A little disappointed

[Clivey]

My dad's a driving instructor in Derbyshire (England) and currently drives a 1.0 3cylinder Corsa Life in aruba blue...it's not a bad car compared to the competition but it's just too small and weedy for him to use now that he's actually started his own business, so...

...We decided to look at a new Mini , first we test drove a Mini One 1.6 petrol, which is a great car and were going to order one when my parents noticed the fuel consumption of the Mini One Diesel (I should have hidden the brochure) and yesterday they ordered a Mini One Diesel in Liquid Yellow with the Salt pack (front fog lights, trip computer, passenger seat height adjuster, storage compartment pack [which includes a 12v power socket in the boot for a fridge] and the interior light pack) as well as manual air conditioning and an alarm...but, becuase they're old fogeys and have NO taste in music at all it's still gonna have the 4x5w standard cassette player (oh please!).

It's gonna have the standard wheelcovers (soon to be replaced by ones from Halfords to take the abuse) but that and the fact it's got a tape player (who listens to tapes these days anyway? Even LPs are better ) and the fact it's a diesel really disappointed me. I mean, £13,000 for a car that has 1 horsepower more than a Corsa 1.2 and does 0-60 in 13.5 seconds is (just about) tolerable seeing as it's a driving school car but that clattering sound does NOT belong in a Mini, old or new . I can understand it in my friend's Mitsubishi L200 Animal but a Mini? Jeez. Next time I'll have to order the car for him lol.

Anybody have any thoughts on this or what would make a good driving school vehicle?

[CdocZ]

Anybody have any thoughts on this or what would make a good driving school vehicle?

Um....."driving school" in what way? As in your first car of your own that you lean to rive in? If so, then.......get anything, as long as the thing moves. I am happy with my 1993 Mercury Sable, which may have a 3 liter V6, but it is so big that it is still amazingly slow (Plus the damn thing shifts at 3,000RPM, well before the cars powerband, but close to it). Seriously, the thing would at most sell for $4,000 American dollars, barely, and that is only because it has less then 15,000 miles on it, and it has been kept up prtty well.

ANYthing will do for a first car. And believe me, when you get it, you will be happy you have it, no matter what it is (Unless it is something that looks like a Pontiac Aztec, which is this - http://www.pontiac.com/aztek/index.jsp?brand=home)

[Clivey]

No, not a first car...it's for an instructor to teach people to learn to drive in...it must have good outward visibility, storage, ease of use and generate a positive image for the business

[Clivey]

I was in the US last year and was told that you could learn to drive at 16 there...? How are you taught, do you learn at school or something or is the reason that many americans don't know how to drive (properly) because they haven't been taught? I must say the freeways around LA are lethal, you even have "off-ramps" at both sides of the road and people overtake on both sides as well (then come together in the middle lane!!! ) My dad was in Texas in the 80's and hired a Ford Pinto...he said it was one of the worst vehicles he had ever driven and most american market cars communicate no feel to the driver partly becuase of soft springs (more body roll than a football). On the other hand though, the US has some of the best vehicles and drivers EVER...I drove a Yukon XL and was amazed that it doesn't roll around as much as other 4x4s (maybe it had something to do with the 20" chrome rims on each corner weighing it down)

[henk4]

wait till you have been in it and driven (if you are old enough), and come back about the clattering sound. The Mini diesel will drive circles around a Corsa 1.2, given its low end torque and pulling power.
The students will also appreciate a diesel, because it is so much easier to drive with in particular the standing start, release the clutch and it will start rolling on idle.
When my son went for his license the driving teacher told him not to drive my car any more because it was too easy. He used a 150 BHP Accord Coupe.

