers reacted to it. I found that if I drove it a bit more enthusiastically the problem lessened, though.

[ChrisH72]

A mate of mine bought an r56 Cooper last year for £5k and he's been very happy with it. I think he's had a couple of minor issues but they've been cheap to fix.

I'd go for the 1.6 rather than the 1.4 but stick with the Cooper as the S of that generation is trouble.

First generation swift sport could be worth a look. Also a mk6 Fiesta zetec s.

[dgswk]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Why has no one mentioned the Panda?

We have, and we both like them, brother in law has one and swears by it. Just not that many around to choose from, loads of 500's

[stevemcs]

VW is perfect good to drive, very cheap to run - much higher mpg than either and more importantly they are much more reliable

[dgswk]

Thank you all, we are heading down the 500 route I think, searches set up on Autotrader, loads about. TwinAir Lounge, 2010-13, sub 80k miles, decent-ish history and £3-3.5k, I've got 7 weeks to find a good 'un!

Oh, and I have no issue whatsoever driving one

[bennno]

Fiat 500 is much less refined than a VW UP, let alone a Mini.

If you ever do longer distances Id look for a VW or Mini. Even a Corsa C/D is a much more refined car.

[ZX10R NIN]

Over budget but a cracking Abarth:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202307280...