Rob, just noticed you have a mini cooper. What are they like as my wife wants to get one.
Have you had any reliability problems or is it pretty well screwed together.
Cheers
The Mini is a fantastic drivers car, the handling, the looks the driving experience. Quality of materials is excellent and is well screwed together (although there are a few squeaks and rattles). It does have downsides in that the boot space is terrible, the ride is hard (mine has 17s with sport suspension) and the wind noise is a bit more than normal due to the upright windscreen.
On the whole the car has been pretty reliable the only major probs I've had in nearly 70K is the gearbox diff going (cost £1800 but was done under warranty) and power steering pump (£350 under warranty). Apparently all cars until the 04 face lift suffer gearbox failures as its a common fault. (Pre Face lift cars have an old Rover Gear box, face lift have a getrag box). Dealer service as usual leaves a lot to be desired though.
The other plus is the TLC servicing (for £450 all services are paid for until 80K), so the only thing I've paid for on the car is tyres and brakes!!
It has to be a great car as we are keeping it when the FR comes, (the wife will have it).
Therefore if you can get a face lifted car with TLC and you're laughing!!
Rob
PS. Post some pics of the Mk 5 pedals when you get them..