Ive now come to the decision, over the last few days, that the mini is costing me FAR too much to use as a daily driver. Pretty much all of my months wages go on the car . Now, i dont know how many of you have seen my project page, but ive just tackled a load of rust including floor panels and boot floor, which has vastly improved the shell - but of course its not pretty paintwork. I have nowhere to put a second car to use as a daily driver, unless i look to rent a lockup garage (which im looking into now). Now would it be more cost effective / sensible to do that?, or buy a 125cc bike, which i can legally drive with CBT & L’s AFAIK. Its primary use, i suppose would be for my commute to work (about 18 miles a day).
What would the going rate be for a solid but non-sprayed mini be? Or the same again but with it sprayed?
Not really wanting to sell the mini if possible, as its my pride and joy, but at the moment its just getting silly money just too keep it in good order.
Why is it costing you so much? What are you spending the money on?
My advice would be.. unless there’s something severely wrong with the car that you can’t fix yourself (i.e. needs an engine rebuild or something daft) then don’t sell it. You’ll regret it!!
Personally I would keep the car and buy a Vespa or a Lamberetta if I only had to do 18 miles commuting a day. You will regret selling it and after all that hardwork its a shame to let someone else finish it.
Well i have done / can do pretty much anything on the car i want. Ive just finished a long-term engine build thats ready to go in next week regardless. But the main spending is on silly bits like wheel bearings, bushes, brake pads & discs, headlight bulbs etc. All cheap items themselves, but when you’ve just done 4 corners worth of bearings (MOT advisory) the cost soon adds up. I must admit i did save a fait bit of moolar doing the welding myself. But as soon as ive finished something, something else decides to fail. I know my wiring loom is on its last legs for example (melted wires). Ive now stood back and said - “hang on - where do i stop exactly?”
Edit: Just wanted to add - the engine is only just going in after starting building it well over a year ago, so thats not really the expense here.
I dont see how someone could continuously spend most of their wages on the Mini though on things that NEED doing… fair enough you get bad runs sometimes when everything keeps going but not all the time?
I know ill miss it . Ive had too much fun in this little car to just sell it on! Its been a bad run since the beginning of April . It was a hard slog to get it ready for L2B run, as in - getting the car solid. But i cant help thinking i will be repeating all the hard work in a years time. Though i know thats complete poo as the bodywork has been protected .
My garage only costs £8.81 a week to rent, so the outlay of a garage is not much (unless you live in chelsea for example), the bike wouldnt be much to run in the way of tax, insurance and fuel.
Keep the mini in a garage and get the work done when you can afford bits, would prob work out a lot cheaper.
rent a garage, put the mini of the road for a bit so you can do work and what not on it (save you money on petrol, tax, insurance) then buy the 125cc and use that for the daily drive as said before fuel, tax n insurance wont be much on that, then you can do little jobs on the mini when the money allows it and stuff
But yeah, thats what i had in mind really. Get a mode of transport thats reliable ( no busses out here in the stix ), then keep the mini going as and when i can afford.
Sell it your such an idiot, i just want you out of the mini scene!
haha nah that was mean. Dont do it mate, L2b was a blast in that little car, apart from me not shutting the door properly for 15 miles the weekend went as smooth as silk, theres alot of nostalgia attatched to it and selling it would be like Santa selling his slay
it will be once you have caught up with all the repairs
my mini has been a money pit this year but no way is anyone else rolling around in it
this year mine has had a whole heap of welding + all the usual bits balljoints etc even a caliper the day before MOT
my vote is keep at it the end cant be far away as its only 10ft long Lol
> Lol I have came close to breaking my mini soo many times so I know the feeling
my mini has been on ebay twice only for me to end it early not to sell
my main hurdle now is to find a cheap as chips spray job that dont look cheap once I am ready
I Would call you Un-Decisive, but im not so sure now…
