Mr.Talha Posted April 11, 2021 Posted April 11, 2021 If you can say one good thing for lockdowns, it’s that all those extra hours sitting at home give you time to think. And, as Autocar writers are prone to do, we’ve mostly been using that time to think about cars. In particular, we’ve been thinking about used cars. With all that extra time, we’ve found ourselves trawling used car websites and dreaming about what we might buy when this is finally all over. So for Autocar’s annual Used Car Hero award, we’ve decided to pick our ultimate lockdown dream car. Each team member has nominated the car they’ve spent the most time dreaming of buying for the past few months. Now the real fun begins: we’ve got to argue among ourselves and pick a winner. There will probably be a vote. You’ll find out which car won as part of this year’s Autocar Awards in June. If you have an ultimate dream car suggestion, email autocar@haymarket.com. BMW Mini R50-R53 - Mark Tisshaw For this, I turn to the eBay search history. Not only my most searched-for car but also the only one with a saved search alert is the first-generation BMW Mini from 2001. The sweet spot in the range would be the R50 Cooper, one of the early launch Y-reg cars the holy grail. Still, the extra driver appeal of the R53 Cooper S that followed a year later interests me more than rarity or collectability. Considered enormous at launch compared with the 1959 Issigonis original, the first BMW Mini actually looks tiny now, given the growth of subsequent generations. It’s hard to believe the car is 20 years old when it still looks so modern – and frankly so good. What’s stopping me? Perhaps the thrill of the chase. Or the memory of a costly ECU failure that once hit a friend’s Mini. Although all of this posturing is really only delaying what I hope is inevitable.
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