I remember two things very clearly about the day I got my MINI (Late March, 2003).
1) I was very happy.
2) Driving it home, about halfway home from Towson, MD to York, PA, it rained as
hard as I've ever driven in rain before. What a deluge!! (I was still very happy, though).

 

Well my first initial reaction for the MINI wasn't pleasant because I was used to the muscle cars. I had a Dodge Stealth R/T TT as my first car, was a beauty. Engine started to give me problems so I began to shop around, driven a 05' Mustang GT for a little bit while I was shopping around. Didn't like the 08' GTI much, but then my father at that time, decided to put me in a MINI. At first my glance at it was, "Really? I thought this was a girl's car?". After I finally GAVE UP, I decided to give it a try. I drove the 08' Justa for about three years and I ended up loving the car. I never realized MINI was more than just a car, it was a tradition. I literally joined forums, and met people along the way that knew more about the MINI then I did. After the lease was up on the Justa, I was stuck driving a Mitsubishi Outlander for about 7 months while I was shopping for my next car. At that point, I had narrowed it down to an 11' Mustang, 11' MINI Cooper S(LOVED THE TURBO), and 11' Hyundai Genesis 2.0t. I indeed test drove all of them, but I felt so justified with the MINI knowing the history of the car and what it can do. Plus...the chicks dig it. But the best part of this MINI that I'm driving now is that I picked the color scheme and what I wanted as my options. After so many manuals in my past, I wanted an automatic for change, additionally also when I'm in traffic. Eventually, when I get another MINI(JCW), I will go manual. But for now, I'm SOOOO happy.

MOTOR ON!

 

Another great story.

 

I'm thinking about the day we got our second. I don't remember much about that day either. What I do remember is the lead up to it, and the day after. What I remember about the day is getting onto the freeway (237, just around the corner from the dealer) and flooring it just for the hell of it (it was Cooper-S). Running it up to red line in 1st and 2nd, leaving the wife behind in the Cooper. Break in? oops! I was listening to my new MINI mix on the iPod, some Dusty Springfield from the swinging 60s.

The second MINI was more "my" MINI than the first which was "our" MINI. To solve the arguments about who got to drive the MINI that day, we decided to get a second one. We got a Cooper-S, we didn't need the S. The colour was my idea, I added options we didn't really need, like the LSD. I named him (Quentin) and I ordered his plate before he arrived (Q22 MINI). I obsessed about tracking him from the factory.

The day after was a Saturday, and me, the wife and my Dad who was out visiting from Britain piled in the new MINI to go to a BBQ with people from the owner's lounge. (One of Ozone's for those who remember back then.) I took lots of photos of the people I only knew by their online handles. Among the photos was one of my Dad, it was the last known photo taken of my Dad. He left for Britain soon after only to slip and fall at home and he died a few weeks after that. I've got the photo to help remember him, photos of dad were quite rare, he was usually the one behind the camera.

 

WOW. Thats a story. I am very sorry for your loss. I hope with the memories and the pictures of that day, you keep Quentin.

 

Took a train with one of my sons (he was 11 at the time) from Harrisburg into the Philadelphia area; MA picked me up and drove to MINI of the Main Line. Had a great drive back to Harrisburg. I was excited; my son was more so! He probably had visions of getting the car some day. I ended up selling it about four years later. Now I'm waiting for my second one (a Coupe) to arrive.

 

Well thats a great story too. Seems to be a lot of father and son memories. Keep us posted on the new MINI story.

 

It was February of last year (strange to say that already) and my wife had this god awful Malibu that we both just hated. Things kept breaking at 60,000 miles (did brakes 3 times on that car between 30-60k, shocks died more than once, ball joints cost over $700 to fix and $400 in parts for the stupid things-wouldn't have saved much doing it myself), steering was dead and lifeless, overpowered and hard to control in winter, the interior looked like it had come from Wal Mart, AND it was rusting. At 6 years old. So we brought it to Mini to see what they could do about a payment on a Clubman. It's about $20 more than what she was paying monthly on the Malibu, but the terrible gas mileage that thing got more than made up for it. She was terrified at first (she test drive it with 7 miles on it) and wasn't a fan of the color, but when she drove it, she got over that fairly quickly. And the color has grown on her. I remember her reacting to the exhaust note and the LED lights and literally saying "Squee!" At that moment, I knew the Malibu was gone. :D

 

MINI's have that effect on us. Glad it worked out for you.

