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WELL guys before my car ive got now i had a top of the range mazda 6 Ts2 bought brand new an had it for nr 10 yrs an drove it for 125000 mls an it was a beautifull car bar the lights not to good an it was a 2 litre but i had to drive my dad oringinal mini an it was terrible more like a go cart an the car had an off set sterrin wheel so when i got in the drivers seat the steerin wheel was on my left an talk about weird to drive but it was pretty nippy on pick up so not all bad but would not have wanted to do a long journey in it Aaaaarrrccchhhhh
chrisbComment
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What convinced me was the build quality of the new 'BMW' version MINI rather than the older Mini!!!! Even 3 years on mine is still rock solid, unlike previous cars which have loosened with age!! And agree, the new minis are a bit Tardis(ish) but I went for the larger Countryman trying to get ahead of on coming age!! Don't want to have to bend too much to get into any car!!!Comment
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Maybe it's just the fact that my first driving lesson was in a Mini - and my instructor had to swap for something bigger as my legs wouldn't fit under the steering wheel!
Yes, I know the new Minis are roomier and have much better build quality, but if I tell you my last car was a Mercedes C 180 estate and I thought it was a bit small .....Comment
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Does anybody recall the joke that was current when Mini's were first about? '60's and Mayfair - a bright young thing nips her Mini into a parking space that a Rolls Royce is about to occupy; " That's what you can do with a Mini!" she trills. The Roller driver reverses several times and trashes the Mini. "That's what you can do with a Million Pounds" he replies...
SteveComment
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Rich "Idiot" with an expensive "Trash Compactor" :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tongue-out2::tongue-out3::thumb2:Comment
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That's reminded me of a true story from way back!!
HMS Seahawk, sometime very early 70's. A mini parks, (illegally) outside the junior ranks club.
A fire in the club means the on site fire wagons are called. (Bit of background to those who won't know. HMS Seahawk is the training camp for FAA fire crews. Also the largest helicopter operating base in Europe at the time).
OK, mini - parked illegally, fire in the club. Fire engine arrives, driver sits central in the wagon, doesn't see the wee Mini and duly rolls right over it.
Mini driver complains to the hierarchy only to be told - yo shouldn't have parked illegally. His mini really was flat.
Fire was put out in seconds!!!Comment
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Doug's story reminded me of an incident at a company I visited in the 1980s. A fitter wanted to weld some new sills on his Mini during his lunch break. For easier access, he 'borrowed' the company fork lift truck, hoisted the car in the air and started welding, only to realise that he'd forgotten to remove the interior trim and carpets, which had caught fire with the heat from the welding. So, he dashed back into his workshop to get a fire extinguisher, As he ran in, the forklift truck driver returned from his break to see his truck on the wrong side of the yard, with a Mini on the forks belching smoke. SO he jumped on the truck, raced across the yard to a stream that ran past the site, and dumped the car in the stream before parking his truck in the correct place. Fitter came out of the workshop to find his car in the stream, accused the fork truck driver of vandalism, who countered by saying the fitter didn't have permission to use the truck, etc. Fisticuffs followed...
Another earlier incident - when I was working in a college, there was a small parking area outside my lab window. I noticed a Mini that seemed to be full of smoke so went outside to check, and found a window was slightly open and a cigarette had dropped out of the ashtray and started the carpet smouldering. I grabbed a CO2 extinguisher and blasted it through the gap above the window then stood by the car for a few minutes to check the fire was out, only to be accosted by the car's owner for filling his car with CO2. Ungrateful devil! I wished I'd left it to burn!
A more positive tale of Minis - my mother could never get the hang of changing gear, so when she sold me her Singer Chamois (it was due for its first MOT) she bought an automatic Mini, with the 998cc Cooper engine but with one SU carb not the two of the Cooper, and the Automotive Products 4-speed auto box. It was great fun - the torque converter meant you could start in any of the 4 gears or in Drive, and if you put it into D ans stood on both pedals, it would burn rubber for 50 yards. I remember beating Lotus Elans and MGBs away from traffic lights. However, although it was fun, it was still a Mini, plagued with all the usual reliability problems, leaks (both in and out), poor starting, rust, seized handbrake, etc. I took it over after she retired, when a broken ankle left me needing an auto box, and solved some of the car's problems, but ran over a half-brick in the road one day and cracked the cast ally sump, which was also the gearbox casing, so it started leaking oil. I made a series of centre punch indents both sides of the crack which slowed the leak enough to sell it.
