Consumer Reports has again rated the MINI in the top 10 best cars at holding its initial value. Here’s an excerpt from CR:
>Which cars hold their value the best? According to Consumer Reports’ depreciation ratings, several affordably priced models—such as the Toyota Prius hybrid, Mini Cooper, and youth-oriented Scion models—hold their value better than higher-priced sports and luxury models. And while all of the top 10 models have either Japanese or European nameplates, nine of the bottom 10 are domestic models. Contributing to their high depreciation is the fact that many are older models, commonly used by fleets and rental companies, and often heavily discounted.
MINI scored 2nd place behind the Prius. CR had this to say.
>Mini Cooper This trendy, fun-to-drive retro-hatch/convertible has generated a cult following reminiscent of Volkswagen’s Beetle. While the reliability of early models was below average, it has improved to average in recent years, according to CR’s Annual Car Reliability Survey. $17,500 to $25,500.
[ Best and Worst Cars for Depreciation ] Autos.msn.com
<blockquote>nine of the bottom 10 are domestic models.</blockquote>
Do they know what models are the domestic ones? How about making it 10 out of 10. I don’t see any other manufacturers other than USA. I think they count Chrysler as half-non-domestic. Lets play math: so they have 2 Chrysler models, 0.5+0.5=1 and it makes one non-domestic? :))
Also, the M3 is not considered as tuner developed, it’s factory tuned. The AC Schnitzer or Hamann are tuner-developed.
I am glad the MINI scored well in this report, but I hate these surveys, since they are usually done by people who are incompetent and spread inaccurate information.
Is it time to trade my beloved ’06 cooper for a used Cooper S?
Yesterday on a honda dealership lot I saw a 05 cooper S with 18k miles, sunroof, xenons, and hk (notta else)with a sticker on the windshield showing:
drum roll…..
$35,707.
!OMG! criminal. even if they knocked off 10k…
We’ve been bumped back by an electric Aztek?
That’s OK, it won’t last long once people buying those used priuses realize the replacement cost of those batteries are.
I agree with Yegor – the info from these surveys is misleading. They are looking at only the Dealer side of things, not the Consumer side (which is a little ironic for a Mag. called Consumer Reports). They are looking at Dealer retail prices only. If you look at the Dealer wholesale price -what they buy the used car for (trade-in or auction), MINIs don’t score any better than most cars. A Dealer’s Black Book price guide Retail Sales price for an average ’04 Base Mini in the South-East is $20K currently, not bad on a car that retailed new at $22K – $23K. So for Consumer Reports, that Base MINI ’04 only depreciated around $1K a year – not bad at all – really held it’s value in comparison to other cars. But the Dealer wholesale or trade-in price that the Dealer actually pays the previous owner for that car is only $13K – $14K, according to the Dealer Black Book pricing guide. So from the “Owner” perspective – looking at trading in their MINI – that ’04 MINI depreciated a whopping $5K a year, not what most owners would even remotely call “holding it’s value”.
I’ll read anything that makes me happy to own my R53 MINI. : )
Regarding resale and new values, I got an email yesterday from Cincinnati MINI that I thought I would never see. They were advertising a…….discount! They stated in the email that 12/2 only they would be knocking $850 off the sticker of any new MINI in stock. I drove on to the lot on the way into work. [5 minutes away] and there was a total of 61 MINIs on the lot [varouse flavors]. I guess they are concerned that they may have a surplus when the R56 starts rolling into the showroom.
John, I think a lot of dealers really loaded up, anticipating a run on the ’06 R56s by MINI owners with older MINIs before the model change – but it doesn’t appear to be happening. Locally the dealers are way overstocked and starting to “gasp” negotiate the sticker price. Will likely see lots of discounting as the ship-date of the new models gets close.
Mark
I agree with you 100% I think they overestimated the run on the 2006 and are really overstocked, The ones on the lot here in Cincinnati are pretty much “strippers” with very few options. Had they Spec’d them out a little better, I might have been shopping for a 2006. The R56 I plan to order will be pretty loaded up. I have been waiting since 2003 to buy a MINI so I don’t want to compromise on what I get versus what I want on it just to save eight or nine hundred dollars.
Mark – I am exactly one of those people that decided to sell my ’03 MCS for an ’06 MCS (with the JCW) before the new model came out. I just am not impressed with the R56 interior. Plus, I knew I wouldn’t get another chance to have the car spec’ed out exactly like I wanted. I couldn’t afford JCW the first time around and there have been some options added since then as well. I bought mine through Cincinnati as well so maybe it’s all my fault they stocked up so much. 😉
The dealers have no control over how many, or how few, cars they receive. The extra allocation dealers currently have in-stock was sent intentionally to cover Dec, Jan, & Feb when very few cars will be built & shipped.
Huh? Sorry AZ, having worked at one, the Dealers have 100% control over how many cars they receive. The Dealership is an independent business, with a franchise agreement to purchase cars from BMW/MINI. They are there to make a profit, and they pay daily finance charges on those cars sitting on the lot, that they bought (FOB paid in full before they ship) from BMW/MINI with their revolving credit line, usually financed through GE Finance. They try very hard to guesstimate how many cars they can sell, without stocking so many that the financing of those cars eats all the profit, and order lot-stock accordingly. Now in this case BMW/MINI may be “encouraging†the dealers to stock more cars, with some dealer incentives (lower prices), or a promise to rebate them $$$ on cars that don’t sell by the time the new models are shipping. I think we will see some real customer rebates and discounts coming up, as I think the anticipated rush to purchase the last of the old model never happened, BMW/MINI has made the “custom order†the norm instead of just picking a car out of Dealer stock, and a lot of would-be purchasers are either waiting to see how reliable this new car is, or are waiting for the release of either the Clubman or the new JCW.
<blockquote>Huh? Sorry AZ, having worked at one, the Dealers have 100% control over how many cars they receive</blockquote>
I have a feeling the dealership you worked at was NOT a MINI dealership. Being a current MA we can NOT just pick up the phone and order 5 or 15 or 50 more units.
Each dealership has an allocation that can only be changed by MINIUSA. If you sell your full inventory every month you will slowly start to acquire slightly more allocation. Have MINIs left in inventory each month and your allocation will slowly go down to accomodate the dealerships that are running out of inventory every month.