little advice? cooper v golf

zuroph

the GF is looking to upgrade her motor. she's driving a '02 1.2 Fiesta.

she narrowed it down to a 07 Beetle, a 05 golf, and a 04 mini cooper.
I crossed out the beetle for her.

so, its the golf versus the cooper. they both have ~35k on the clock.
The Golf is a 5 door black 1.4, the Cooper is a 1.6 3 door. the cooper is about €1800 more expensive.

so, which should she go for? I'll get to stick my name on the insurance on either also...

veetwin

Surely has to be the cooper. The other half had a 1.4 Golf Sportsline for 3 years and it was woefully slow. I mean the fiesta would have had far more go. The cooper every time.

Tipsy Mac

Yes the 1.4 Golf is a dog, wouldn't purchase it. I'd go with the Cooper if she doesn't intend carrying passengers in the rear.

bazz26

No brainer, Cooper.

colm_mcm

Out of those 3 the MINI.

Also consider the Volvo C30.

squod

Keep the fiesta IMO.

Mr.David

zuroph wrote: »

she narrowed it down to a 07 Beetle, a 05 golf, and a 04 mini cooper.
I crossed out the beetle for her.

LOL, good man yourself!:p

PaddyFagan

The cooper.

BUT the best answer would be for her to get out there and test drive everything she's remotely interested in and buy the one she likes.

Paddy

Overature

i would go for the golf as they are better built than coopers and hold there value longer

zuroph

is there any proof of that? I'd have thought the mini beat the golf for holding value these days? Plus hasn't golfs reliability slipped badly lately?

ianobrien

Overature wrote: »

i would go for the golf as they are better built than coopers

Gee, not what I've been told by some friends of mine who service VW & BMW.......

znv6i3h7kqf9ys

Overature wrote: »

i would go for the golf as they are better built than coopers and hold there value longer

Rubbish. My wife has a mini one and her brother has a 1.4 Golf. Mini is by far a better built car.

Alanstrainor

I would say the cooper too. The 1.6 is far better than the 1.4 in the golf. And as for the golf holding it's value better, rubbish, the cooper will definitely hold it's value over the golf, especially seeing that people consider MINI to be equal to BMW.

unkel

zuroph wrote: »

she narrowed it down to a 07 Beetle, a 05 golf, and a 04 mini cooper.
I crossed out the beetle for her.

But did you know the Beetle is a Golf too?

Anyway, the Golf is very slow and the Cooper quite quick. Unless your GF is an old age pensioner, I'd recommend she'd buy the Cooper

green123

squod wrote: »

Keep the fiesta IMO.

exactly.
why waste 10k+ ?

TestTransmission

green123 wrote: »

exactly.
why waste 10k+ ?

why does anyone change their car?They want a change?They want a more powerful car,they want more boot space,the list is endless

unkel

green123 wrote: »

exactly.
why waste 10k+ ?

Why have a steak for dinner when a boiled potatoe would keep the hunger away too?

green123

jackncoke wrote: »

why does anyone change their car?

i dont know, i cant understand it myself.

unless there is something wrong with a car it just seems like a huge waste of money to be just changing cars for the sake of it.

i read in another thread on here that in ireland we had been changing cars on average every 2 years compared to 8 years in germany.

R.O.R

green123 wrote: »

i dont know, i cant understand it myself.

unless there is something wrong with a car it just seems like a huge waste of money to be just changing cars for the sake of it.

i read in another thread on here that in ireland we had been changing cars on average every 2 years compared to 8 years in germany.

Did you get lost and end up here by mistake green123? This is the motors forum you know. Most of us would like to change our cars on a daily basis because driving for some people is fun, not a mundane task as you seem to see it.

AlienGav

The mini will enhance her sexual prowess more so than the golf!

If I see a girl in a golf I think she's too ordinary.
Chick in a mini... I'd do 90% of them!

zuroph

unkel wrote: »

But did you know the Beetle is a Golf too?

Anyway, the Golf is very slow and the Cooper quite quick. Unless your GF is an old age pensioner, I'd recommend she'd buy the Cooper

yes, why anyone would pay extra for a golf with elephantitis is beyond me!

kona

AlienGav wrote: »

.
Chick in a mini... I'd do 90% of them!

Ha I hate "chicks" in minis. They just remind me of sheep.

alias no.9

kona wrote: »

Ha I hate "chicks" in minis. They just remind me of sheep.

What about VW Golf drivers, what do they remind you of?

Seriously OP, no contest, Mini all the way. She can always buy a Golf in her middle age, the Mini may not fit the bill then.

kona

alias no.9 wrote: »

What about VW Golf drivers, what do they remind you of?

.

Morons who paid way over the mark for a poorly built, generic heap of crap. If you replaced VW with Kia on that car, it would tank.

Horrible horrible cars.

Why pay 20k + on a golf when you could get something FAR more exciting and better built?

I'd rather go for a cooperS over a cooper too.

waffleman

green123 wrote: »

exactly.
why waste 10k+ ?

If you have no debts and 10k ready to go I say Cooper.

If not I'm with green123 - a lot better things you can spend 10k on besides handing it to this government with their illegal VRT theft tax. Forget the new car - book a month off work - blow it on a 3/4 week holiday - then blow 2/3k on a top of the range super king size memory foam bed when you get back - best purchase I ever made - after all you spend 7/8 hours a day in your bed - how long do you spend in your car?

alias no.9

kona wrote: »

Morons who paid way over the mark for a poorly built, generic heap of crap. If you replaced VW with Kia on that car, it would tank.

Horrible horrible cars.

