SWMBO got her new Mini Cooper Roadster today. She agreed a deposit of £1,350 and paid £1,000 at the time of ordering: today she found that the numbers for settlement price and the PX car's value had moved in her favour and she got £100 back rather than paying £350.

Wood BMW of Hook, Hants. could easily have asked for the £350 and hung on to it, and she'd have been none the wiser, so all credit to them for their honesty. They take the long-term view which ought to be commoner among dealers than it is - that a satisfied customer will come back.

This is SWMBO's fifth Mini from the same dealer.

First impressions of the Roadster - I had a 20-mile spin in it this evening and liked it a lot. Although it's still very new, it already feels nippier than the Convertible it replaced (also a Cooper) - it's lighter and lower, and it's possible that the gearing may have been altered slightly. If anything, the steering is even more direct and the handling even sharper.

The main reason for having a Roadster is that there are no back seats (which we don't need) and a much bigger boot. An unexpected bonus is that you can specify the Roadster with a space-saver spare wheel, an improvement on the usual kit of gunk.

Edited by Avant on 04/08/2012 at 00:09