Hello NAM folks!

Long time gawker, first time owner. I have always adored MINIs, but they always seemed just out of reach. Ready to swap out my daily driver for something a little less gas-(and thus, wallet-) destroying than a 2001 Ford F150, I started weighing the options.

Nearly settling on a Prius, a friend slapped me upside the head and questioned my sanity, then threw some alternatives around. I saw MINI and the course was set.

I spent a few days searching on AutoTrader and local classifieds trying to find the "perfect" combination of features I wanted. The stars aligned when I managed to find a fairly decked out, still young 2007 R56 justa Cooper Automatic (but not the CVT) on a nearby preowned lot. The little beauty hadn't even been listed for a week. It took me a little under 12 hours after a test drive with it to pull the trigger and call the dealership to set up negotiations. Been driving it just a few weeks now, and I'm loving every bit of it. It's a whole different world from driving a bulky pickup.

I found that researching various topics brought me here frequently, and I thought, "Hey! Families are cool!," so here I am! I haven't found the right spot yet, so I don't have any proper photos, but I will soon.

So.. Hello, errybody!