Comments on: BMW to keep Mini supply flat despite increased demand

By: Impulsive

Impulsive — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:12:13 +0000

How about they address that start-up noise. And the black wheel well trim unclipping. For a $30k car, that is unacceptable.

By: ISMINGELS

ISMINGELS — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:56:15 +0000

Its ok JohnnyBlazE soon we will see a rise in British cars in the junk yard after all but a few diehard enthusiasts get tired of fixing them.

By: JohnnyBlazE

JohnnyBlazE — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:26:53 +0000

Who’d have thought cars manufactured in England would be in DEMAND?! Thought our auto industry was as good as dead :p

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:27:24 +0000

so he has a truck and doesnt haul anything, thats brilliance in itself

By: xyunya

xyunya — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:56:28 +0000

Cars are fashion statements which spell more about us then we would like to admit. That makes everyone behind a wheel a poseur.
Perhaps 20-24K car is less of poseur statement then 40K car with less driving fun.

By: mayer_ray_nagin

mayer_ray_nagin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:28:12 +0000

Minis are just Poseur Cars For The Masses …. the masses of idiots with inferiority complexes who blew previously their wads on larger poseur cars but can no longer afford them because they were too stupid to save and invest.
.
Also, it’s true – if your big car is paid for its cheaper to continue driving it than to buy a Civic. You’ll lose more in depreciation, interest, and opportunity cost of capital on the Civic than you’ll save in gas. When I did the math it was more like $10k over 5 years but I wanted a better car than a Civic.

By: xyunya

xyunya — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:23:20 +0000

RaineMan, per article yesterday when Alfa will come to US, BMW will collect on sale of those cars as well. That may be the reason why they not rushing into increasing plant capacity at a tremendous cost to them. Can’t blame them for being shrewd. Yes, domestics would spend billions to raise capacity just to find that ther eis not demand after moneys are spent.

F451, you must have eagle eye: I cant distinguish between last generation Mini and latest (’07) model unless they stand very close to each other and you can determine that the new one is ugly and old one was OK. Congrats, I am jealous.

donaldj, even non-turbo Mini requires premium gas; their commercial in my neck of the woods states “runs on irregular”. Nevertheless, difference between premium and regular is about 5% (in my neck of the woods) and Mini is one of the most frugal cars on the road.

What is more interesting, that it is the most exciting car to pilot. I think Car & Driver wrote that you get 90% of Ferrari excitement for 10% of price. I tried: true enough.

By: RaineMan

RaineMan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:13:40 +0000

“It all comes down to forecasting.” Which is apparently something that no automobile manufacturer is good at. You can’t tell me that when gas first hit $3/gal here in the states there wasn’t someone out there who thought it would just keep climbing.
But that’s okay… we’ll all just wait on Fiat and Alfa to bring their small cars over here… then Mini will wish it had sold more Coopers when it had the chance.

By: howsmydriving

howsmydriving — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:48:56 +0000

Building a car as small as Mini and selling it for premium prices has been quite a marketing coup.

By: F451

F451 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:38:05 +0000

When BMW first reinvented the Mini its styling was on its mark, but now I can see where they would want to curb production as the newer models are just plain ugly.

By: golf4me

golf4me — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:32:42 +0000

Maintenance, no as Honda does not pay for that. I allowed $500 per year for repairs on the truck for 3 yrs, which is when the Honda is out of warranty. The truck is an ’05, and he takes good care of it, doesn’t haul anything, etc. Obviously, it’s only an estimate, and it would be all f-ed if he had to put a tranny in it or something.

By: global_lightning

global_lightning — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:27:05 +0000

Golf4me:
Did you include maintenance in your calculations? Not that it will make up the $7000 difference, but an older car will need more maintenance out of pocket, while a new car comes with a warranty.

By: donaldj

donaldj — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:26:44 +0000

Hey Chris C, the MINI does not take premium, the MINI-S does. And the Mini has something that your large american sedan doesn’t. Elegance. If you haven’t driven one for a while, you just don’t know. But I suspect not knowing won’t keep you from posting, eh?

By: ktulu

ktulu — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:21:57 +0000

smart -he jeh

By: JoshyLofty

JoshyLofty — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:07:19 +0000

My Dodge requires Premium gas & i was complaining about it @ first but i sat down & did the math, premium is an avg of 15 cents more than regular here and i drive approx. 10K miles a year (i’ve had my car new and it only has 37K miles on it, its a 2006 model.) so i’m only spending like 150 extra a year by using premium. not too bad.

i still don’t wanna pay frickin 4 bucks a gallon tho for any kind of gas.

By: golf4me

golf4me — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:55:08 +0000

Chris C., if you do the math, it IS still less expensive to run a Mini vs. a “large american sedan” — all things being equal. However, say your car is paid off and you’d have to go out and spend 25k to get a decent Mini, then the equation changes considerably. This is the part that most short-sighted Americans don’t consider. They spend $400/mo to save $200/mo on gas…I did a spreadsheet for a math-challenged friend of mine who wanted to trade his now-worthless, but almost paid for Silverado on a Civic…basically it would have cost him $7000 MORE over 5 years. Sure, saved a lot of money on gas, but the cost of the car and then the interest expense on top of that killed the fuel savings. Hey, if anyone wants to spend MORE to save gas for the rest of us, that’s commendable, but I’d rather you just send me the check…

By: jonmiles

jonmiles — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:44:48 +0000

^In my experience, people who don’t really have to worry about the price of gas affecting thier weekly tennis lessons still “care” about it. These customers are getting out of landrovers and escallades, and in comparison- the mini gets GREAT mileage.

By: Chris C.

Chris C. — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:39:54 +0000

What I don’t understand is why people are so fooled by this little car. It may get better mileage however it does not have a huge fuel savings. The car has a 12 gallon tank and requires premium fuel. I drive a larger American sedan that has a 19 gallon tank and uses regular fuel.. When you look at the cost for premium, verses the cost for regular and further take into account distance on a tank btwn the two cars… its damn near the same cost. I’ll take comfort any day!

By: Carwatcher

Carwatcher — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:37:46 +0000

BMW is the smartest and most profitable automaker in the world. They refuse to sellout to the high volume gods.

By: Madcapp

Madcapp — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:16:15 +0000

Wow, imagine that, reasonable fuel efficient cars sell…and Hummers, Escalades, and G-wagens are still junk for foolish people.

By: Stinky007

Stinky007 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:14:24 +0000

Incredibly, there’s more demand for expensive small cars than for reasonably priced ones…
Go figure!