Urban dictionary says

Mint condition.

"A condition where something is perfect or as if it was originally manufactured, A state where something has no flaws"

In my opinion and my short time on the forum, I've only came across one coupe I'd consider to be "mint" and that was the Electronic blue coupe Motormech had for sale last year.

I was lucky even to see it and it really was something special

Strictly - 'mint condition' refers to the condition of a coin as it leaves the mint. The correct term for a car would probably be 'showroom condition'.

But a term like that is so subjective, it means neither something nor nothing; it's just noise.

Certainly doesn't mean the kind of "mint" that a friend of mine from Yorkshire insists on saying:

"Ah thas mint mate!"

"Totally mint!"

"Well mint"

"Proper mint I tell thee"

To give you some examples.

I've read all the posts , give the guy a break indeed nice coupe , lots of work done if you don't like like it walk away and move on , simples , good luck with sale buddy

Haha that's something my old man used to say about today's chart music

As I said at the time, it was probably one of the best Coupes I'd ever seen, but in the original advert I didn't use the word "mint", as there were enough very minor defects to regard it as "not quite mint"

I once travelled to Selby in Yorkshire, chauffeured by my son in Barnacle's old Punto 1.1 on the hottest day for years, only to find that the "imacculate" metallic red plus at a specialist sports car dealer was in fact, rather rusty and with signs of previous damage. I had the cash in my pocket and was already congratulating myself on finding what looked like a very shiny car, but a few minutes of underbody grovelling and carpet-pulling revealed rust in all the usual places and a few unusual places too. I walked, but not until I'd made my feelings known about the state of the car.

I've always been overly-honest whenever writing an advert and I find that its an approach that serves me well, as I never get any come-backs. However. we're talking a couple of grand's worth of nearly 15 year old fiat here, not some proper exotica (despite what we sometimes think). At this end of the market, we shouldn't be getting all anal about a bit of poetic license in an advert - "caveat emptor" and all that.

perhaps we should be asking more questions before arranging to view a car, especially when travelling any appreciable distance. However, we're never going to get past the fact that "mint", "clean", immaculate or any other superlative is always going to be a subjective viewpoint and is likely to be biased in favour of the current owner

I know threads often go off topic, but I've never describe my car as mint so why is that all is being spoken about? The only guy that will probably say I called it mint is the Yorkshire chap who didn't buy it. And trust me I never describe it as mint to him

Start a 'Meaning of mint' thread off! Ha

Dndavies, don't take thistle heart. This crops up with nearly every car. If I turned up for a 2500 quid coupe I wouldn't expect anything more than average mileage and average condition, anything more would be a bonus. It's idiots who think that you can get a concourse (this is the term most should use as it's a defined standard, not mint and showroom, who's showroom would it be in?) car for that price. There are also plenty of people on here who love to undervalue and / or nit pick.
It's not a Ferrari, it's a bloody 20 year old fiat, get over it!

DYAC!

Jesus, I even reckoned to check! Bloomin' flower of Scotland!!
(that leaves the Christians and Scots open to murder me I believe).....

£2200 and the opening poster is complaining about a poorly fitting carpet, a scratch on the bumper, and a wiper pump not working. Really? get a grip. If you dont like it dont buy it. What followed instead seems incredibly harsh in my opinion.

Just playing devil's advocate here...

#1521559 - Yesterday at 18:35


#1519813 - 31/12/2014 12:46

Yes I do now recall you saying it wasn't quite mint Nigel, did the buyer ever register on here do we know?

dndavies just so your aware I'm not trying to be negative about your car, I'm only putting my opinion across on the whole "mint" dilemma.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... You should sell or try to sell your car for what you think it's worth

Now that might mean you'll have it for awhile but I'm pretty sure it will sell eventually and whilst I'm in the habit of repeating myself, good luck with the sale.

Doesn't matter what car it is or how much it's worth.
If I turned up to see a car that was described as mint only to find the clutch slipped and other little niggles, I would want appropriate an price reduction or I would walk. (and moan my ar*e off at driving all that way to see it!)

