I chose the screen name "Bullenbeisser" because it's the name of an extinct German bulldog and the Mini reminds me of a buddy's bulldog.

I drive 35,000 to 50,000 miles a year for work and currently have a Camry Hybrid and last Sunday, July 18th I bought my wife a silver 2006 Mini convertible. I test drove it first and...was...blown away.

I got back to the lot and my wife asked what was going on because I was smiling and possibly giggling a bit. She asked if I liked it and I said, "I know this isn't how you work a deal at the car lot - right in front of the salesman & finance guy, but - I WANT THIS CAR!!!"

She said "You said before we got here that no matter what happens, we walk, they'll call us with a better deal, etc. What's going on, babe?" I told her to hop in, drive it and she'd understand.

It's a 5 speed so she got in and killed it. Ha ha! Neither of us had driven a stick in maybe 10-12 years. She came back to the lot smiling and said "Ok, sold!"

First night - seriously - the first night around sunset we pulled up to a stop light and a dude on a Harley pulled up next to us with Eminem blasting. I noticed him looking over at us a bit, heard his music go down and he says, "Brother, THAT is a sharp car." How cool is that?

Also, on the way back towards Sacramento from San Francisco our kids were in the back seat and commented a few times how people in other cars were looking at us and smilling.

We posted a photo of my wife in her car on Facebook and got SOOO many positive responses.

We've already had 4 to 6 people say they saw her or us driving around, and a couple other friends say they saw our car in a parking lot, and had some friends honk at us/my wife.

IT'S INSANE!!! We've only had the car since Sunday! I've never had so many comments on a car in my life. We've had more looks, comments, honks, etc. in 6 days than I can remember ever having in the entire duration of any other car I've had. And I had a pretty tricked out Ford F150 SuperCrew.

Anyways, glad to find this forum! As you can tell, I get a bit carried away when posting, so I'm looking forward to getting to know you all a bit.

 

Welcome to the forum, obviously you are a MINI maniac now, congrats.

 

Thank you!

Already received some good advice on how to clean the convertible top.

 

Congratulations...my permagrin is still in effect over a year later!


Remeber to always wave at other MINIacs even if they dont wave back. Got to try to keep the wave alive!


Cheers and try to have some fun

 

The wave, huh?

We took the MCC in to San Francisco & Sausalito yesterday and apparently the wave is alive and well!

Always thought that was just motorcycle riders, but yeah, we had a few waves before we figured out it was a Mini thing. Pretty cool. There are Minis EVERYWHERE in SF and we started waving too.

My earlier post didn't come out the way I meant it. I meant it was pretty darn cool that we posted a question here as to how to clean/care for the convertible top and we got informative replies right away.

NICE!

 

NOW you know what all they hype is about. I miss the bay area SO much...great place to experience a MINI. Enjoy the new life-style.

 

I think it was maybe my post meaning that didnt come through clearly...I posted the winky smiley with my "try to have some fun" comment because it looked like you were already having a blast! And if that isnt what you were referring to, sorry for misunderstanding again.

Glad to see the wave is alive and well on the west coast. Some east coasters have complained about it dying off around here, although I seem to get returns more often than not.

Keep motoring and having lots of fun!

 

I can't wait to start waving!!

When I was a kid my dad had every sports car you can imagine and they always waved. It was a terrific tradition and so glad to see MINI's have kept it going.