I love driving my MINI. still don't even have 200 miles on it yet.

But you must quickly learn what can and what can't fit in a mini. I bought some boxes for doing some ebay shipping. Come to find out, they didn't fit. Had to go home and get the SUV. Oh well still love driving every bit.

Mileage so far on my MC is 32mpg.

 

i think it is going to take me 1-2 months to get through break in! We are getting crazy rain here in portland, and it is almost seventy degrees..... HUGE puddles, luckily the mini is zip zip zip around them

burn rubber !

 

psb, break in will come faster than you think. I am 2wks today and passed the 900mile mark. My commute is 13miles... You'll find reasons to drive where you wouldn't normally have gone out!

 

Last night my power went out due to one of our wonderful Pacific Northwest storms so of course I went motoring! I'm up to 497 miles and I got her last Tuesday, She's already had a fresh tank of gas and a bath!

Every afternoon I hope my boss leaves early so I can cram in a leisurely drive out to Duvall in the afternoon before I have to pick up my son from school.

 

Here are some more pics of Gordito.

 

Love the Hyper Blue Minis !! Great looking car Rev

 

Gordito is super Rev... nice pics. And nice mascot

As Rachael said, I'm glad everyone is still positing in this thread, too. It will be great to hear stories of what people are up to, discovering, etc. I'm going to keep posting pics, too.

 

almost to break in!! can you believe it?! It will happen by Friday for sure... my MINI is becoming a man.... *cries*

 

Just remember, even though you will be holding the accelerator longer between shifts don't forget to shift smmmoootttthhllyyy.
Your MINI is ready to growl....

 

Speaking of shifting smoothly....

I feel like my 'get up and go' isnt that good.... I dunno if it's just drivers around here or if its my shifting skills, but I feel like I have to punch it and shift like a mad man just to keep up with other cars when a light turns green.... once I'm into 3rd I can pass em up quick, but getting from 1st - 3rd seems slow....

just me?

 

i think i've experienced that, too. i definitely feel like from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, i have to work a little bit... rev to about 3500 rpms before shifting to get moving, but then, as you said, once you're in 3rd, the power is really there. I find SUVs and others right up behind me or accelerating faster out of a stop light, but then I usually catch up to them by 3rd gear.

i'm imagining that after "break-in" one could probably really rev it up to almost 4000 rpms or more and it would really move, but i'm not trying that now and besides, i don't think i could even do that on the streets i'm driving on. maybe getting onto an expressway or something.

 

Start smooth but steady climb to 3500 shift to second and give it a good punch to 4000 shift to 3rd and you'll pass them by before you're a car length behind.

 

it's strange... i haven't driven a manual regularly for over 15 years and i haven't driven a "sporty" car like this ever. so it feels weird for me to even rev up to 4000 rpms, but i guess these cars like it, yes?

 

Ive been shifting at about 3500 - 4000 on a regular basis... 4499 if i'm feeling saucy... and it just begs for more!

 

Yes, they love it, wait til you can go passed the "cutoff"... in my Z3 I had to really learn how not to stall in 1st gear, it was strange at first, but sure made for a smooth transition to the MCS... none of that shakey/sputtery take off for me!

 

fortunately i'm pretty good getting out of first... occasionally i forget to give it enough gas and it starts to shake a little, but most of the time, I give it enough to get it going.

----
rachael... i've been reading all the replies to your other post about shifting very helpful. all your questions are questions that have been lurking in my mind.

----
I'm a little surprised at the majority of people that don't downshift or recommend against. i do it at almost every slow down/stop. seems like I should not. hmmm. i thought it was a good thing over constant braking. i just went out for a drive and tried the coasting method, but still did some downshifting. Also, I turned my DSC off for part of the drive to see if my 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd acceleration was faster. it "seemed" like it was, but perhaps it was "just my imagination running away with me." the streets here are dry today so there would be no real need for the DSC anyway.

----
re: my other post about not getting work done... Grover and I played in the park today. beautiful sunroof open weather here and a little color in the trees. {good music also helped - "californication", "blizzard of '77," "four leaf clover," "welcome to new york city" (cam'ron) -- all made me miss NYC and Cali.)

usually my photos are better, but I seem to have a difficult time catching the best part of the magic hour with the sun... enjoy!

 

Where in the Sam Snee is everybody!? And don't tell me 'out motoring', cuz I've put 1275 miles on the MINI in 2 weeks, and I still have time to keep up with my PW38 buddies!!

Okay, on a more serious note, the real reason I'm posting is because I finished break in!! Let's just say tonite's drive was 'spirited' >:D

Took it up over 5000, took a corner at about 40, and went fast. (I don't think we can mention how fast....)

But 'ditch' loved it!! I don't think I ever told you the name is ditch.... It's a long story... but I guess I have a few minutes so I'll tell it. I was just in shock after it happened....

The night after I took delivery, I decided to take my fiance for a ride. We went out to a canyon near our house. We ended up going to a point to where the road was going to turn into dirt, so I decided to turn around. The road was narrow, so I was going to have to do a 3-point dealy. I did the first 'point' and was in a position where i was going to have to reverse to straighten out, but the car was on an incline, in front of a pretty small ditch off the side of the road. I wasnt too comfortable driving stick yet, so I asked my fiance if he could do the reversing. (I didn't want to roll forward into the ditch). So he gets in, and I just get out and am standing on the side of the road waiting for him to straighten it out. THEN, instead of putting it in reverse, he puts in in 1st by accident, and into the ditch he goes!!! And I'm on the outside of the car watching it happen. It didn't even look that bad, but we were unaware of the drama that lay ahead....

