Go on Tim, you know you'd prefer this really
Both are great ideas for city usage, but I'm pretty sure you couldn't pop over to the water park with a couple of paddle boards in them!
But I have at last done it. Yesterday I signed the order for a Level 2 Mini electric in "British Racing Green" (actually nothing like it, it's a metallic Westminster Green) for delivery in December.
So it's goodbye to the Fiat 500 105bhp TwinAir, which is a flipping' brilliant little car, but if you drive it 'enthusiastically' it does less than 40mpg so not exactly as environmentally friendly as one might wish. The Mini, on the other hand, is a complete hoot and I can go charging around to my heart's content with a clear conscience. The Morgan and the Land Rover will never be sold, I'll continue to use them whenever I want, but the Mini can do all the mundane stuff.
One thing I did find amusing - I had to (of course) navigate all the paint protection / Scotchguard / Gap insurance / Finance nonsense (£5k deposit, £290/month for 4 years and a £13.5k final on a £28k car? WTF?) only to be confronted with the Mini Electric servicing plan, which was pitched as a stunningly good deal at only £10/month. Servicing is every 2 years and all they do is change the cabin filter and the brake fluid, so I think I can probably manage, thanks!
Oh, and if anyone is wondering about the impact of not having a main dealer service history on trade-in, I can report that the Fiat, which was 6 years old/10k miles and on which I did all the servicing (which was actually just a couple of oil & filter changes and a bit of software resetting) lost me an extra £500 on trade in, about the same as the wear and tear on the bodywork. The car lost just over 50% of its original purchase price (£10.5k) in those 6 years. I reckon 6 years worth of main dealer service costs would have easily been in the £500 - £1k region, so I'm happy.
