Oops! Sorry, that's a carry over from another board where everyone is very persnickety about any changes in the quoted test.
We use BBM for Bolding By Me, to address a comment.
ESP - well, you know that you just read my mind.

We don't have a MINI dealer close by, but I notice that the closer that I am to FSU, the more MINIs that I see.
I think that there's a mathematical formula somewhere to explain that phenomenon.

DS1(Dear Son the first) is 19, and DS2 (Dear Son the second) is 17.
Neither has shown any interest in learning to drive.
I was chauffeuring them around in a 95 Mercury Villager Minivan.
It was great for the soccer mom years, hauling cub scouts around, and each one had his own special bench seat so they weren't poking each others' eyes out. By the time that I traded it in, only rust and duct tape were holding it together. Whenever I brought up the issue of learning to drive, they both answered back, "Well, what will I drive?"
(cue - remark about McDonald's and bus passes)

Last August, I traded the old minivan in for Little Wing.
Now each son is suddenly interested in getting a license.
All I have to say is, "Well, what will you drive?"

Actually, I am considering a used MINI for them to share, maybe.
DS1 is hoping to go to GA Tech in the fall, and I told him that downtown Atlanta is not the place to learn to drive and I will have nothing to do with providing a car if his address is the intersection of I75 & I85.

A friend of mine and I were discussing, no disagreeing, about kids and small cars. I feel that the MINI is pretty safe and is much easier to maneuver that a large car. In fact, Little Wing saved our lives recently when someone cut right in to my space on I95 recently. I was able to jump over to the shoulder and jump back onto the road in a heartbeat.
I would never have been able to avoid an accident in my old minivan.
Of course, DH remarked that if I had been in the van, the other car might have actually been able to see me.( DH - darling husband or d***h***, depending on the mood).

Oh, I almost forgot!
My friend who thinks that MINIs are not safe enough for young drivers has her 19 year old daughter (DD) in her hand me down 1990 Ford Explorer!

 

Ok,

I'll agree it's mostly sour grapes on my part.
I was given a free car by a little old lady at my church but I've paid for and maintained all my cars out of my own pocket. My parents covered insurance through college even after I got into an accident my first time driving (stupid inexperience not recklessness.) So you can consider me spoiled in that respect

Personally I think buying my cars taught me valuable lessons about saving and spending my money and being a responsible driver...
However I can think of friends in college who were handed everything and were still responsible and friends who had to work for everything and were irresponsible. So admittedly I'm not being fair.

The take home is that parenting is hard and I'm glad I'm not dealing with it yet.

 

When my son got his license he got his Grandfather's 97 Suzuki Sidekick, which I had bought from his Grandmother after he had passed. I thought it was a perfect first car. It was not fast at all, and if he incurred some minor damage, i.e. door dings and the like, we would not be overly concerned. And it had enough room to lug around his various sports equipment. But I agree that "nice car" is relative. Now that I have a MINI, and I had the where with all I wouldn't minded him having an older MINI. The great gas mileage, and the convenience of having a smaller car in a small school parking lot, plus the fact that it would probably get him through college and even beyond. Now he's going to end up with my Escape when he graduates this year and goes away as the Sidekick is to old with way to many miles. It will end up going to his younger brother when he gets his license.

 

.

 

Thank you for your post.
You and other young MINI owners on this board restore my faith in responsible teens.
It also makes me lean towards looking for a good buy on a used MINI for my sons.
Responsible or not, they're still not going to drive Little Wing!

 

The MINI does well in crash ratings "for it's size and in it's class." Unfortunately there aren't many other cars in the same class or the same size to compare it to. The fact is the MINI isn't really that safe compared to most other cars on the road. It's MINI. The argument is always that one is likely to avoid a crash better in a MINI than in an SUV BUT when you have that crash with an SUV or any other car it's always better to be in the other SUV and not in the MINI. Plus, since moving from an SUV to a MINI I have noticed people don't see me as easily and don't respect my smaller car. It seems as if they actually try to cut me off more now because I take up less of "their" space.

So yes, the MINI is very safe compared to a Mazda Miata, lol.

