I thought about doing the no holes bracket, but then I saw the one the dealer installed and really didn't mind the look of it. Besides, I'm not ever going to have a license plate not on the car, so I won't ever see the holes that the bracket makes.

 

Louisiana still doesn't require a front plate, so I'm plate free!

Yep, I'm getting protective of Bernard while parking too. The other day we came out of a restaurant and a young couple was visiting and smooching between Bernard and their car. They had sodas resting on the roof of their car and they were both a little "wide".... I am sad to say that I was convinced that they had probably been leaning on poor Bernard and I was pretty miffed!

Maybe we need to go to classes in order to deal with the first scratches, dings etc that are bound to be coming our way soon.

 

Man, is this site slow for me today....

re: parking. I know, I am super sensitive about where I park now. I kind of miss not having parking anxiety with my 12 year old daily driver. For work, I park in a 6 floor covered garage and I go all the way up to the 6th floor to park in a particular corner stall away from everyone and I do hug the far-side stall line as much as possible. gmsim - I hope you are wrong about dings! I hope it doesn't happen for a very long time, but I know it will one day.

re: front license plate - you folks who do not have to have one are so lucky..... as for the no holes bracket - am choking at the $55 price tag a bit, so I may just go without one - not sure. FYI - for those who haven't noticed, gominigo announced on this site a 10% off sale for October....

 

I think that's one of the coolest things about driving a MINI...everyone smiles at the car and MINI owners always wave. Gotta love that!!! If everyone drove a MINI, we'd probably have world peace. LOL

 

Oh my gosh! People just don't know how crazy we are for our cars. I took a friend to lunch the other day and she threw her ring of keys in the passenger side door well. I said..."Um...I don't even have 1500 miles on this car yet...would you mind not scratching it up for me?" (I felt like a jerk later, but I'm so OCD about this car!). She didn't take it personally, and it was okay, but people just don't care about their cars the way we do. But later that day, I did check that door well and thankfully it was unscathed.

 

How do you get the Mini Adventure Kit? I just watched it on Youtube...and I want one!!!

 

I try not to let small stuff like parking bother me. Life's too short.

That said, maybe I'm just saying that because I'm still ding-free.

 

I can't think of anything that I did to get my kit early except maybe that I signed up for OL right when I got my production number (or VIN?) back in mid July. I didn't request it, my MA has said nothing to me about it, etc. Just showed up at my door one day.

 

Thanks. I did the same. I'll be watching my mailbox.

 

Still waiting for the kit, didn't come in today's mail! I'll be gone all next week - a cruise!!

Anyway -I admit I am OCD about this car. I really would just sqeeze into any parking place before - but I am ALWAYS careful not to let my door bang on any other car. But now with my mini - I really get hot when careless people park so close!! I mean.. Lucy is NOT big, just stay on your own side! I find myself always checking her to see if someone caused a ding.. so far, so good!

Omaha must be friendlier than FL, so far only one wave, everyone else not even looking!!

 

I missed a change to wave at Bernard's near twin (had sport stripes instead of regular) but otherwise the same Laser Blue/Silver Clubman. I was just getting onto a highway and it went by too fast!

Re car protectiveness: My husband is about to get hip replacement surgery in about 5 weeks and so has a hard time getting out of the car.... he is 6'7 and weighs about 230 so he's no little fellow. Anyway he was pushing against the center armrest and using it and then the side of the seat to push himself out of the car. After about the twentieth time of watching Bernard's armrest and seat be torqued out of whack, I explained to my poor husband what I saw happening from the drivers seat as he was trying to extricate himself! He had no idea! We came up with grabbing the helper handle on the roof to swing around and then pushing up on the metal bracket for the door latch on the frame. Thank heavens he understands and was more than happy to change!

 

gbsim - I can visualize you wincing every time your hubby pushed on the center armrest! What a touchy subject - glad to hear your hubby is so understanding

 

I have one sitting on my table that I need to install. It's better than having to have holes. I wish Texas did not require a front plate at all, maybe the front plate requirement will go away someday. Glad to hear everyone is doing okay!

 

+1

 

Okay I must have missed something....what is the adventure kit?

 

This is kind of a goofy video that I found on You Tube, but shows you what is in the Kit. I guess it comes to you in the mail about 3 months after you have your MINI (according to my MA). Hope we all get one. They look sweet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt7ngw0tpro

 

In another words, it's just a bunch of useless junk.

Anyway, hello to all from Petit Le Mans. Been here for three days watching practice, qualifying and support races. Tomorrow is the big race with Peugeot hoping to kick some Audi ***., Acura hpoing to kick some Porsche ***, Corvette hoping to kick some...well... there's only Corvette *** to kick, and Ferrari hoping to kick some Porsche ***.

The road trip getting here has now pretty much taken care of my break-in. I have about 1400 miles on the car and will put another 650 on before I get home again.

 

Racetripper, I'm a racing noob.... can you give a brief explanation of what Petit Lemans entails??

 

or if you have time a long explanation??

 

Cool. Mind posting some pics when you get around to installing it? I decided to get it and just ordered mine today (along with the glove box tidy and pulsing third light - just can't resist the accessories)....

 

OK. Firstly, it's always Le Mans, not Lemans. Petit Le Mans is the annual 1000 miles endurance sports car race held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA. Four classes of sports cars (2 prototype and 2 GT classes) compete simultaneously on track. Class winners of this race get automatic invitations to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. For the long explanation see the Wikipedia article and/or visit the American Le Mans Series web site.

 

On Tuesday last, we had MOM (Mini of Murray) install the Garmin MINI Badged NUVI. Sits on the left of the tach and does a fairly good job. For some reason I was under the impression that it would interface with the audio system when it was delivering driving directions. Alas, it does not. Instead it delivers the directions through it's own very little and very cheezy speakers. You can change the voice and change the image of your MINI on the map screen . . that's a nice feature, and of course it does a bunch of other things as well. I opted for this unit because I can pop it out and put it in my other vehicles should the need arise.

The wife and I spent the better part of two hours changing the microphone from the right to the left in the overhead console. It was not as easy as I thought it would be, but we took our time and nothing was destroyed.

One of the reasons for switching the microphone position was our inability to communicate with "Bob" - I think I'll call the phone system Bob. Some said it sounded more like HAL but I disagree. So Bob it is. Bob does NOT understand me. I can input a voice command, Bob takes it fine, but then when I try to make the call 95 % of the time Bob either doesn't get it, or gets it wrong. I thought that changing the microphone position would help Bob hear me, no difference. So far voice dialing has been a major disapointment and Bob is indeed a dolt.

 

Sure I'll post them, but you may end up with yours first. I'm waiting on our personalized plates for Hilla - it's going to read "M HILLA". Should have them within a week or so - kinda lazy I don't want to install the plate twice - now that is lazy since it's only a couple of bolts and screws.

 

I can always use pen and paper, so let's see if they send some. We're just near the 600 mile mark, now Race Tripper has the right idea, a nice long trip!

 

Can the voice be changed to a female voice? I know our nav system has a female voice already, too bad the same voice isn't on both or is it?