PeteComment
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Unlike the modern MINI's then. Shortly after I took ownership of my 2020 MINI Countryman. I failed to start at a local Aldi car park!! (Miles from home). All the learning lights on. Then I managed to start the engine but no power steering. Loads of other faults. After leaving it to search for a suitable branch to give it a thorough thrashing I attempted to start the car. Yah!! It flashed up, Power steering was working. However loads of error messages on the panel.
Got home phoned the MINI Mayday line. Yup, engineer on his way. Within an hour he arrives, nice brand new electric van. Immaculate grey overalls. Opens the back, again immaculate but noticeable lacking in tool boxes or anything.
Walks over introduces himself and I show him the problems. "I think I know what that is, I'll just get my laptop to confirm". "Yes, as I thought - you a software update missing".
I'll book you int the local BMW garage for the morning and they have 48 hours to get it back to you.
Not a tool in sight - nothing!!
Sure enough it was only a software error!!
'Kin technology!!!!Comment
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I bought a newish (21 plate) Focus a year ago, and the battery didn't seem to be charged enough for the auto stop-start to work. The dealer insisted they needed the car overnight to give it a full charge. It worked for a few days after that then failed again. One of two things surely, either a faulty charging system or a faulty battery. After another overnight session they decided that the charging system was working but a "battery charge level sensor" was telling the alternator the battery was fully charged when it wasn't. Of course they didn't have the sensor in stock, so I was without my car for another day while they found one. That was replaced, but the stop-start still wasn't working, which was due to... a faulty battery.
Had the service receptionist not been young, female, and very good looking I'd have been more forceful in pointing out that I'd said that a month earlier. (Sexist pig aren't I)
PeteComment
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Pete I wrote an article in the CSMA magazine several years back about an experience I had with Ford and their diagnostics.
My Escort Si was sat at idle!! 1600rpm. Book says 825 +/- 25rpm!
Ford stuck the car to their diagnostic PC - no fault evident!!
Very long story short. They changed all the sensors they could affordable get away with and still never fixed the problem. I looked at the wiring diagram and everything pointed to the engine management chip circa £1k.
In the end after me contacting the RAC legal department Ford agreed to take it to a diagnostic specialist.
Whoa!!!! The 'specialist' found a micro hole in the chip!!! They begrudgingly changed it but wanted me to pay 50%.
I mentioned I was grateful that the salesman who sold me the car had talked me into an extended warranty!! They backed off. Just as well as sat outside was a RAC solicitor who had agreed to be there if needed.
I won the CSMA's letter of the month and a nice pen to boot.
That experience spoilt my whole attitude towards Ford.Comment
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I still bear the scare on my left knee of a Mini door hinge when the driver collided with a parked car and stove in the passenger side. The narrow hinge embedded itself into my left knee. Much blood!!! Can't remember much after the bang!!!!
HAd a very good mate who took the last hire car to get home on weekend. Only trouble was he was 6'7" and it was an old mini!! He had his knees tucked either side of the steering wheel. Not a nice ride from Portsmouth to Weymouth!!!Comment
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Leading up to xmas not long after I started on hgv's I did a bit of agency work for what used to be Dixons (Camera's etc). I arrived at their store in Oxford Street, and you had to drive left into one back street and then left again so you came up to their loading/unloading bay. Parked up as there was already a truck in the loading bay and went in to let them know I had arrived, went into the office and there she was utterly distraught, and there was the driver of the truck bewildered, the manager sat at his desk with his head in his hands... So backed out and went to the coffee pot and one of the sales lads was standing there, and as you do you ask what's going on as you need to get tipped and away.
So the explanation went like this - truck driver arrives, lets them know he is there and will be reversing into the loading bay - goes out to the loading bay, operates the electric shutter, gets in the truck and positions ready to reverse in. Thought he saw something, pigeon he thought and kept reversing. got to where he thought he was up agains the loading bay, took a luck out the window and NO, he was a bit to far out, rubbish boxes in the way, not a problem he would crush them, and he did with a couple of shunts.... Gets out the truck and walks back then sees the Mini all crushed up against the wall. Dare not look in to see how much blood there was and went to get the manager, they both took a look and saw the car was vacant. So he went back into the store and asked the customers if they owned a Mini.. This well dressed Chelsea type lady owned up and claimed she had parked hers in the car park at the back of the store - the manager informed her Dixons did not have a car park??? Turned out the car was new that week and was a pressie from the hubby...
That is what happens when you make assumptions, do not have a member of staff watching you in, and taking a proper look at what you have hit....Comment
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