[Clivey]

I am aware of the torque difference and the fact that you can make the car carry on with feet off the pedals because we used to have a diesel Astra but then again you can do that in the 1.0 Corsa. I just don't think diesels are appropriate in Minis, especially when the petrol still does 41.5mpg (combined). I know this may sound wierd but I find diesels a lot harder to drive than petrols because i'm not used to them and they have different changing patterns. lol

[henk4]

I am aware of the torque difference and the fact that you can make the car carry on with feet off the pedals because we used to have a diesel Astra but then again you can do that in the 1.0 Corsa. I just don't think diesels are appropriate in Minis, especially when the petrol still does 41.5mpg (combined). I know this may sound wierd but I find diesels a lot harder to drive than petrols because i'm not used to them and they have different changing patterns. lol

astra diesels were really old generation ones, I am sure you will find the BMW engine to be quite different. The only thing with diesels is that you can shift earlier and still have abundant power available in the next gear.

[Matra et Alpine]

Not to upset you too much, CLivey, but if you were Isle of Man resident you could have been driving when you were 16 Not all of Britain is as brain-dead as Tonyland

[ScionDriver]

My high school has Chevy Caviler Drivers Ed cars because the local chevy dealer leases them to the school for cheap or free I dont know which. But they aren't bad cars. Now of course they have been replaced with the new Cobalts but when I learned it was the Caviler.

[Turbonutter55]

When I learn to drive, I'll start out in our Toyota Landcruiser (auto) in someone's back field, just to get used to being behind the wheel where there's nothing to hit. Then, it's on to my dad's 1965 Volvo! Possibly even slower than that diesel Mini (more power, but heavier). The advantage is, once you can drive that, you can drive almost anything. Manual gearbox from a truck, no ABS, manual choke... the list goes on.

[Vindesh17]

I think you should go with a ford focus. Theyre cheap and easy to maintain(UK model only). American ford cars suck

[Clivey]

I think you should go with a ford focus. Theyre cheap and easy to maintain(UK model only). American ford cars suck

We've already had 2 Fords and lets just say 'never again'...a sierra 1.8LX (1982) and a Mondeo 1.8LX (2001) both riddled with faults and problems...including indicator bulbs staying permanently lit when it was raining (sierra) and interior door trim around heater vents falling off when the doors were opened (mondeo) to name just a couple. Plus there's the handling of both cars...70mph in the sierra overtaking a truck in the middle lane and you suddenly find that you're approaching the barrier in the centre! And the fact that ford's only decent looking UK model car for years has been the Puma sort of tells me not to go there.

It seems a bit stupid that they can own Land Rover and have good designs and products coming from there (Rangie,new Disco) and Aston Martin (although they're getting cheaper by the second, not in price but in image due to the use of Ford parts) but they can't create anything remotely appealing at all.

The AA use focus 1.6 Ghia 5-door models but schools like that use whatever they can get a special deal on.

[jcp123]

I would probably have gotten the diesel motor out of all of those too. I like the torque and the low-revving pull of them, and the extra fuel economy doesn't hurt. It's actually a bit of a wonder they aren't more common, most especially here in the US.

As to the tape deck...well, just get a headphone jack-to-tape adapter and you can plug it into the headphone port on an mp3 or cd player, and shove the other end (which is basically a cassette with a cord hangin off of it) into the tape deck. This is what I do. Problem solved. P.S. I like records, I collect them . I have about twice as many LP's as CD's at the moment. But then again, I sort of skipped CD's altogether, most of my music is MP3.

[QuattroMan]

No, not a first car...it's for an instructor to teach people to learn to drive in...it must have good outward visibility, storage, ease of use and generate a positive image for the business

who cares most of the drivers are going to be 1st time drivers they are going to suck any ways, so let them drive what they can get,if they dont like it they can kiss your @ss,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[jcp123]

The advantage is, once you can drive that, you can drive almost anything. Manual gearbox from a truck, no ABS, manual choke... the list goes on.

Yeah, like the car I learned stick in: 1966 Ford Mustang. Manual steering, manual drum brakes, manual transmission with a completely unassisted clutch. It left my leg hurting for about 3 days afterwards thanks to that clutch, but to this day, it's one of the most fun cars I have ever driven, in a sort of hairy-chested way but I still drive a car with manual choke and ABS and wouldn't have it any other way.