I've wanted a Mini Cooper since 2001. I was really excited for Mini when the brand was relaunched. Had a picture as my screen-saver on my PC for a long time, around that time. But it wasn't the right time for me to get one, and never did.

I've come close, several times throughout the years, but one thing or another got in the way. For one thing, I got married, had kids, and my wife and I moved into minivans, and not a mini cooper.

My son turned 16 several years ago, and he had no interest in driving. I tried really hard to get him excited, because driving and cars have brought me enjoyment my entire life and I wanted him to experience the joy and freedom that I knew he'd love. But kids having no interest, as I came to realize, is common across his generation. Cars just don't mean the same anymore. In any case, I took my son to a Mini Cooper dealer and said, "Let's get you something!" He yawned in disinterest, and so we left after a test drive. (By the way, about a year or so after this, he expressed massive regret, and he's told me several times since that he doesn't know what he was thinking and doesn't think he'll ever make peace with not having taken me up on the offer back then).

At one point, after that, I wanted to replace my BMW X5, which was my daily drive. I'd been in an accident, and the car just wasn't the same anymore and it had some things that really bugged me about it. I went so far as to place an order for a JCW Countryman, but when it came in, and I took my wife down to check it out, she just couldn't wrap her head around going from an X5 to the Mini Cooper, and so we left and some other lucky person was able to snag that JCW. I went and bought a new X5.

Recently, we've been shopping for a car for my daughter, and we've looked at everything. Almost any subcompact and midsized SUV was a candidate. We looked at Volvo, Honda, Hyundai, BMW, and finally I got my wife and daughter to the Mini dealer the other day. We placed an order for a '23 Mini Cooper Countryman S All4, and are now in a holding pattern until it comes in.

This car will primarily be my daughter's, but I'm going to share it with her and get rid of my own car, until my daughter heads off to college and I buy myself a new car.

It's finally going to happen....after wanting one for 21 years (maybe 22 by the time the Countryman gets here), I'll finally buy a Mini Cooper.

I love cars. I like big cars and small cars. Fast cars and slow cars. 2 door coupes, sedans, SUVs, pickups, and even minivans. I've had fun in all of them. I've owned an Aston Martin with an amazing naturally aspirated v12, I've owned motorcycles, 4 cylinder cars, 6 cylinders, and 8s. I love what Mini is about. And at the end of the day, it's 100% my interest in cars in general behind my want for this Mini.

I really want the Clubman, and eventually, I think I'll end up with one. At some point, if manual transmissions become available again before Mini goes all electric, I will order a JCW Clubman w/ a manual transmission, and I suspect that would be a car that I'd want to keep forever. (I've never wanted to keep a car forever. I've gotten tired and bored with everything I've ever owned, sold them off, and never regretted it once. Even that Aston Martin).

But it is funny - I've read so many disparaging comments about Mini Coopers. I've read that the Mini Cooper is the hands-down winner of cars that women think make men look the least attractive. While I like my wife liking how I look, I am way past caring how other women see me. But I found this comment very interesting.

I've heard comments on other car forums intended as insults, as people say things like, "I bet you drive a Mini Cooper!"

I've also heard all kinds of negative things about Mini Coopers. Car reviews savage them. But I understand that which these car reviewers are missing. You don't buy a mini because of it being the best ride, or most practical vehicle, any more than you buy it because it has the most room. You buy a mini for what a mini is And what it is either appeals to you, or it doesn't. But it makes no sense to compare a Mini to a Honda CRV, as an example, because while one may point out the ways that the CRV is better, at the end of the day the CRV is missing everything that makes a Mini Cooper a Mini Cooper.

I'm thrilled to finally have an order in that I'll be completing, and knowing that Mini Cooper has a longer-term plan to go Electric, I've no doubt this won't be my last new purchase combustion engine Mini Cooper while they can still be bought new.

 

It's such a cultural shift to me that kids these days don't care about driving. When I was young (90s), everyone got their license exactly on their birthday and were super excited about it. Now, kids are like 'eh'.
When I read car reviews, I find they can be useful, but you definitely need to read it carefully because docking points for "stiff ride" and "lack of room" totally invalidates the total score for me.

And it took me about... 15 or so years before I finally got my Mini.