So I'm freaking out inside, but am trying to remain calm so I don't make him feel like any more of an *** than he already does. It doesn't look too bad, so I tell him just put it in reverse and try to back it out. And, the wheels just spin... and now they are even deeper than they were before. He tries that couple more times, and then we try and push it out. It's a MINI for gods sake, how heavy can it be?! To no avail...

It's 11:30 pm. We're all alone, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There's no cell phone reception. There's no moon... the santa ana winds are blowing and it's almost halloween...

After about 10 minutes of standing around wondering what the heck we are going to do, we see two lights bouncing our way.... 2 men appear out of the mountain, with headlamps on.... 'looks like you guys are in a pickle!', they say. Apparently, for fun, these men 'whack bush' off the trails in the area to keep them clear. They don't work for the forest service or anything... they are super super nice and try to help us get the MINI out. But keep in mind, this is the second day I've had it, and I don't want anyone to touch it.... but there it is, in a ditch with the branches of a tree resting on the bonnet, 3 guys spinning the wheels (dirt and gravel flying) and shoving rocks and boards under the wheels to try and get it out. I finally just tell them to stop, cuz I'm freaking out. The mountain men say they will drive me to the main road so I can call a tow truck.... I tell the fiance to just stay with the car (half of it is in the middle of the road) and not to try anything else, and just leave it be till the tow truck gets there.

So me and the bush whackers drive to the main road, I call MINI roadside assistance, and they say someone will be there within 45 minutes. We drive back to where the MINI is sad and stuck, and pull up to see about 15 'bros' standing around the MINI, digging, lifting, etc.... For those of you who don't know what a 'bro' is.... it's pretty much 80% of Orange County boys... 14-27 years old... drive big trucks, wear sideways hats, listen to sublime... Apparently they were coming down the mountain after some late night off-roading and had to come to a pretty abrupt stop after seeing the MINI in the road... So it's me and all these guys who can't bear to stand there and do nothing about this situation... even though I tell them the tow truck is on it's way, they keep having to do something other than just stand there... they all say that the tow truck is going to charge me $1500 to come out there, since I wasn't on any main road... and one guy is trying to jack up the back of it or some stupid crap... by this time I was just like in shock that this was all happening, but also at the same time trying to tell them to just forget it...

So FINALLY the tow truck gets there (thank GOD!) and he is really cool about it. He says they weren't supposed to come out there really but he heard it was a MINI so he just 'had to come see'. Lucky me. He said the charge would be $140.

There was no room for him to get behind the MINI, so he was going to have to pull it out kinda sideways... he hooked it all up and we all hid behind the bro's 20 foot truck while visions of flying bumpers danced in our heads... The tow truck driver eased on the tow really slow.. reconfigured... a little bit more... a little bit more... and finally... out it came!! Man, I've never felt so relieved in my life!!! I looked at the front of it, checked it out, and everything seemed to be totally fine... there was tons of dust on the car though, so it was hard to tell. We got in, said thanks to all the bros, and followed the tow truck driver to an ATM, with the mountain men following behind us to make sure we were okay.

When we got to the ATM, the mountain men honked, waved and were on their way. These 2 guys were there with us for like 3 hours, and were so so nice and helpful. I wish there was some way in the world I could repay them...

The tow truck driver made a call over his CB and then said 'I just saved you $140". I said 'Oh, BMW will cover it" and he said 'not all of it' and I said, "well do you still get paid the same??" And he said yes, so all was good! We drove home (very carefully) and the final outcome is:

1) Fiance never drives the MINI again (I say this now but... I'll probably give in, it was an honest mistake....)

2) The tow hook is still in the back bumper... it bent in there, and I can't get it out

3) There is a small (3 inch) very shallow scratch on the back bumper that I can probably get out with some Scratch-X

4) One of the black plastic pieces on the rear wheel got a small scuff from when the bro tried to jack it up and slipped.

The next day I gave the MINI a really good bath, and all was good. But what a crazy story, right?! I still can't believe it... everything that happened, the good and the bad.

So there's your bedtime story!! Hopefully I haven't put you all to sleep

The moral of the story? The car's name is Ditch!!

Rach

 

OMG Rachael... what a great story.... i'm glad you and ditch are okay, especially after hearing about branches on the bonnet. what's really surprising is that you've kept this story in for so long! thanks for sharing and congrats on reaching break-in!

 

Wow. Tough sitch Rachael. Luckily, alls well that ends well...

 

I had to tell so many people when it happened (what is that thing in your bumper??) that I was so sick of the story!

Has anyone else gotten past break in yet??

 

500 miles down. Getting closer. I just can't get any free time to just motor.

Racheal crazy story. Glad to hear not too much damage. (Not to tell you how to drive, because I have done many a thing like ditch, just use the parking brake more, it can be a real life saver.)

Hope everyone still has the smile on their face from their MINI.

 

277 miles down, 973miles to go, baby!

 

GPowner we need some pics of your little beast, please!

i've got about 650 miles on Grover.

 

mini_dreams: great pictures ! I think you got enough of magic hour to really light up that hyper blue.

And why braking is better than downshifting to slow down: brakes are cheaper to replace than transmission synchros ( the little gears that do all the work 'syncing' the input and output of your transmission ). However there are times when you do need to downshift of course. If you are slowing down to make a turn and you need to have power after you make the turn, you downshift. If you are descending a grade and need the engine to help brake over a long period of time, you downshift. Now, if you really want to handle it the best way, you will learn to 'heel and toe' and double-clutch your shifts. This will minimize the wear and tear on the synchros in the transmission. It's not going to kill your trans to use it to do a lot of engine breaking, but it will extend its life to 'heel and toe'

 

Oh yeah, and 2130 miles on 'The Black Mariah'