Totally agree with everything you said. I drive a super cool little car on a daily basis and while I love waving to other Minis and their owners...don't really have much need for joining any clubs.

 

That's one of two reasons we don't belong to any Mini club. Having to drive an hour just to get to the start of an event is a pain in the ***. There's never a nice road to take to get there, without adding another hour to the drive time.

And since we're not into standing around and talking about modding, we haven't found many friendly folks at Mini club events. At the few we've gone to, we've been pretty much ignored.

Quite a bit different then the MG clubs I once belonged to.

 

Can't argue about the extra driving. As fun as our cars are, sometimes the thought of an hourlong freeway slog is depressing.

Sorry to hear that you haven't had fun at MINI events. Most of us are nice well rounded people, and occasionally talk about something other than cars...

 

I use my BMWCCA membership only for the HPDEs they put on. I'm not really a "clubber" in the sense of one who is big on socializing, I guess. My local MINI/Mini club is nice because we mainly "meet, greet and eat". Very few activities are actually planned, as most of the members are the ones who did it all when they and their Minis were young. Now, they really could care less, but do attend the national events. And then, there is the distance factor. My "local club" is 45 miles from me and the other nearest clubs are 90 miles away, each. Consequently, I find myself just preparing for car shows, national events and HPDEs, because I am too far away to have an enjoyable day driving to and from the other clubs' driveabouts.

 

dmh, I've been a NY and NJ BMWCCA member since '03. I haven't been to many of the NY/NJ events lately, though, because I'm often times not in the area, but when my new Cooper comes in I hope to drop by some DEs if I can find the time. Maybe I'll see you there...

 

Why I'm not a member:

They don't allow cabrio's in their HPDE's! (boo)

_Dave_

 

They would, if your's was fitted with a REAL rollbar/rollcage and not just relying on those two little bumps in the back.

 

First to answer the question that started the thread: I belong to BMW CCA.

Originally posted by am0eba


Not that BMW CCA descriminates against MINI Cabrios in particular, they do not permit any street soft-top cars in their Drivers Schools (at least with the regions I participate with).

Since I have witnessed two different MINIs suffer a roll over during Drivers School events, it is probably a pretty sane idea to not allow soft-top cars to play.

Thus, it's a good reason to not spend the money to join unless you like the social activities.

Paul

 

BMWCCA is a great car club. I have been a member for over 20 years. I look forward to reading the Roundel every month. Membership is worth the monthly mag alone. of course you also get great discounts. Then of course there is the driving schools.......

 

I think most MINI owners dont, or won't, relate to the BMW in their MINIs. The vibe is different...so membership isn't a given. Seems that simple to me. BMW itself initiated the separateness of the MINI brand.

 

I agree no reason to join for you.

If you've seen what happens to a tintop MINI in a high speed roll you'd change your mind about wanting to take a convertible on a race track.

 

I think Vince Leo, of Roundel, has made a lot of arguments FOR getting more MINI owners to join BMWCCA. As has been stated before, there will always be the old school BMW owners who think the club is ONLY for them, but since our new MINIs are BMW MINIs, the door has been opened for us upstarts to join and be recognized, too.

 

Well to be honest I kind of forgot we can join!!

Thanks to this thread I've looked into my local chapter and it's office is 10 minutes from where I work and they have track events at both of our area road courses Nelson Ledges Road Road Course and even the big league course Mid-Ohio!

Woohoo!

 

There were at least 6 MINI's at the Peachtree HPDE at Road Atlanta last weekend felt right at home.

 

This is an important point, but part of what turned MINI people off to Roundel was the fact that Vince, correctly or incorrectly, came across as a BMW guy who got a MINI and a column. I couldn't stand some of the attitude towards MINI when I first got one in the beginning of '05, especially in Roundel's letters. Vince needs to be thanked, though, because he single-handedly gave the MINI community an actual voice within Roundel. Another reason why MINI isn't represented so heartily in Roundel is because MINI USA has never seen Roundel as a MINI publication and therefore has not granted them the access needed for timely, informative coverage. Now, would they have taken advantage of such access, I can't say for sure, but I can say that with the run of the R53 all but over, the MINI is a much larger presence than it was.

Believe it or not, there's now something Roundel readers and many R53 owners will have in common: they may or may not respect BMW's decisions for the marque moving forward. BMW guys/gals gripe about the size and styling of the latest BMWs, so guess what's going to happen with the larger, oddly (IMO) styled R56...