If I believed that a mint coupe was for sale for £2,200 I wouldn't be stupid enough to believe it in the first place. There are very few "bargains" in this world, anyone selling a car on here should have a clue about what it's worth.

Moaning about carpets not fitting and a scratch is petty - clutch slipping is an inconvenience, you could agree with the vendor to have it repaired and then collect or an appropriate reduction.

To moan and cry about it is pretty childish.

I drove to Portsmouth to look at a coupe that was "excellent". It wasn't, it hadn't had a belt change, it wouldn't idle, buttons on the dash were broken and various other little items. I discussed with the garage, he wouldn't budge appropriately so I drove home. 640 miles on a Sunday morning (5am, home around 1pm) I didn't moan. These are old cars, second hand and many run on a shoe string. Lower your expectations or buy a new Corsa or some such generic box.

The initial advert never used the word "mint" at all. So he turned up to find a car that had a slipping clutch and the price was then dropped as a result. The rest would appear to be just petty points. Even if it was advertised as mint, then assumming your interpretation of this is to not have a single fault throughout the entire car, the price should indicate to you that this couldnt possibly be the case.

As i said, if he didnt like the car then dont buy it. There was no need for the rest.

Once again, there is no scratch and no badly fitted carpet. Just cheap shots by the Yorkshire chap. Is South wales really that far away from everyone!? Come and have a look for yourselves

At the end of the day he didn't buy it hopefully somebody will for the price it's worth
Lets all move on

Just sell it on pistonheads or ebay...far easier!

What defines a true mint coupe? And what would it be worth?

From these two variables could we not have some kind of sliding scale?

Sliding scale? Slippery slope more like!

I guess they're still only worth what someone will pay. Why would you want to sell a coupe anyway!

It's mintness will be define by whether it has a hole in it (Polo) or stripes (Everton) and as always, it will be worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

There is no intrinsic value beyond the cost of manufacture in *any* car - it's always what someone will pay.

No more, no less.

Mine's insured for ten grand but that's the replacement value - I have no doubt that anyone would pay that for it. *I* wouldn't, and it's mine!

Mint in the North of England - ie where the car is and I am - means good. Nothing more, nothing less.

As in;

Nice car man

Yeah, it's well mint

If you want mint, go to Kendal

Humbug

With the prices the way they are at the moment you could well get a 'mint' coupe for less than 2200 and a slipping clutch
is a bit more than an inconvenience in my book.
That is a decent chunk of cash and I think the buyer was entitled to be p*ssed off.
If you aren't bothered about wasting 640 miles worth of fuel you must have money to burn BM!

I prefer extra strong mints!

To be fair I bought my car after being told it was mechanically good, and minus the bonnet chips and slight lacquer peel on the rear of the roof all was knob on. I drive 140 miles to London towing a trailer in a very thirsty 4.4 Range Rover to find two big scratches down either side of the car, it looked twice as bad as in the pics and it didn't lock. Was up for £999 and battled for over an hour to get him down to 820.

Minus the bodywork (could care less when I'm inside) and the steering rack which failed almost instantly the car is beautiful. I would have paid £1500 for that car if it was posted at it.

The problem I find with coupes more than anything else out there is there's about 4 to 8 for sale at a time, some 600 quid to a grand and then the rest 2500 up to seven grand and it's pot luck.

In regards to the op, I would personally not be fussed even slightly about the carpets. I wouldn't care if there was no carpets or leopard print carpets. Secondly this is the risk you take buying something that is obviously going to have the biased opinion of both the seller and the owner, and finally if that was your biggest issue with the car (clutch slipping) then fight to resolve the issue, barter harder for even half way at £200-300 and say all this at the time to the seller to drive the price down.

I understand you was very upset about the situation but complaining on the forum unfortunately created more issues than what it is worth, you are probably better off using that energy to find another coupe with no problems...and some well fitted carpets