12 replies to this topic

[oli8925]

ive just been on to Adrian Flux and ended up having a friendly arguement with the guy about what my mini really is.
ive got a (what i thought to be) Austin Mini City. first reg'd may 1989

now i always thought they got rid of the 'E' in 1988 and rover took over late '89/90. that would make mine an Austin Mini City!

but he thought it was rover's takeover that got rid of the 'E'. but couldnt actually tell me what mine was. he just said if its an Austin, its a City E; If its a Rover its a City. his system didnt have an Austin City he kept telling me. it literally was a case of computer says no!

so could someone (or that man-machine they call...ANORAK) help me out here. for all i know i may be wrong but thats just what i thought.

anyway in the end i got a quote of £1440, a full £200 over their online quote! even with the 15% off (which i hope they didnt automatically put in) it still came to £1227.

best ive got so far is £980 (which im pleased about) through confused.com from a place called 'yes insurance'??? thats with a cat 2 imobiliser, which adrian flux said wouldnt make a difference does anyone have any news on yes insurance as ive not heard of them?

Edited by oli8925, 29 April 2008 - 04:57 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

well yes, strictly speaking the computer is wrong, but then most insurance companies will tell you that the mainstream (carb) cooper doesn't even exist.

the whole Austin Mini City E thing comes down to people putting the wrong thing on the V5 document and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter anyway

minis were not officially called "Austins" after 1970 ish when everything went British leyland. the 80's and 90's Austins are in fact an incorrect way of saying Austin Rover and this was changed to just Rover around 89/90 so yes in a way this much is correct.

however this was not the point that the E tag was dropped. this was dropped in August 1998 along with a variety of trim changes.

yes it is possible to have an 1989 Austin Rover Mini City and its also possible to have a 1989 Rover Mini City and at the end of the day they are much the same car anyway and they were certainly made on the same production line.

another example of this is people who claim to have a mini sky rose. well as the mini sky and the mini rose are two separate cars this is clearly impossible.
they are two cars from the same range of limited editions and most V5's do in fact say mini sky rose, but it actually means its one or the other.

some people actually do believe there is such a car as a mini sky rose

Edited by THE ANORAK, 29 April 2008 - 05:17 PM.

[feybrand]

dont know if this helps but ive got a 1991 rover mini city e

[Shifty]

dont know if this helps but ive got a 1991 rover mini city e

oopss, don't make the anorak angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry!!!

[JamesRance]

dont know if this helps but ive got a 1991 rover mini city e

Lol same here

[oli8925]

ok thanks guys. and anorak you never fail to amaze me! a lot of stuff there i never knew, very interesting! i know it doesnt matter or change the car at all but its just good to know.

i now really want to call the flux guy up and put him and his computer straight lol.

thanksee very much!

[THE ANORAK]

ha ha, i cant believe they were still using the E tag as late as 1991, that's amazing.

i guess it comes down to the mistake of the person/people who first registered the car (does anyone know the details of how that works ???)

i really dont understand why insurance companies dont just have mini City / sprite, HLE /Mayfair and cooper. after all these were the main models that cover that time period, they really have to over-complicate things.

at the end of the day the mini was always made by the same company, it was just the company name that changed. the official title of the parent company changed more times than i care to remember but during the 80's and 90's the branch of that company that made the mini was called Austin Rover.


when i first insured my mainstream cooper the guy said "is it a cooper LE (RSP) or a cooper 1.3i ?" i said "its neither, its a NON LE carb cooper" he said "no such thing" so i took the time to bore him stupid with the production details and full spec changes of the cooper range in the early 90's. Then he said "hang on I'll ask my supervisor" he put me on hold, came back and said "OK, Ive got it now" ??????

the computer records are wrong, whats important is that you get it down as the closest thing to what it actually is. as long as it says "1989" and "Mini City" then your sorted

[ERAturbo]

How bizzare!....mine DOES actually say 1989 Mini City on it.

You can just imagine the conversations I had trying to insure my car! ... the key is perseverance and finding mini friendly insurers

[THE ANORAK]

well I'm guessing your car is an official ERA Turbo then ???

that's interesting as my recent look at VIN numbers proved that the special editions (sky/rose/flame etc.) had the same VIN numbers as the car they were based on, be it either a city or a Mayfair, but even they (or most of them) have the fact that they are "such and such LE" noted on the V5.

if you look at the ninth letter of your VIN it should be either N for HLE/Mayfair or O for City/City E

Edited by THE ANORAK, 29 April 2008 - 06:08 PM.

[Guess-Works.com]

Don't talk to me about City E's.... Like Anorak with VIN's, I've been staring @ engine numbers for I don't know how long trying to get my engine number decoder up and running...

Quite simply tho' a Mini City E will have a 2.95 FD, apart from any other trim changes, mechanically that is pretty much the major difference between a City E and any other mini...

[1984mini25]

Your lucky most insurers recognise a mini city/city E, some don't even recognise that the 25 even exists.

[THE ANORAK]

Your lucky most insurers recognise a mini city/city E, some don't even recognise that the 25 even exists.

flipping heck, it gets worse

anyway, back to the name changes. i leave you to work this out for yourselves.....

Edited by THE ANORAK, 29 April 2008 - 06:33 PM.

[matminicity]

ha ha, i cant believe they were still using the E tag as late as 1991, that's amazing.

Mines a late 1992, and on the logbook it states Mini City E!