My MINI Cooper To Be Delivered By The End of the Week!!!!!!!!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I am losing my mind. Patience was never my strong suit, but the MINI Cooper I ordered is going to be delivered within the week. I bought it at the BMW Store/Cincinnati MINI. It is exactly what I wanted…Chili Red exterior, black roof, automatic transmission (I’m a wuss and don’t even want to know how to drive a stick), moonroof, heated seats, some sort of special steering and lots of other totally unecessary bells and whistles that I don’t need but surely want.

I’m 45 years old and this is the first new car I’ve ever owned. It’s the silliest thing. I find myself fantasizing about where I’m going to go in it, what friends I’m going to take out in it, even how I’m going to take a picture of our cocker spaniel sticking his little head out of the moonroof… Cars to me have always been just a way to get from point a to point b. But these MINI’s are so cute… I CAN’T WAIT!
I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve.

Do any of the other Doper’s own MINI’s?

2

Oh, I’m SO jealous. I love MINIs, and I really want one. Let us know how you like it!

 ANd, where are you gonna drive it first?
3

I am so, so jealous. Love the color choices, too!

I really want a Mini, but I have to live with my Saturn for a few more years before I can even think of a new car.

4

Oh, thank you for being jealous! (Hee, hee!) Right now I’m driving a 1993 Ford Tempo with a right rear door that doesn’t close all the way. I’ve always been the one with a dumb car… My husband says this car is my middle age crisis. Now, I’ve got to go on a diet. I want to be able to fit my maxi butt into my mini car!

5

Katie, thank you for being jealous… I just never thought I would ever have a car that would make anybody look twice. Anticipation is so delicious.

Where am I going to drive it? I have no idea. I’ll probably lie awake tonight worrying about it.

6

Welcome to the club!

7

IEEE! I am so jealous! Mini Coopers are the cutest cars EVAR!! Everytime I see one I longingly stare at it and imagine what it would be like to drive it. I would be the hottest girl EVAR if I had a Mini Cooper.

I know who you could take for a ride in it. Me! I’m like right next to Kentucky, we’re practically neighbors! :smiley:

How expensive was it? I really want one but I have a feeling it’s gonna take a long, long time for me to save up enough pennies to buy one.

8

The regular Minis start off at around 17,000 (IIRC).
You know what gets you? The add-ons.

The cursed add-ons that you simply must have.

This of course, does not even begin to include the after market stuff you can buy, such as matching doggie sweaters… :wink:

9

I wanted one of those so badly, but thought there was no way I could fit a carseat and stroller into it. Then, getting out of my car one day, I noticed the woman in the Mini in front of me was loading a stroller into the back of hers. I asked her some questions and found out that you can carry a kid around in one and now my want is rekindled, although I don’t think it’s going to happen. Lucky you!!

10

I am so jealous. The closest thing I have to a real Mini is a remote controlled one I bought at Sharper Image and two little cardboard pop-out thingies that you put together to make a mini Mini.

Excuse me while I go mope… :frowning:

11

I have a British Racing Green Mini, with the Union Jack on the roof, of course! I’m in a rural area, so I am very well known – everyone’s seen it around town.

You did NOT order an automatic; it’s a CVT, and it’s like mine, and it’s brilliant! It doesn’t change gears at all, so when you accelerate the wee little engine just verrrrrrrrrrrrrrs faster and faster…and you can switch to manual control of the gear ratios, which isn’t quite the same as standard transmission, but you can pretend – and it IS useful, as I live down an unpaved road which becomes very muddy and slick in winter, and because the car weighs so little, if I don’t crash it down into fourth and hit 60 mph at the bottom, I would never get to the top of the hill. It’s great fun, that. I’ve driven in absolutely appalling weather conditions, and except for a tendency to hydroplane, it’s been brilliant. And even the hydroplaning doesn’t bother me! If it’s more than 4 inches of snow, you may have problems simply cos the car isn’t heavy enough to push too much of it out of the way.

Nothing is more lovely than going up a steep hill and still passing by everyone, cos it is no effort for you to accelerate.

I don’t know how common they will be where you live, but I have driven between central Virginia and New Brunswick, NJ, so far with it, various stops in between, and it’s not unusual for people to come up to me in the carpark and ask about it, or take photos.

Sometimes on the highway, someone will think it’s just a toy car and get right up on my boot, and be very surprised when I can accelerate away from them. And I am grateful the horn doesn’t sound like a toy – it’s got a pretty butch voice.

Fuel efficiency is brilliant, too – I’ve driven for about 300 miles on 1/2 tank of fuel; I have poor maths skills, so forgive me, but sometimes I’ve worked it out to about 45 miles per gallon at highway speeds (which on I-95 and the beltways around Baltimore and DC is about 80-85; God, I love those stretches of highway.)

Be patient – it’s ever so much a joy when it arrives and you can toddle out and about it in. It will want to FLY, and the steering is so sensitive, it feels as if you just have to think, and the car goes where you want it to. It turns on a six pence, which is really handy for tight u-turns. And I love the curvy roads around Charlottesville…

Best car I’ve even bought or driven. (Just in case that wasn’t made clear!)