I don't care what other people eat, do or drive as long as they don't bother me while I am eating, doing or driving. That goes for their kids as well. Some people have more money to spend. Let them spend it on their kids. I would too if I had more money.

 

I'm a 20 year old that drives a Cooper S. There, I said it

I learned to drive on the MINI - I wanted to learn to drive manual first, and my dad agreed that that was a good idea. Though we tried, we couldn't get a manual Subaru Outback, so I did a bit of tooling around in out automatic iteration on and off, but I love driving the MINI. Not because I can outrun my friends in their cars, but because it is a true driver's car - it handles extremely well, it accelerates promptly but not out of control, and I feel like I am in tune with the car when I'm driving it. Am I a crazy teen that street races every night and likes to total cars? No. Am I a semi-responsible student driving a dream motorhead's car? Hell yes.

 

+1

I work to hard to pay for and mod my car to be wreck-less with it. I sold my handmedown truck and saved up a nice cash pile and bought my MINI when i was 19. I'm only 20 now, and yeah it hurt me pretty bad when the clutch/master cylinder/tires/battery/ went out at the same time, but i paid for it all myself, as well as my car note and still enjoy every second of motoring (except when it's breaking...).

 

The key there is that you financed the car. It's wrong of me to assume that anyone under 20 with a newish car received it as a gift from Mommy and Daddy.

Strong work earning the credit that would allow you to finance your car @ 20.

 

I bought my two boys a 7 year old Ford Ranger to share as teenagers. Standard cab, could only fit three kids inside. 4 cyl. engine, not to fast. They had to do all of the repairs. (I was still an auto mechanic at the time.) So they learned how to take care of it. Did not care about the dings that new drivers will get. Now they're 21 and 24 and they wish they still had that old truck.

 

...well I'm 19. I paid for 75% of the cash price--through savings from a part time job, and through what my scholarship provided. I was going to get a Honda Fit, which I could pay completely, but my mom (wisely) proclaimed it felt like a "tin can". So my parents paid the difference on the MINI--a bit of a graduation gift and also because with scholarships, they don't have to pay my tuition anymore.

...they pay my insurance, though (while I'm in school).

So, while I see it a lot, not everyone under 20 with a nice new car had it bought by their parents. But even if it was bought by their parents--I don't have any qualms as long as their youth is a responsible individual that understands the value and responsibility of owning and driving a vehicle. If the parents have the means, I don't see a problem.

...I have a problem with those that go around endangering others' lives by driving wrecklessly simply because they don't know the dangers of driving a vehicle, and because they don't appreciate the value of the vehicle they're driving, and the amount of work it takes to earn it.

 

um, what makes the mini different from other vehicles when it comes to buying them for kids??? ...it's not a 2 seater nor is it RWD, i see no harm in the mini. Seems kid friendly to me, i mean.. just look at that speedo

 

Was thinking of staying away from this thread lol, but I'm a 19 yr old who's parents helped me buy my mcs, as long as i had over a 3.5 gpa in my first year of school... But yea so far it has served me well, and I do really value the car, as it's my baby.

But on a side note, i showed my friend with a stage 2 sti this thread, he thought it was funny... He says "as long as a kid respects cars and understands how power should be used, and when, its okay...." (he was 18 when he got his STi

 

I don't think it would be my place to judge someone else on how they spend their money *or* on how they choose to raise their children.

 

Coming from a family with an official collection of vehicles (and being 17); I dont believe the vehicle has anything to do with the individual especially when they're in their teens.

If the teen doesn't like the MINI (common associations...) then letm walk.
Its only when the driver is ungrateful that Im against it.
Also; I don't like when teens go Fast&Furious, it the overconfidence I think.. (But I've seen my fair share of chalk lines and skid marks)

Just my view, at least right now =)

 

If the teen is a european car enthusiast and appreciates a great handling car then it's perfectly fine. It becomes bad when the teen sees cars as get me from A to B, doesn't care about taking care of it, or just doesn't have a good attitude. It just depends on the person.

