I have been casually shopping for a Mini Cooper S for my wife for about 6 months and I have noticed a drastic fall in pricing in the last month or so. Upon a visit to the dealer on Saturday I found a number of 2009 Minis with a sticker price of $26K to $28K whereas similar 2008's 4 months ago were either not found or had pricing in the $35K range. Some used Mini's that had a price of $24K a few months ago are going for $17K today. There are still 2007 & 2008 models in the $25K range but why buy a used car when you can get a new one for $2K more?

Does anyone have their finger on the pulse of where prices are going and when we might see bottom? We are not in a hurry to buy and if it turns out that we can get a 2007 or 2008 for around $20K out the door by the spring we would wait and go for that over a new one for $30K. If no one has a crystal ball on this we may go ahead and pay the $30K for 2009.

Any thoughts or opinions on this would be appreciated.

talkjames

 

The economy is bad and for the first time I can remember my mini dealer is coming off of MSRP, how low will they go is anybody's guess

 

I went in to my closest Mini dealer on the 29th of last December ready to buy a new 2009 Mini that day, and was told that there are no discounts being given on Minis. Even though they had over 200 unsold Minis in stock, the salesman said that these cars are sold like Saturns, meaning you pay MSRP. They also tried to beat me up on my trade, so I told them to press #-s-a-n-d. I went to a Mini dealer 100 miles from home on the 31st of December and ended up buying my new Mini there, because they came upto the price I wanted for my trade. I still paid MSRP for the car, but it was only a $22,800Minianyway, so I felt I didn't do too badly after all.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/bu...?_r=2&emc=eta1