The magazine is changing, however, and so are the events, in my opinion. I have never felt disrespected for having MINI at a CCA event; I have, however, felt that from reading Roundel. I live in New Jersey, and to me, the MINI clubs here are much more social and more my type of people. The BMW club is more active with track days and auto-x and has much more, for lack of a better word, clout than MINI clubs here.

So to answer Don's original question, I suppose there are many reasons, one of the largest being that MINI owners tend to not identify themselves with the BMW community. For others of us, we started in the BMW community and the transition isn't a transition at all - our MINIs are just new BMWs.

So moving forward, what would it take to get reluctant people to join? I think it starts with a voice, and Roundel grants us that.

mb

 

Yep.. when JerseyGirl sold her M3, she let her BMW CCA membership lapse... she didn't see the need... I do miss the magazine, though... when she threw out her old back issues, I snagged them...

 

Unfortunately, Vince got rid of his MINI and has turned his column over to a new writer, because he has returned to club racing. I just hope the new guy is as good as Vince was, because we MINI owners who are members of BMW CCA, need all the positives we can get.

I enjoy their HPDEs, though, and feel that the MINI has gained a lot of respect from instructors who regularly drive BMWs or Porsches. We aren't the fastest cars out there, but our aggressiveness in the curves has earned a lot of praise.

For me, joining BMW CCA was a matter of economics, especially when one of the schools I used to attend regularly raised its HPDE pricing for a one day school to almost as much as a two day school that BMW CCA offers.

 

I agree about the respect at HPDE events; unless my instructors are all blowing sunshine up my ****, they've all got nothing but positive things to say about our cars.

mb

 

To answer the OP. MOST Mini owners do not identify with BMW. BMW may own Mini, but most Mini owners do not feel they are driving a BMW. They identify with Mini.

Analogy: In the 70's, MG and Triumph were both owned by the Leyland Group. Many of those cars at the time got a Leyland badge on the wing (removed by most people). You would NEVER see MG's and Triumphs in the same club normally. (There were/are the odd all British Clubs).

Another examply: MG and Austin Healey were both produced at Abingdon, both owned by BMC, used many of the same components. Two different cars and owner mindsets.

 

When I brought my MCS in for service I was given a BMW as a loaner. I was surprised by the number of interior parts that were the same or very similar (switched, dash icons ...) and the familiarity of how things worked and how they were laid out. It definitely opened my eyes to the family ties between BMW and MINI.

 

I hear what you are saying, but, I ran into the other extreme in Indianapolis at the IBCU British Car Show, in September. When I parked my '03 Silk Green Cooper [green/black leather seats, emerald interior] next to some MGs we were supposed to be judged with, they told me with ALL their snottiness, that I was NOT welcome, since I was driving a BMW MINI, and NOT a "real" one. I "politely reminded" them, that, if Rover had not screwed things up and gone under [allowing BMW to purchase them and give us the "new" MINI], I WOULD have the real deal, but, because of Rover's inefficiency, I now have the halfbreed, instead. I own TWO of those now "traitorious" BMW MINIs...a Cooper and an MCS, and I am quite happy to be "Bimmer Lite". I go to all the British Car Shows I can now to show my "new" half BMW/half English Cooper, and let 'em sweat.

 

Satch refers to Mini (we call it MINI) as BMW's English stepchild.

ha.

mb

 

I think that's a common sentiment. I don't have anything against BMW, but don't feel any particular kinship with them either. It seems to me that they attract a different buyer. I have no doubt but that the corporate-types hope that MINI owners will one day "upgrade" to a BMW, but I don't see that as happening too often...we just buy another MINI!

 

Have you driven an R56? Not to start that debate, but it is much more BMW-like, if there's such a thing. If the trend continues, the third gen. MINI will be more BMW than ever. And truth be told, I bought the MINI because it reminded me of my E30 BMW and no current BMWs could stack up to the driving experience.

mb

 

I don't think this was brought up...

The BMW CCA offers us in Mini-dom a national voice. BMW does listen to what the collective BMW CCA has to say. We Mini owners can take advantage of the already created relationship. BMW CCA offers an ombudsman that can be called into action if and when we have issues with dealers or the parent company. The CCA can help us in more ways then we think. They have been down this road of being a National Organization that united the myriad of regionals. It's about time we had an umbrella org to unite all the local clubs, why not do it under the professional management of the BMW CCA.