 

We had a similar post of the BMW X3 board. Dad bought his daughter a nicely used X3. At first I was ready to pounce as I thought great spoiling the child. Then I looked at it from his perspective. My daughter is 5 going on 35 (so she is treated like an adult when it comes to working things out in a fair compromise) and will drive someday of course. I would want her in the safest vehicle possible, but I would want her to want to stay in the safest vehicle possible. So I could see getting her a mini if she contributed to buying the car and if she contributed to the insurance.

My rule is that I play the matching game when dealing with her, even now. She has to put in an equal precentage amount to her income towards something.

So when she gets older if she is making say 20k and I make 100k and the car is $10k then she has to put up 20% initially of the down payment. This way she feels the same financial crunch that I do, but we both get what we want. She a cool little car. Me, my daughter is something safe I know she will want to be in.

 

heh, I'm 19 and just picked up a Mini Cooper S, 03' plate, insurance isn't through the roof, about the same price as a lot of 1.2/1.4 cars for my age,

I'd say it's jealousy, if you can afford it, its your money? why not buy what makes you happy

 

my dad bought me a 08 cooper S when i was 18 to travel back and forth to school now im 20 and still have it in mint condition, better than me getting a mustang that would have been wrapped around a pole

 

I got my mini in march when I was 20. But Im paying for it monthly, my dad paid for it but im paying him back every month.

It wasnt new though. Its a 2006.

I dont see the problem with it. If its a base mini for around $23k its no diefferent than buying your kid a fully loaded civic or crappy base model accord 4 cyl. Now if its a freakin JCW model, then thats ridiculous. That would make me real jealous

This too. I am a huge european car enthusiast and the mini was my first choice. If the kid respects the car and is an enthusiast, then its 100% respectable even if its a damn M3. It all comes down to the kid driving it. If its a douche behind the wheel, then ram him off the road!

 

I'm 18 and I have a 2006 R53 JCW with slight (a couple) of modifications. My father gave one to me since he bought for both of us a 2007 Cooper S, but took it away from me. The deal was.... If you keep all A's in high school and through college (which im attending now) you can keep it, also, everyday you aren't doing a thing you gotta go work in your mom's office. And so I do. I keep up with my responsibilities I keep my mini. I love it and take care of it you have no idea. Now my father and I tend to go around in the minis and have fun.

 

Lucky bastard! I had the chance of getting a dark blue 2006 JCW at my dealer for only $20k but it was sold when we got there.

The JCW is my dream mini. (actually the GP is but oh well lol) Atleast I got a really nice cooper S.

 

I'm about to turn 18 in two months and I just got my first new car 5 days ago. It just so happens to be a '10 Mini Cooper Clubman. I drove my brother's old '01 Eclipse GT but since I am about to graduate, the folks decided I deserved a new car. I think they realized I was responsible enough since I drove the Eclipse for a year and a half and did not cause any trouble at all. The car was fast but I knew I had to be responsible and show my parents I can handle a car.

Now, with my Clubman, I really am taking care of it and appreciating the value. My parents are paying for now, but I have a scholarship paying off all of my tuition and fees + books so I will use my grant money to pay my parents off, then get a small job to pay the rest of the car.

Since I am going to college an hour from here, I needed a car with good mileage and other cars in the same class as the Mini just didn't offer that. I looked into Nissan Cubes, Mitsubishi Lancers, Kia Fortes and Soul's. None offered the mileage the Mini does, much less the style.

So now I have a new, reliable car that my parents feel extremely comfortable with and they don't have to worry about me driving an hour to school every day. Not to mention it's not as fast as the Eclipse, so my mom worries less Especially since all the worrying she does has caused some medical problems for her. I'm just glad I can reduce the stress by driving a safe car.

 

When I was in high school, my folks bought me a used VW Beetle for me to use when needed. I had a blast with it and it was a truly memorable car.

I bought an 03 Cooper for my daughter to use when she was 15 and taking Drivers Ed. She is signed up for a BMW club Car Control Clinic in April and will get a chance to explore the car (and her) limits in a safe controled environment.

I hope she will look back on the MINI as fondly as I did the Beetle..

 

And she did a good job driving on the superdawg run too!