I've been lurking here at NAM for a few days now, and I'm pretty sick of the "our records indicate..." message making me feel bad for not posting, so here it is... my first post.

I got a Chilli Red '06 Ragtop for college graduation, and while I'm on vacation in Florida and haven't had a chance to take it out yet (it's waiting patiently in the garage in Indiana) I'm sufficiently geeked out over it.

Here's my question. I'm a 22-year old college grad, vegetarian pacifist who thinks Dennis Kucinich would have made a great president. On one hand, I think I'm such a stereotypical person to be driving a Mini, but I also know it would be ignorant to think that everyone else piloting these cars are exactly like that.

So, it we were to condense the whole motoring culture down into one person (and one Mini) what would we be looking at?

Don't think too hard about this... my head's pretty close to exploding already.

 

To difficult to do ... the appeal is across the board so I do not think you can distill it down to a "typical" owner

 

Wants to drive fast without hurting the environment/wallet.

Likes to be different, but not different enough to make a truly outrageous choice, like using mass transit.

oh, by the way, the NAM community aint average. more like cutting edge, quirky. For evey NAMMER, there are proably 5 poeple out there jsut enjoying their car.

 

I also agree with this. This is an enthusiasts forum. The vast majority of owners just enjoy their cars.

 

I drive a Sebring now. Sebrings, to my experience, have about as much of a driving community as the Amish. One out of six sounds awesome to me.

 

I asked my dealer what the typical demographic of Mini buyers was and he said it's generally all over the place, young, old, man, woman...but then again, I live in the L.A. area, which is already pretty diverse.

 

I like veggies, too. Salads are what you eat right before the steak comes off the grill. Yum.
I won't go into politics on here, that's really not what this place is about. I don't care how you vote, but I encourage you to do so. Together, you and I provide balance. My wife agrees and votes like me. That's plus one for our side!
Congrats on the graduation, welcome to NAM, and enjoy the ride.

 

There is no one MINI driver and this attempt is what you could expect from a vegitarian, pacifist, college grad, who got a MINI as a graduation present. Just kidding. But, just as with everything else, There are people who think like me, and idiots, who drive MINIs. You aren't what you are because of the car you bought, and the car you bought doesn't make you anything different than what you are.

 

There's the uniqueness, in that you'll be the only Kucinich lovin', ragtop drivin', just came back from FL person in IN. On the other hand, there's the common shared quality that we all love MINIs! It's just a car and anything else are things we transfer to the car and us. But hey, that's half the fun, so why not!?!

 

Defitinitely a wide spectrum. I'm a year older than you and about as different as can be. I've also found that this forum has a lot more older members than some of the other boards I've been a part of in the past (honda-tech, vwvortex, clubdsm, mr2-oc). Maybe its just because I'm growing up?

 

Make that plus 3 for our side.

And a few less flatulating cows.

If you want to see the diversity of the ENTHUSIASTS, just go to a national MINI event (like MINIs on the Dragon) - tremendous diversity in ages, politics, values, lifestyles, sexual preferences, belief systems, and ability to stay on your side of the double yellow lines. But, as long as you stay away from the controversial topics, they're ALL my friends in MINI-land! Except for those Assclowns who can't stay on their side of the double yellow...

 

I've been to many car meets, clubs, exc... and I have to say that mini owners are the most diversified people possibly on the planet. but dont quote me :p

 

youification

 

I think this does:

 

Funny! Welcome to NAM, ajonathanbrown! Make sure you read the Site Guidelines...and pay attention to the no politics part.

 

It may be more of a sociological profile that you are trying to create. You should be able to do that with any given set of data ("class"). You find the mean, mode and median of the values you are testing for and, from that data you create your average profile. Then you can also determine the boundaries of the class. Without knowledge of the true make-up of the class (something I am sure BMW knows well and bases its assumptions about marketability) there is limited empiricial data from which to draw conclusions as to the constitution of the "average profile". We can still, however, define it, but it has to be done based on assumptions of what the average is not. For example, the average MINI costs $20K-$30K. Therefore, poor and modest means individuals can be excluded from the average. The MINI seats 4. It is unlikely that the MINI appeals to families with more than two children, at least that would not be average, and so on.

Unless MINI/BMW are willing to voluntarily provide the class data (unlikely, since they probably claim it as intellectual property), we can only speculate based on assumptions. However, based on the empirical evidence in this thread and a couple of assumptions, as a Kucinich supporter you probably are at the fringe of the class and certainly not average.

 

Thanks all, especially 70spop.

I'm headed back to Indiana tomorrow and should finally get my mitts on my MINI and, you know, have something relevant to post about.

 

Be sure to post pix...

 

I don't quite buy that. While they may not be able to afford a new one ... they may be able to afford a used one. So is he looking for only "new" car buyers or "any" owners. Further, you might assume someone with above average income might not be bothered owning a MINI but I bet incomes higher than average, also buy them. The demographics are all over the place.

This is completely different than MINI marketing and who they target.

 

hahaha! I'm not sure why "especially". I had posted something, then edited it out because I thout it would get deleted anyway. It was a blank post, but now it just looks like a couple of were posted.

 

When I wrote that, there was a picutre of Minnie Driver.

The word play, and the photo, was greatly appreciated.

Puns are fun.

 

Welcome to NAM.

 

Back to the original question, I am more and more believing the "ultimate" MINI driver is one who will put up with all the stupid things MINI does, coupled with it's lack or real customer service, and feel honored to drive a MINI. I feel I am creeping closer to the term "sucker."

 

HaHa. Thats funny! I feel the same way! The latest was the front window seal leaking water. I've owned about 15 cars, most of them 50's and 70's cars and I never had as many 'problems' as this mini... But I love my car and it's NEVER stranded me!

 

Unfortunately, I don't find it funny, because, this passivity by MINInites only encourages MINI to become more recalcitrant toward it's customers.