Hey everybody,

First time on the forums and first post. Nice to meet everybody!

So the story goes like this...

I've been thinking about getting a replacement car for awhile now. I've been driving a '97 Eclipse RS, tuned a bit of course. So I'm taking it in to get an some work done on it, mostly maintenance stuff. Come to find out some parts are broken and some are going to break eventually. I can still drive it, but it's getting older. It definitely made me think seriously about getting that replacement car. While they are performing a service, I catch an artice in a magazine about the top cars for 2006 and saw the MINI's listed base price at just shy of $20,000 (US) and thought that it wouldn't be bad for a daily driver. I read more about the car and knew that i had to have an S model. I didn't need the extra power, but it would be nice to have an extra bit of power when you need it...

So I tell my wife about the Cooper I read about it and we make a trip to our not-so-local-but-not-too-far MINI dealership. While there, my wife wanted to test drive a BMW so we did and liked it much. It almost made me forget why I needed a replacement car in the first place. But that thought and the thought of being stretched paper thin to make payments on a new BMW made me hesitate. We walked over to the Coopers and saw one on the showroom floor that we fell in love with. It was a dark silver color, sport and premium packages, convertible, and an S! Needless to say we drove it off the lot the same day! It was a perfect match, while speccing one online at minisusa.com I couldn't choose between the sport or premium. We found a car that had both in a color we absolutely loved!

We are receiving some flak from the parental units about not getting a bigger car. Something about starting a family, needing a bigger car, etc. Thing is we are recently, married 6 months to be exact, and still pretty young. We don't have kids yet (we plan to eventually but are not in a hurry), and when we do it's not like they pop out in adult size. So room is not a major issue. We do have a sizeable 4-door car already. Sorry for that short rant, just had to get that off my chest. I knew I was going to catch some heat for getting this car, but I'm a grown man married to a beautiful wife, in need of a daily driver with a lil pep in it's step.

We love the car and it is a ton of fun to drive (never had a convertible before)! Definitely looking foward to attending any MINI gatherings we can for some good times!

Next big purchase, a house...

P.S.
Is it customary to wave a other MINI owners or would I just look like a raving lunatic? Another point to add, don't know how or why but my wife and I point to all MINI's we spot on the road now...funny huh?

 

Wave on brother. Welcome to the addiction. Tell your family about the child seat safety latches in the back seat. I have 7 grad kids from 1 to 9 years and one on the way old and they all love to ride in the MINI. Have fun.

 

First welcome to NAM! If your addiction becomes anything like most of ours, you'll spend countless (and I mean countless :impatient ) hours here.

I too took the flak from parents and friends that could not understand why we weren't purchasing a mini van. (Have one and we'll NEVER own another!). We too needed to replace my daily driver and looked at one it is driven and how many in our family of four ride in it. The thing is only I typically ride in it, so size was really inmaterial. When we evaluated what we needed in a daily driver, the MINI became that much more an option. Now I tell the nay sayers that they're just jealous .

Welcome!
-Randy

 

welcome buddy, yeah you're just at the beginning of a fun ride! we bought our MCS 6 months before we were even engaged, just the opposite approach i guess... I have to admit to nearly falling out my driver side window waving sometimes, if the other waver is equally exuberant.

 

Sky,

Oh yeah, the pointing is hereditary....some females, including myself also include the high-pitched "MINI!" dialogue. Don't tell, but my b/f does it too. We make bets when we are on long distance road trips about how many MINIs we think we will see along the way. Whoever wins has to wash/clay/Zaino the car when we get home! Its a better road trip game than that damn out-of-state license plate thing

 

Welcome, welcome

By the way, where are you from, so people know who they are waving at.

 

Welcome to NAM!!! Glad ro hear you love the MINI , and I'd say the raving lunatics are the ones who don't wave! I think the more read back on NAM the more you'll find that the MINI is quite family freindly, may want to look into the traveler when in need of a replacement for the other sedan. Where are you located, we can hook you up with a local club so you can get out to the meets and enjoy the company of everybody waving out there!

 

Thanks for the warm welcome!

We're out in Southern California in the LA area. We actually just joined the SoCal MINI Maniacs (SCMM) club and planning on going to a breakfast run this saturday with them.

It's great to know that there seem to be so many friendly, sociable MINI owners out there. I never knew about the clubs or anything like that for the MINI. I was just looking for a replacement for the daily driver, read a few articles, and fell in love with the car when we set eyes on it at the dealership. Now I'm finding out about the clubs, events, communities, etc. and that's really awesome. Definitely makes me that much happier to be a fellow MINI owner.

We'll be sure to wave or wave back when we see a fellow MINI driver.