I want to replace my Yaris with a MINI.
I currently drive a 2008 Toyota Yaris Luna, 1.0, five-door, petrol. I've had the car since 2008 but didn't buy it new; I'm the second owner. It has never given me a minutes trouble, I've had it serviced most years at a main dealer, no major issues have ever come up - just new brake pads and other small things that you'd expect when you've been driving the car for years. I bought the car with a loan from the credit union, which I've paid back so there's nothing owed on it.
All that being said I'm really bored of it! I've wanted a MINI since I was in my teens and I would absolutely love one! I can probably only afford to spend an extra €1k max on top of trading in my Yaris. Do you have an idea roughly what the trade-in value for the Yaris would be? Seeing as I'd have to buy an older MINI would I be opening myself up to a bigger chance of expensive things going wrong with the car? All I've ever had to spend on the Yaris is service costs and new tyres so am wary of changing for that reason.
Stella Greene (Dublin)Jan 2014 Filed under: choosing used car
Expert answer
Hi Stella,
OK, the good news is that your Yaris is an in-demand model and values for cars from around that era are holding up well because of the scarcity of new car sales since the financial crash. I'd hope that you'd get around €8,000 for it, but let's play safe and assume you get €7,000 and you can add your €1k to that. That opens up an entire world of MINIs to you, and not just old models - you should be able to get into the second-generation post-2006 model, which is noticeably more refined and well made. I'd suggest trying to track down a nicely specced 1.6 Cooper and enjoy the heck out of it. As a MINI owner myself, I can tell you that they're great fun to drive and not quite as impractical as you might think.
Now, reliability. There's no two ways about it - Toyotas are staggeringly reliable and break very rarely. MINIs aren't bad, not bad at all, but they're just not quite as bank-vault solid as the Japanese car. Buy carefully, make sure you get one with a full and complete service history and you should be fine. Regular servicing isn't too pricey (about €190 for a normal service) and fuel economy should be pretty good too.
Hope that all helps
Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Adviser@neilmbriscoe