From today's Times of London: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle6984556.ece

 

Mini would sell more cars if they had more dealers. I have two neighbors that would have purchased Mini's if the dealer wasn't 55 miles away in Orlando. Now we have two new Suzuki's in the neighborhood. UGH!!!!
Ronnie948

 

Honestly, I'm fine with MINI remaining a 'niche' car for people who really want to own MINI's, rather than dilute the ownership with people who just want a small, fuel-efficient car. If someone won't drive ~50 miles to buy a MINI, they are probably not that into them in particular.

I want a higher percentage of MINI owners that wave back when I wave at them, not lower.

BTW, this is just a general sentiment. Maybe your neighbors would be enthusiastic owners, and certainly some non-enthusiastic people who buy MINI's will become so after owning it.

 

+1 Well said.

 

I dont know..sometimes I think I have a cool car and cool people buy them, until I sometimes see , how can I say this, "below average cool people" driving around really slow in dirty Minis and dont wave or acknowledge they are in a niche car. I think they just read the Consumer Reports review for MPG and resale value and dont know anything else about them.

 

Yes i agree more dealerships are needed to push the sales of Mini Coopers . Coopers are a car for the young & young at heart . I have so many co workers who say where did you find your car and my dealership is 2 hours away = that in its self scares them off !

 

Those are the exact people I DON'T really want buying MINIs. If you want an appliance, buy a Toyota... not a MINI.

 

Given the MINI's price point, it will IMHO always remain a niche market car.

More and more lower priced cars are being made with equal MPG and people will go for that given the current economy. Fuel efficient frequently goes with frygality and the MINI is anything but frugal. The Honda Fit is boring as hell but also frugal and fuel efficient.

Don't get me wrong, the MINI isn't SUPER expensive for such an unusual and fun car but at almost 10k more (comparing base models with my Clubman) than the Honda Fit or some other similar cars in the MPG world, it aint cheap.

 

US population 308 million or so
UK population 62 million-ish

I wouldn't say it is that surprising really that more are sold here than there.

 

It will be interesting to see if MINI can recover some sales impetus in 2010 and also what sort of impact the Fiat 500 and Ford Fiesta will have in the car wars to come. Maybe we will see waving make a comeback even among the less enthusiatic MINI owners. I for one will keep trying.

 

You kids these days. When I was your age, we had to drive 200 miles to our mini dealer, on dirt roads. Through two feet of snow! Up hill!

 

Back then, our nearest dealer was in Kansas City. It took half a day just to get there.

 

Project Mangler, That was really funny and made me laugh so hard I got a belly ache.
Ronnie948

 

Thanks. Oldest joke in the book, but I just couldn't resist! You'll probably enjoy Monty Python's take on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

 

I just got done watching the U-Tube link. It was great. I really liked your drive 200 miles in the snow. I think every old timer I ever talked to had to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways when they were young. I know I did. The way you put it in your post just was perfect. I still laugh when I think about it. Thanks for the Humour.
Ronnie948

 

When I was checking out the Clubbies at MINI of Dallas, I overheard a couple trying to make a decision. The husband told his wife to remember that they have no wheels. They FLEW and took a taxi to the dealer! Dang, they must have money to burn, won the lottery or are hellbent on getting one. I placed the order for my Clubman and left about an hour later. They were still there. I wonder if they visit this board.

 

I'm having mine shipped from 2500 miles away, should be here on Tuesday 1/26/10.

 

I like the fact that the dealer is 50 miles away.

Let's see, I get to drive the Mini 100 miles today. Oh, I think I'll just get the air pressure checked in the tires today and put off taking it in for a light bulb till Monday. Maybe I'll have to come back on Tuesday. Gee, I still will have a quarter of a tank left. Where can I go on Wednesday??????? Is there a scenic route to the dealer's??

 

The problem is that there is now an influx of 1st gen MINIs on the used car market. This allows anybody to buy the car not knowing the history behind it. To them, it's just a cool car that may or may not get them attention. I like the MINIs being niche cars. I just hope the quality of the owners doesn't drop too much, but it seems that's where we're headed.

 

+1 for sure!

My nearest dealership is almost 150 miles away. It takes me two hours or so to get there and back and I LOVE the drive. I'm thrilled that we're getting a dealership here in my own city, but at the same time kind of not looking forward to it. There are a LOT of MINI enthusiasts I know who just don't want to have their car in another state while it's being serviced. I can understand that... but hey, mine was only gone for a day when they towed mine to the dealer earlier this week. That was awesome.

(I'll admit I drive my MINI pretty slowly too, but I do that since a] I'm terrified of cops and b] I baby the car more than necessary. HOWEVER the car, around 85% of the time, is spotless.)

 

I see about 30+ MINI's in NYC every day. There are so many here that I think the whole "Mini Club" and waiving thing is a bit played out. My guess is this is the case for the rest of the country as well with the exception of some small cities. Mini's are common now unlike when they first came out and there was a waiting list to get one and not many people had them.

I tried waiving to some people in Mini's the first week I had mine and I got nothing. Not one wave. I did get a few looks like, "What's the problem with you buddy? Did I cut you off or something??"

They are still fun cars, just not so uncommon as they once were.

 

 

I'm glad I don't live in San Francisco/San Mateo. Both places had plenty of MINIs so I doubt I'll get a wave at all. Dallas however is not a big improvement: only three waves since I got my car. I think the wave died a long time ago.

 

Here in Tampa, I'd guess I have a ~50% success rate for returned waves, overall. If you only count people who I *know* saw me wave, the percentage is really high for some kind of positive response.

Not sure why everyone else has so much trouble.

 

I always get waves from other Minis here in Daytona -- I sometimes get waves from other folks, too. And sometimes I get waves from Harley Davidsons, but they don't use as many fingers as Mini Folks do.