But what about the clunk of the door and the silicone damped grab handles . Seriously though, no arguments from me on this one.

Biro

Why waste money on a holiday either? You have to come home at the end of it. Why waste money on a house? All that interest going to the bank to finally own something that you can call yours for a few years before you die, then it's someone elses and all the hard work you did to earn all those hundreds of thousands of euros to pour into your house is now pointless cause you're pushing up daisys. No point in buying a TV in case there's nothing on, and it'll only have to be thrown away in a few years anyway.
Such an amount of negativity here! It's a motors forum. You earn money to spend it, not save it for your grandkids. Buy the Cooper! Or Cooper S if one is found for the right budget! Go a year or two older for the S to fit the budget!

zuroph

because her fiesta will start devaluing majorly in the next year or two, already the small telltale signs are starting, the little niggly mechanical problems coming out. also, she is now travelling from limerick to cork and back twice a week for college, so her mileage is about to increase.

squod

AlienGav wrote: »

The mini will enhance her sexual prowess more so than the golf!

If I see a girl in a golf I think she's too ordinary.
Chick in a mini... I'd do 90% of them!

Seriuosly, someone should tell that ten percent to fuff-off. If you're not good lookin' stop driving 'coopers.

{Ughhhhhly chicks in mini coopers = fat men in speedos.}

Zube

zuroph wrote: »

so, which should she go for?

From experience, if she gets to test drive the Mini, she'll buy one.

waffleman

Biro wrote: »

Why waste money on a holiday either? You have to come home at the end of it. Why waste money on a house? All that interest going to the bank to finally own something that you can call yours for a few years before you die, then it's someone elses and all the hard work you did to earn all those hundreds of thousands of euros to pour into your house is now pointless cause you're pushing up daisys. No point in buying a TV in case there's nothing on, and it'll only have to be thrown away in a few years anyway.
Such an amount of negativity here! It's a motors forum. You earn money to spend it, not save it for your grandkids. Buy the Cooper! Or Cooper S if one is found for the right budget! Go a year or two older for the S to fit the budget!

owning a new(er) car V a holiday / owning my house quicker / a new tv?

you've convinced me - i'll stick with my old car

Absurdum

kona wrote: »

Ha I hate "chicks" in minis. They just remind me of sheep.

bonus

Alanstrainor

waffleman wrote: »

owning a new(er) car V a holiday / owning my house quicker / a new tv?

you've convinced me - i'll stick with my old car

ffs, this is a MOTORS forum. You'll never guess what almost every poster here has in common?...A love of cars!

wing52

Let her get the Cooper,in a sensible colour (no flourescent stuff...)

Try and ge the chilli pack for the good spec and free servicing.

The first ones had a chrysler engine which wasnt any great shakes

But the current one has a peugeot motor which is a good bit easier on

The juice.One other thing, the Mk1 had it's headlights built in to

the bonnet! The current one dosen't. Best o' luck:)

eamon234

Baaaa! Cooper all the way. Although I do have a hankering for a top spec Fiat 500 once in a while.

Owen

wing52 wrote: »

Let her get the Cooper,in a sensible colour (no flourescent stuff...)

MINI never did flourescent colours, if anything, they were criticised for being too bland. The only bright colours they did were Electric Blue (And it's derrivative Laser Blue), and Silk Green. Everything else was Silver, Black, White, Dark Red, Dark Grey, etc.

wing52 wrote: »

Try and ge the chilli pack for the good spec and free servicing.

Chili Pack doesn't give free servicing.

wing52 wrote: »

The first ones had a chrysler engine which wasnt any great shakes

It had a Tritec engine, which was shared by Chrysler. It is a superior engine to the new one in terms of reliability, and tuneability. A simple remap on the Tritec will bring the 90Bhp MINI One to an interesting 135Bhp. They're absolutely bulletproof, and I've seen people trying to kill them. I've got one, and the missus has one, and neither have given so much as a flutter of a problem.

wing52 wrote: »

But the current one has a peugeot motor which is a good bit easier on The juice.

It doesn't have a Peugeot Motor. The engines are designed by MINI from the ground up with BMW tech. Peugeot are allowed to manufacture the same engines in a slightly lesser state of tune to keep manufacturing costs down for both partners. It is more fuel efficient, but can't be tuned as easily as the previous model.

The only problem is the new turbo Cooper S engine from 07 onwards. Many are developing the 'Cold Start Rattle', which requires the timing gear to be changed, and a software upgrade to be carried out. It also affects the Pugs using the same engine platform.

Zube

PaintDoctor wrote: »

The only bright colours they did were Electric Blue (And it's derrivative Laser Blue), and Silk Green.

It had a Tritec engine, which was shared by Chrysler. It is a superior engine to the new one in terms of reliability, and tuneability.

It's a rather noisy engine, too, and while it's a nice noise, it's a bit wearing at 130 kph on the motorway, up around 4000 rpm.

Mr. Presentable

ianobrien wrote: »

Gee, not what I've been told by some friends of mine who service VW & BMW.......

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/

Reliability Mini Cooper 44/100
Reliability Golf Jetta 55/100

http://www.jdpower.com/

Mini 2.5 stars
Golf 2.5 stars





http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?md=594

Mini Cooper 4 stars
Good: Fast and fun.
Bad: Noisy and harsh (like a Mini Cooper S should be). Wearing on the motorway. No standard a/c. Needs expensive spec upgrades. 17" wheels destroy ride

Golf 4 stars

Good: Far greater feeling of genuine quality than Mk IV, decent handling, engine innovations.
Bad: Generally hard ride.

Ooops, my opinion? She ought to take the Mini. A 1.4 VW is oafish.