u/Even_Deal37

I drive a Suzuki Swift GLX and I’m looking for a good front + rear dash cam.

I’d ideally like:
Good day/night footage
Parking mode
Something discreet/neat

Happy to spend more for something genuinely good as I’d rather buy once than twice!

Would love to hear what you’re running, how long you’ve had it and whether you’ve had any issues.

I drive a Suzuki Swift GLX and I’m looking for a good front + rear dash cam.

I’d ideally like:
Good day/night footage
Parking mode
Something discreet/neat

Happy to spend more for something genuinely good as I’d rather buy once than twice!

Would love to hear what you’re running, how long you’ve had it and whether you’ve had any issues.

Currently drive a 2022 Suzuki Swift GLX (70 000km, cheap R1,500 services every 15 000km thanks to a Suzuki special) but I've fallen for a 2021 MINI JCW Hatch (R519,900, 20,925km, I'm obsessed).

Some context: I went WFH late last year so I barely drive now, office is only 1-2x a week, 40km round trip and then I usually just add it as business travel too. I take home R30k/month, spend about R13.5k on essentials + actual spending, have R50k in savings and R80k in an emergency fund (not touching that). Credit score is 663 on Clearscore.

Options I'm chewing on:

1. Keep saving and buy the JCW cash (risk: someone snaps up the green one before I've saved enough)
2. Finance it
3. Trade in the Swift (has a door dent I'd need to fix first, estimated cost is R6k including labour and colour correction) towards it
4. Keep the Swift as my daily and get the JCW purely as a weekend car

Is a MINI JCW a nightmare to own in SA long term (parts/maintenance/insurance), or is this actually a reasonable buy given my low mileage now? And which of the above would you do in my shoes?

PS Yes, I know MINIs are expensive to run; a girl likes what a girl likes 🥲