 

I live in Maine too, and my story actually starts with a wonderful introduction to the Mini. I'm a sales rep for a security company and was visiting a new customer in Bar Harbor Maine. I was driving a heavily modified FJ Cruiser at the time. The customer had a BRG Mini sitting in the driveway and I always loved the look of the cars. He commented that he was looking to pick up an FJ and wanted to see the interior. I told him I always wanted to see the inside of a Cooper as I was curious if I would fit, I'm 6'5".

He sat in my FJ and I sat in his Mini...I was hooked! That afternoon I arrived home and began searching for my Mini. I found a dealership in Westbrook Maine that had numerous preowned Minis. I travelled down to the dealership to be onsite when they opened their doors. I drove three or four standard Minis and really loved the way the cars drove. Then I spotted the S. Electric blue with black roof, grille, mirrors and wheels.

I took it for a drive and fell in love with the supercharger whine, engine note and increased power. I found out after driving it that it has a K&N CAI, supercharger pulley and exhaust mods. I negotiated a trade and took ownership of my new Mini Cooper S. The dealer was dynamite, Bill Dodge in Westbrook Maine. It was an October day with clear blue skies and mid 70's and I smiled the whole way home. That night at about 2 in the morning I had to go back out and take it for a quick spin. I felt like a kid at Christmas!

Matt

 

Great story again. Lets keep them coming

 

I am currently driving my favorite MINI, a 2012 JCW Coupe....love this car! But of course, my first one was my favorite story.....back in 02 most dealers here in LA were charging over MSRP. So I saw that Westchester MINI in New York was strictly MSRP and ordered an 03 MCS. Indi Blue with a white roof. Small digression: my first car was an 850 Mini my mother paid 200 dollars for back in 71 when I was 17....also blue with a white roof.
So I flew to NY, landed at JFK with three hours till the dealer closed, and the van I had arranged didn't show up. Finally got in another van full of commuters, made it to the dealer with 30 minutes to spare. It was raining, and after an easy drop-off-check-sign-everything, I drove my new car to the motel a mile away....came out the next morning and it was covered in wet leaves from the tree I had parked under......I jumped on the Interstate, passing over the Tappan Zee Bridge into New Jersey, and was off on what I called the Interstate Imperative.....had to be back in LA in a week. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, I40 all the way across.....what a great way to bond with my first MINI.......
Great memories of an adventure I would not otherwise have had.....

Bruce in Santa Monica

 

Great story Bruce. Thx for sharing

 

Anymore?

 

Lots of new owners joining, so how about some more stories.

 

With all you new members, lets here your stories.

 

My story starts back in May 2010. That is when my wife took delivery of her new 2010 Horizon Blue MCS that we special ordered.



Unfortunately, she was going out of town for a week and the car was staying home. Well, I took advantage of that situation. I found out just how much these cars really are.My everyday driver was of a somewhat different nature. I was cruising around in my 2006 HUMMER H3.



Don't get me wrong, I really liked the HUMMER. I put about $5K into upgrading it. It was a very nice vehicle. Well, the time came around to find something that was a lot better on fuel since the price for fule was rising. So, on April 2 of last year, I started looking for a MINI of my own. I came across a nicely equipped 2009 Astro Black Metallic MCS, 6-spd, Rooster Red Colorline interior, and several other upgrades.





Needless to say, by 8pm, a trade was done and I was headed home in my MINI. Of course, me being the kind of car guy I am, I cannot leave anything the way I got it. I immediately started making plans to modify it. A little carbon fiber here; a little carbon fiber there. Deleting the chrome and upgrading the MINI from front to rear, inside out and underneath. It is still a work in progress.

 

Awesome. The horizon blue one looks real nice and the black one looks sinister. Good luck with them.

 

Thanks Braminator.

