MINI FIRST Hatchback 2009 on

I bought this car solely because of the great deal I got on the finance package and have had it for over 2 years.

Good points - Far nippier than I expected for low cc. Very cheap to run in every respect. Looks good on the road. Very easy to park. Decent brand image. Good service from local dealer in Portsmouth.

Bad points - The boot really is tiny. Ok for just the two of us but cannot see how a family would cope with the lack of space.

I've had an issue with a suspension strut but this was sorted by the dealer very quickly under warranty with no issues. In buying this you are buying a very basic car with no alloy wheels, a poky little exhaust and no air conditioning but it is priced accordingly. I will keep it for at least another year before getting a more practical car (maybe a Clubman?!) but it has served its purpose perfectly in the time I've owned it.

My daughter has owned our Mini First for 2 years nearly, we have found it to be delightful, always starts first time, everytime, very easy to park, the mpg is amazing, and the second hand value is great. In the time we have owned it, it has not been back to the dealer for repair once. The start/stop technology works a treat, although it took a couple of days to get used to, but once your use to it, you don't really know its happening.

If you are looking for a car that is very very reliable, does 50+ mpg, low insurance costings, and has a great second hand value, then buy the MINI FIRST it will not let you down. We have the less powerful 1.4 engine, but on the plus side with this variation you attain much higher mpg compared with the 1.6 which has more VaVa voom, but you pay for this with less mpg and also the insurance costings on the 1.4 are lower than the 1.6 variation,

The ride is a little hard, but apart from that I can see no problems, and if you find you don't like it after buying one, it is very very easy to sell and you will not loose £1,000 of pounds when selling, unlike many other cars where as soon as you drive out the showroom you loose 50% of the value.

If you are thinking of buying a secondhand Mini, say 1 or 2 years old, make sure it has the BMW Mini 3 year warrantee and is covered by the 5 year FREE SERVICING PACKAGE. Whether you buy private or from a MINI dealer, if it has both warrantees, then you really can't go wrong.

I recently swapped my 2003 Renault Clio for a brand new MINI First. Cost of ownership was important to me as I am only 17, and the MINI worked out cheaper to run (insurance, tax, fuel costs) than my Clio. I also managed to get a great deal on buying the car as it was already registered and therefore around £2000 cheaper than the on the road price. The car itself is fantastic in every way. It has more than enough power to drive in and around town, and also on motorways and faster roads. It handles great, and never feels like it is going to lose grip. The build quality is fantastic and the cabin is just a generally nice place to be. If I had to pick a negative point about the car it would be that certain things are missing that would be found on higher priced MINI's. These are just little things such as a trip computer displaying range, mpg e.t.c., also auto start/stop and certain interior lighting are not standard on the MINI First, however I guess this is how the car is so cheap. Overall, however a brilliant car!

I do love my Mini First which I bought on scrappage and is the best £8,500 I have ever spent! True, it isn't packed with the extras you get in the more expensive models or Salt n Pepper packages.

But what it lacks in dubious finery (honestly, I hate air conditioning and managed to replace the steelies with a set of alloys from Ebay) it more than makes up for in engineering pedigree. It's a BMW after all and comes with all the design and safety features of most of the more expensive models including stop start and six gears.

The car isn't the most practical (true to its lineage the boot's a joke but does me as a single bloke) and it isn't the most economical super mini on the block either although I am getting around 50mpg with a mix of urban and motorway driving. The de-tuned engine (for no reason than they could, I guess, MINI stripped the First of 20BHP it has given the One). That said you only ever really notice the lack of oomph when overtaking up a hill; otherwise it's fabulous fun zipping around town and around roundabouts - especially working the gears - and cruises steadily and with ease on motorway journeys.

Overall, the entry-level Mini is funky and fun and - backed up by a superb customer service ethos, brilliant reliability and good residual resale values - it's very hard work to avoid loving (and living) this brand.

We have just replaced the MINI with a Yaris. The MINI was cramped, unpractical, quite fun to drive but relatively uncomfortable. STOP/START a waste of time. Compared to the auto Yaris fuel consumption was high. It is not as well screwed together as the Yaris either. The real test is would I consider buying one again - definitely not.

I have had the mini first since brand new in March 2010 and its a dream to drive and extremely reliable. Nothing has gone wrong with the car and everything has stayed as perfect since I drove it away from the garage 9 months ago.

I use the car on a daily basis and I love it and so pleased I have the car and will be keeping the car for a while.