[85NIX]

Hey guys and girls!

Stumbled across this website a little while ago when I was reading up on the NB.
I'm currently in the process of deciding whether or not to trade in my 3rd MINI for a NB/NBC.

I've had 2 MINI Coopers (one was a convertible & I have to say I am missing it like crazy) in the past and they had their fair share of little things going wrong, always wanted an "S" and finally got the chance to upgrade last September and since then my Cooper S has been on the back of a tow truck twice in 2 weeks! So I'm getting a little bit fed up and was thinking that a change might be in order....hence a NB!

Was just wondering what you guys thought and if it would be a good idea as a few would think of it as a "down grade" anyways let me know your thoughts.

Can't wait to be an active member of this little community!

 

[SixChuter]

Welcome to the Org! I have only one "S" I would recommend and that definitely wouldn't be a "down grade" in my book. Any Turbo S NBs down there?

 

[85NIX]

We don't really get that big of a engine selection here in the NB scene... it's either a 1.6L, 1.9 Turbo Diesel in the hardtop, or 2.0 for the Convertible...

There's not very many of the Turbo Diesel's around... I think majority of them are older models.

 

[Tico4Life]

Hi and Welcome to the org. We recently purchased an 04 NBC with a 2.0l engine and auto tranny (I wanted a 5 speed but the wife only drives automatic)
I am very happy with it and would buy it again over a mini any day of the week. We have two boys ages 7 and 5 and wanted a "safe" convertible for fun and for my wife to take them to school. I too considered the Mini but during research found that it was more expensive to maintain that NBCs
After buying the NBC I found this thread http://newbeetle.org/forums/new-member-forum/47657-convertible-new-beetle-convertible-mini.html

Where you can find some more info and input as well as these videos

YouTube - Rollover test 3 cabrio - Test ????????? ????? cabrio - ADAC

YouTube - Crash test cappottamento VW Beetle - Esterno

YouTube - Crash test cappottamento VW Beetle - Interno

After watching them we were even happier to have chosen the NBC over a mini convertible.

NBs are not glitch free, but all and all as I said before I am very pleased and happy. I was planning to buy an air cooled Bug this year but I might steer towards a Turbo S like Gandalf above

Good luck hunting and when you buy your new car be sure to post some pics

 

[85NIX]

Hey thanks for all the info J.Acre!

I think I have seen those vids and links b4 but thanks for sharing them.... I really loved my Cooper Convertible...looking back I don't know why I sold it as it was in a very rare colour, I had never seen another one like it on the road here. Over the past few nights I have been researching like crazy on the net about NB/NBC and I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews....mostly bad things but I think that's relating to the older models back when the NB came out so I'm not too phased. I mean out of my 3 MINI's I have had a heap of things go wrong....My first one the drivers window stopped working so that was fixed, under warranty and then the door actuator in the passenger door stopped working and that was $300 to fix... then in my convertible my passenger side seat stuck in the fully reclined back position and BMW wanted $1400 to fix it....and then I had to pay $90 for them to reset the airbag warning light in the car due to removing the seat.... In the end with that I just traded my car in for my current Cooper S.... and then with this one I've had the timing chain tensioner replaced....*common fault* yet BMW don't seem to be doing any recalls about it.... I was sooo lucky that my car decided to play up 5 days b4 my warranty expired otherwise I would have been looking at a repair bill that would have went into a few thousand....

Still toying up about whether or not to trade in the MINI so soon as I've only had it since the end of September and I think I would lose way too much in such a short space of time.... Decisions decisions!

 

[85NIX]

Just thought I would post a pic of my MINI



My old Cabrio


My first MINI!

 

[kcfoxie]

Thats a really cool purple color on the cabrio!

I'd say the NBC's biggest issue is the power top, that's from my friend at the VW dealer. If you can find a manual top (GL) that would probably be best. That's just my opinion, I've never had a convertible! Just two 2.0 hard tops and my 1.9 TDI hard top that has 264,000 miles on it.

 

[Palmettoguy]

Welcome to the Org.

 

[Kuplamies]

Welcome to the org!

Mini is also very cool car; my friend got Cooper and I like it

But Beetles are a way of life to me...

 

[85NIX]

Hey thanks guys for the welcome!

I think it's time for a change with my car... so there is a possibility that my next car in the future will be a beetle... Are they a smoother ride than the MINI? Can anyone compare from having driven both?