Oooops. I never heard of a woman naming there car a womans name before. Please forgive me.

 

No Worries!!

Another funny story about naming "Molly"...I actually did not name her, a coworker did...I was all hyped up on getting a MINI, I had downloaded the Configurator pic. and e-mailed it to my work. One of our Marketing people created a pic. for me to hang on my cube and also allowed me to have the pic. as my Wallpaper, I still have the pic. hanging up and it's still my Wallpaper as well.
Anyway, once I showed the pic. to our Receptionist she said "Good Golly Miss Molly" and that is how MS MOLY got her Name!!

 

Again, another great story. Thx

 

Of course I remember the day I picked up my MINI, but there is a large long back story leading up to it.... I believe it was fall of 2001 when I saw my first one. I live in Bishop California, which happens to be where BMW (and now MINI) comes twice a year to test there new models. I saw one drive by, and I thought that looks a lot like the (one) mini that had been living at a local body shop for over 20 years. I always wanted it, but he wouldn't sell. Anyway, over the next few days I saw two or three different ones going up and down the grade, around town, towing trailers etc. I was intrigued and decided to do a web search. Sure enough MINI USA popped up, and I immediately knew I had to have one.

Over the next few months I continued to find out what I could, and found a new website that was devoted to MINIs, Mini Cooper Online, (MCO) now NAM. The more I learned, the more I wanted one. But living where I do, the closest dealer was over 5 hours away. The summer of 2002 we went to Utah for vacation, nice and all, but I only wanted to go to the MINI dealer in Murray UT. On the second to last day of vacation my wish came true. I got to go to the dealer and take a test drive. Probably a mistake, but I'm sure I would make it again if I could. At this time almost all MINIs were custom ordered, there was a long wait to receive them, and California had a huge markup. Knowing this I put down a deposited, and got my order started. This was in July, I picked my MINI up on December 28th.

The whole time tracking its progress, it build, it's trip across the pond, etc. Murray Utah is 8-10 hours from Bishop, so my wife and I both worked a 1/2 day on Friday the 27th, then we drove to Wendover NV and spent the night. I don't think I slept much if any that night, too excited. We left bright and early in the morning and picked it up just after the dealer opened. It was in the center of the showroom, and it was exactly what I ordered, just perfect.

By the time we got home that night we had driven over 550 miles, almost two tanks of gas, over 9 hours and all types of road conditions. The whole time I'm pretty sure we had ear to ear grins.

That was the beginning, there have been many many more stories in the 294,000 miles we have put on it since then.

Nik

 

Your story is another great one on how we feel emotionally tied to our MINI's.
This is great to hear. I hope you get many more smiles and miles from your MINI. Thanks for sharing.

 

As for remembering when I met my wife. I do for sure, it was 56 years ago on a Saturday evening. 3 years later we were married and celebrated our 53rd anniversary on Tuesday, Jan 16th.

 

Thats awesome. Congrats.

 

While we're on this topic...

I remember how I introduced myself to her. I was bored one night, so I found a chatroom on Yahoo randomly, NOT trolling for women. Was mostly full of chat bots (they're a thing apparently), but I saw someone actually say something other than "Look at my cams!" I clicked, we chatted for a while, kept it up for a few months, then we eventually decided to meet. Sucked that she was 120 miles away, but I dealt with it.

We met about 7 1/2 years ago, were married about 3 1/2 years ago, and have a year and a half old son. We don't have a long story yet, but it is a story nonetheless.

 

Great story even if it has nothing to do with your MINI. But now the question is, is she jealous of your MINI. lol

 

My wife and I have shared her car for the last three years. Prior to that we had lived on the east coast and always had two cars, but when we moved to the Bay Area I was able to take the train to work and walk most places so I left my Saab on the east coast for my mom to drive. I'd always loved the idea of a convertible, and a couple years back (2010) I was actually here on the forums looking at getting a 2009 R57 but there was no real need to get one so I held off.

Just last month before Christmas we bought our first house, we spent the holidays unpacking and then with the new year it came time to go to work. The train station is a wee bit farther away from our house, and for some reason we had a mini cold snap that put us down in the low 30s and suddenly the idea of walking 2 miles to the train each morning wasn't really doing it for me - so I had my wife drop me off before her commute and pick me up after work each night.

By Wednesday night she told me I had to go buy a car

Thursday, I spent my time surfing cars.com while in meetings and negotiated a happy price via email with a dealer near my house on - what else - a 2009 R57 with only 26,000 miles. Thursday night I picked her up and Friday I was motoring to work with the top down in 38 degree weather

 

Thanks for sharing your story. I think it is amazing how we can remember the details.

 

Thank you for your wonderful story. Minis are great cars and your story just verifies it.

 

I remember it like it was today...because it is.