12

Thank you all for indulging me in a little “MINI-Talk”. I’m at the point where I am telling myself, “Okay, you’ll have to go to sleep and wake up this many times until…”

They really have MINI dog sweaters? Nipper the Wonder Dog would look quite handsome in one. I’ll ask the owner of the dealership. His dogs go to work with him every day. I know that they have a MINI dog bed…

Ms. Boods…I came just “this close” to ordering a Union Jack on the top. It was a hard decision, but since I am a University of Cincinnati grad and the school colors are black and red, I decided to forgo it. I’m even going to get a personalized license plate with my name on it. Probably MARSIE, but since I’m in public relations, perhaps something with PR in it. Any ideas? I’m going to the UC bookstore tomorrow to buy a logo license plate for the front (in KY we display our tags on the back only.)

I promise to be proud of my MINI, but not haughty at all! I’ll take everyone for a ride!

13

I think your colour choice is lovely…I had to get the Union Jack! I went to the University of Delaware for my undergrad work, so I have a wee UD sticker on the back window…next time I’m back to London, I have to get an Arsenal sticker; forgot the last time…just a plain registration plate for me.

Mine is about as plain as one can get – the only indulgence was the CVT and the flag. It’s just such a nice wee car…just a few more sleeps, and you’ll have yours. :slight_smile:

The funniest thing that has happened to me so far was I was walking to the car after some shopping, with a friend, and a little ahead of us was walking a father with a 9 or 10 year old son, looking at the cars…as they and we got closer to mine, I exclaimed, ‘Oh, crikey! Look at the Mini! What a cool wee car!’

The father and son had been admiring it, and smiled, and then I said, watching the little boy out of the corner of my eye, ‘I like it SO much, I think I shall drive it home!’

The wee one stood there in astonishment as I got into it, then broke into a big grin and giggled…

Just learn to pop the bonnet (the release is on the passenger’s side) cos guys will ask to have a look.

The newest model in the UK has a soft roof; I don’t know if these are available in the States yet.

I’ve got to go to Seattle next month, and must hire a car – after a year driving this (and prior years riding about in cousins’ original Minis) having to swop for a hired car is getting me down! (I know one can hire Minis from exotic car hires, but they’re almost always the S, which is standard only…I don’t wish to wrestle with 6 speeds on I-5 and downtown Seattle and Portland just yet…) :frowning:

14

Lillith Fair has a British Racing Green Mini, but she’s on vacation this week, so I’ll post for her. After years of a New Beetle lust, the Mini won her heart and soul. I get to ride in it occasionally, and I want one of my own. In blue. Already picked out the license plate. Ooooh, I wonder if she drove the Mini to Colorado, or if it’s just sitting there in the garage, all lonely. When she drives it to church, the other Mini owner in our church always parks next to her so the two cars can talk (I’m guessing here) and it looks so cute! Maybe one day we could coordinate the whole parking lot like that! I’ve wanted to do that since the day I walked out of the day-care center and the entire parking lot was filled with Dodge Caravans, with my lonely Taurus wagon in the middle of them all! (Hey, it was the 80’s!)

15

Actually, those aren’t official dog sweaters, but knowing mini merchandising I wouldn’t put it past them! You can see the catalog online at www.miniusa.com.

The sweaters just happened to match my dogs (they each have one, although only one is pictured).

But yeah, I’m the sucker the catalog is geared for:
umbrella, cd case, shirts…

:slight_smile:

Ms.Boods, if you come back to the thread drop me an e-mail. I inadvertantly deleted yours before responding!

Yeah, the convertable is coming out later this year (I think), but I don’t think itis as fetching as the hard top.

As for graphics, there is a place here that does custom roof images. I saw that someone had a Mona Lisa on their top. This place can in fact, wrap your whole car. One day when my red fades I will get it wrapped in a Pucci print!

16

oh, if you haven’t already, ask your dealer if there is a message board for the area. It’s loads of fun to take go on a drive with everyone. It’s so cool to see 20 minis in a row!

17

Oh, I know! I do public relations and the BMW Store/Cincinnati MINI was a client for about a year. They have all sorts of fun MINI events. We took a MINI to all of our local news stations to do segments on Winter Car Care. The car fit into one studio. That was a green one with a red top. When The Italian Job premiered in Cincinnati, the dealership arranged for over 100 MINI owners to attend. There was a special “MINI Corral” in the parking lot.

I wanted a red bug for a couple of years, but the MINI really won me over. I played with them so much over the past year, I had to have one of my own.

I love the word “wee”. It’s so cute…just like my MINI.

My dog already has a black and red checked sweater (UC colors). Perhaps I shall ask my mother to knit him a matching nose snood. (That way he can’t smear his wet nose art all over the windows!) Now I’m getting giddy…

Going to bed now. Visions of MINI’s will be dancing in my head… Perhaps tomorrow will bring good news! (I would love to be there when it rolls off the truck to take photos.)

18

I actually do refer to mine as ‘the wee Mini’…daft as houses, I know. Cos they aren’t as wee as the originals, but they are very very wee here in the States.

I trust you have been tracking your Mini’s progress on the website? It’s usually a few days behind – I received ‘the call’ a few days before I had thought – I wanted quite badly to take possession of mine on a Friday the 13th (being a 13 birthday! Bit of a lucky number for me, don’t you know.

Right ho, Bad News Baboon, will do directly.

19

I think Mini actually footed the bill for that one. We did that, too.
Everytime a mini would appear onscreen, we’d cheer. :slight_smile:

Has Mini sent you any stuff in the mail yet?

20

No, what did they send you???