MINI One D Road Test

MINI One D

What We'd Like To See

• A rotary dial drivers seat adjustment

Build Quality

We have seen a bit of improvement over the previous MINI’s we have driven. Although build quality was never a real issue, things have been improved.

Value For Money

There is no doubt that the MINI is a premium priced car, the entry level MINI One D starts at £12,225, our test car had a few sensible options which brought the price up to £13,865 OTR and it would not be difficult to add to that figure. MINI states that on average customers spend £2000 on customizing their MINIs - with tens of thousands of permutations.

One option that is definitely value for money is the MINI tlc pack, which for £150 includes the cost of the parts, lubricants and labour involved in servicing your MINI for 5 years / 50,000 miles, whichever is reached first. It does not cover repair and maintenance items, such as tyres, brake pads, top-ups etc. There is also MINI tlc XL which for an extra £300 provides servicing for a further 3 years or 30,000 miles. Do beware if the part or item is not covered i.e. your brake pads you will be paying main dealers labour and parts rates, but of course you don’t have to have those repairs carried out by your franchised MINI dealer. The tlc package is not an extended warranty, so if a component fails outside of the warranty, you will have to take care of the cost. The normal MINI warranty is 3-year/unlimited mileage. You can pass on tlc and warranty packages to the new owner of your car, if you sell it adding to the MINI desirability on the second hand market.

Overall Opinion

I have great affection for the MINI, it is such an enjoyable car that is fun to own and drive. I would certainly opt for the diesel engine if I was clocking up the miles as it is just as much fun as the petrol models.