In late June I'd put my dream car - an E60 Black on Black 535xi into a telephone pole, while trying to dodge a deer. My insurance company cut me a check for a payoff, and I was off to find new wheels. I just got into a school that's 60 miles from home, and didn't want to move to the dorms, so I figured I'd pick up something that was good on gas. Six months ago, all the fuss was about the Elantra and getting over 40mpg. I drove a couple of different econo-boxes, and the Hyundai turned out to be the best of the litter, as far as the warranty goes. (I skipped the Jetta, but shouldn't have.)
27,000 miles later, I hate the Elantra with a fire-y passion. Every day I owned that car was the most miserable day of my life. Due to equity to loan amount ratio, I couldn't get out of it for another six months, or so, without a hefty down payment.

A week ago, I stopped by an Audi dealership, here in Maine, to ask after a gunmetal-gray A3 they had on the lot. My brother wants one, so we're scouting the market.
I got all the info I wanted, and was heading out the door, as I'd noticed their accessory display case had an A3-branded coffee mug. I figured it would be a good aspirational gift, and picked one up. The guy who ran my credit card for the mug was the finance manager. He and I got to talking, and I found out that my numbers weren't all that bleak-looking.
I still wanted something that got decent gas mileage, and noticed that there was a Mini on the lot. I asked after it, and he told me that it was one of two - there was an '07 Lib/W MCS with a premium package that just came in as a trade-in.
A couple of days worth of numbers-wranglin' and paper-shufflin', and I'm signed for everything, and just waiting on the service guys to get the recon done. Heading out to pick it up in about an hour.

I can't wait! :D

 

Congrats! Hope you enjoy it!

 

Welcome to the family of MINIacs! Enjoy the new ride!

 

Congrats! Hope you enjoy it!

 

Congrats, man! Good luck, hope it's every bit as fun for you as it should be.

 

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. Please keep them coming.

 

Any new stories out there?

 

When I first saw the MINI's in 2002, I knew right there I wanted one. Especially after watching the Italian Job (remake).

Shift the timeline by 4 years. I'm driving a 2004 Chevy Colorado, and decided to make the plunge. Bought a 2006 MCS RG/RG, on Dec 30th, 2006.

What an awesome feeling, driving her home after the purchase.

My 06 MCS is going to remain in our family, as long as I'm around. At some point, she won't be my primary driver. Just to save the wear and tear. (That's probably 2 or 3 years from now).

But right now, love having my MINI!

 

Ordered mine without a test drive and over the phone. It was the first 2008 at the dealer at that time. I showed up and it was prominently displayed outdoors for me, my family (and all passerbys) to see. The Pepper White was clean and shiney and unusual at that time. Everyone in the car said "whoa"! Below are the 5 year old pictures from that day in 2008.

 

Oh, and then there was my 2012 (I still have the 2008). Equally as good a feeling! Indoors...different dealer at other end of the state....different color....Mini test drive day last year.....and a 3 1/2 hour drive home. Doesn't get better than that!

 

When I bought my first one I showed up at the dealership in Charleston in my Dodge Ram Quadcab, having NEVER driven a small car before. Took a test drive, and fell in love immediately. It was a MC just a, pure silver all over, and an absolute blast to drive. Now I've graduated to a Clubman S, and still feel the joy every time I put it in gear.

 

What a neat thread!

My story. I was in the market for a new car. Mini was my first choice. I was looking every day at Carmax to see what they had. Well a new listing came up and they only had one out of focus picture from far away. It seemed that it had all the stuff I wanted so I printed it out along with a second one. We went to one of the locations and the second one I had printed was in the wait to test drive isle. I was able to talk them in to letting me drive it to see how it was and it was great! I knew then that I was getting a Mini hands down. I pulled the paper out for my Mini and asked him how long could it be before they could have it transferred. Well he called and found out that one of the sales managers at the other location had it signed off the lot. Signed off the lot for a month! Well he was able to get it to the location and I went to go see it. One of a kind with the stripes and the roof graphics! I was walking around the car and then I saw it. JCW tail pipes! Could it be? Popped the bonnet and sure enough it had the JCW plate. it was not even on the description! Needless to say we were signing the papers within an hour! That was 7 years ago. This week it has moved on to a new home and I can continue with my new (new to me) Mini.

 

yeppers I remember, 31 Dec 2012, I had test driven several different mfgs in the last few months prior, trying to pin down my next car. I really wanted to drive a Countryman All4 but just never had the time to. Then one day I showed up at work and my boss was surprised to see me as he had given me the day off. Hell yeah, time to finally test drive a Mini! So I made the trip south from Cheyenne to Loveland Mini to see what it's like. I was actually pretty excited and arrived before the doors opened as I looked over inventory. Now, everyone here is probably aware of how Mini dealerships look/operate. Not me, I was swept off my feet with service. granted I was the only one walking in the door as soon as it opened, but still. The test drives were a blast, snow on the ground and the salesman told me (basically) to drive it like you stole it. Search was over, it was love on the first curve. I took the Black/Black Countryman All4S manual, that I first drove. I named him George