 

No, thank you for sharing the story and showing off your beautiful MINI's.

 

My MINI Love Story started by test driving "all" of those "other" cars...we test drove a Nissan Cube, Mazda 3 (which might have come home), did not test drive a Honda Civic, or a Scion TC...I did not fit in either one of those...I'm 5'8" and my head hit the roof on both of those...no reason to test drive.
Anyway, as we were looking at one dealer who had a very nice Crossfire hugely discounted, we both sat in it and thought maybe...then the Salesman had us look at a Mini (2006)...we both looked at eachother and knew we should research and look into Mini's a bit further, this one did not come home however.
Fast forward a couple of months and the Portland Auto Show comes to town...you know what those hold, right?? Lots and lots of...OH...come and look at me, I'm pretty and shiny and I "might" be what you are looking for!!
Well, we found the MINIs tucked away in a room...not on the main floor...all it took was opening the door, seeing how much room was inside, sitting in it and feeling this rush of excitement come over both of us!! That was Feb. 5th, 2008, we test drove a MINI on Feb. 12th, 2008, our Salesperson took us into the hills of Portland, it was a wintery day 9" of snow on the ground and we were in the hills, driving on snow...the car handled flawlessly...I think our Salesperson was a bit nervous being in the back seat during our test drive, but when we got back to the Dealership he got out shook my hand and said..."thank you for being such a skilled driver"...no joke.
So from Feb. 5th to Feb. 12th, Seeing and Test Driving...you know what has to come next??!! YEP...we ordered Molly on my 45th Birthday Feb. 19th, 2008!!
Eight LONG weeks of waiting and we took Delivery April 19, 2008!! I remember that day like it was yesterday, Rasmussen MINI had a garage where deliveries were done, our Salesperson and I sat in Molly, we went over all the "options" he handed me the keys...WOW!! As I was getting ready to leave the garage I was adjusting my Mirrors and hit the PowerFold Mirror Button a bit to much and "in" they came...I "freaked", I knew I had them, but had no clue how to un-fold them, I finally figured it out, but man was that a Heart stopper!!
Next weekend the Auto Show is back in town and I get to re-live those memories all over again!!

 

This is a great story. I love how you remember it so well. I guess our love for our cars makes it easy to remember. Do you remember the day you met your wife like you do Molly? LOL

 

Our story is kinda interesting (at least I hope so). We sold our C5 Corvette as we wanted a smaller sporty car to tow behind our new, class B motorhome. We live in iowa and drove all the way to Chicago to buy a 2008 mcs at a Mazda dealer. I had spent significant time on the phone with the Mazda dealership sales person. I had her check the car out for scratches, door dings, wheel scrapes, etc, etc. After all this, she assured me the car was perfect with no scrapes, dents or scratches. We took off and drove the 250 miles to the dealership and about a block before we got there, we passed a Mini dealership and didn't even notice it. When we got to the Mazda place, we found the car was totally mis-represented as the front bumper had 2 tears and the hood looked like someone had been break/brake (?) dancing on it for a year or so. Obviously, we were rather disappointed and angry at these folks for the misrepresentation of the car.
As we were beating a quick exit to our car, we saw the Mini Dealer just down the road. We drove directly there, found our chili red mcs and purchased it with a year left on the 5 year service plan, no dents/dings, highly optioned with 43,000 miles and have never looked back. Our 1 owner car was originally purchased from this dealership and all scheduled maintenance was properly performed on time at their facility. We've had the car about 15 months and it's been GREAT. The service required during our ownership has been covered by the maintenance plan and a couple of small items needing attention were also covered. More that once, we've thought back and agreed how fortunate we were that the original mini we went to look at was not what we expected and we found our car a few minutes later.

 

Thank you for sharing another great story. I bet you remember it like it was yesterday.

 

You mean "my Husband"!! Absolutely, he will never live this down either 'cause he almost missed out. We had planned to meet at a local Restaurant, he was 15min. late and as I was walking out...he was walking in...lucky for him...I STAYED!! Almost 13yrs later he still hears about it every once in a while, in a GOOD way!!