[Link to photo...]

She's a 2004 Cooper, basically stock. Just traded in a Mazda for her that I dearly loved and will certainly miss, but oh...what a car this is! The handling is fantastic, the engine note is perfect, and the seat is comfy. All I could ever want, plus 35 mpg. Hard to go wrong.

Glad to be here, and I'll certainly be active as I have a few questions and small issues I hope to get sorted out.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Welcome to the NAMily!!

 

Congrats and welcome. There are a ton of MINI experts here and they can be very helpful. There is also a search function that can very often answer your question. You did not say what kind of Mazda traded.

 

Welcome to the world of Mini's. There are tons of things you can do to yours to make it unique, not to mention all of the performance mods out there.

Happy motoring!

 

Congrats!

 

"Ella" (short for "Capella", the name of her Japanese family) was a 2000 Mazda 626 LX V6 5-speed. I had her since 2004, and it was a little sad letting her go, but her plates will be transferred to Jubilee hopefully this week. So the memory will live on.

"Jubilee", of course, refers to QE2's Jubilee celebration that happened this weekend. I thought it was appropriate given the timing.

I'll have more pictures once I get her cleaned up more - drove home from Denver in the rain yesterday, so she's a bit grungy in places.

Thanks for welcoming me into the family! I'm totally addicted to the "Mini Experience" now.

Duncan :D

 

Welcome!
"Jubilee" is a wonderful for a wonderful car.
Motor on!
The fun has just begun...

 

Here are two photos of Jubilee with a smattering of road dirt:




I hope to feature her in all kinds of scenery, of course - but this is home.

Duncan

 

So happy you posted picts. Love the scenery too.
You are right your car is similar to mine. Again Welcome and enjoy!

 

Okay, I love nearly everything about this car, and just got new tires today (the old ones were shot) - but I've become concerned.

In the last couple days, I've noticed a growing amount of noise (gear whine?) from the transmission, especially in the top three gears. Seems to appear and reappear as I dip in or out of the throttle. I've read various threads about the Midlands transmission - mostly not very positive - and I'm wondering if there's a problem here, and how serious if so. The car is at 82600-ish miles now; I've only put about 700 on it in my short ownership. (Haven't even made a payment yet!)

I am still well within my 3-month/3k-mile used car powertrain warranty, so I have a certain amount of recourse (we'll see how much, I guess). Your thoughts, feelings, expert advice are much appreciated.