There's been some nagging problems that got me to the point of selling my beloved Mini. I really do love my car at heart. Is there anything you Dr. Ruths out there can suggest to get the relationship back on track? A mod? Anything?

 

Rent a Crown vic for a week.

 

Don't know if this will help or not, but I can share my feelings after I sold my 05 S out of frustration. I became frustrated with my 05 S after I had her about a year. I hated the cold start issue, the rattles, and the bone-jarring suspension on run-flats.

One day I just had enough and sold her. For a year and a half I bemoaned getting rid of her. I continued my MC2 subscription, kept reading NAM and kept the configurator going. In the meantime, Liquid Yellow was discontinued!

I missed that MINI so much, and thought I had made a mistake selling her. Other child related issues were going on then in my life, and I knew my tolerance level for niggling quality issues was way low.

When the 07s came out, I researched all I could and liked the updates. And then when Oxygen Blue became available, I fell in LOVE. The universe aligned, and I was able to get Tawanda without selling my Honda Civic Coupe (I love that car!!). That helped ease my mind about not having rock solid transportation as I can't hop on my bicycle and get to work like I would want to

If there is any "moral" to this story, it's step back and put the niggling issues in perspective. Your cabrio is spectacular looking, and it is a real classic. In fact, I was at the Harold LeMay (he's the Tacoma, WA trash mogul who has the world's largest private collection of cars) once a year car show Saturday. I came away with an even deeper appreciation of the true uniqueness that is the MINI. Harold was a sincere car afficionado and his collection is mind boggling, spanning early Model Ts to muscle cars and everything in between.

I chatted with a gentleman at the show who had his 60-year-old Packard on the show field. The car had been IN HIS family the entire time. I thought, "I want to keep this MINI to hand down the line!"

Best wishes in your decision.

 

THAT is funny - and will work - but something slightly less painful would be to list your alternatives and their value: What's the financial impact of your decision? Sell and take a hit, keep and maintain, and what's "fun" worth?

The answer to that last one, by the way, is a debate that's raged for centuries...

Also, post or research some of the niggling issues, perhaps there are easy cures/fixes.

Check as well with your local Mini club - ours has a tremendous variety of folks, great technical knowledge, and a variety of interests from purely social to purely motorhead and a bunch in between... www.pittstopmini.org... stay tuned to that website for a great late October event that will combine hot laps, hanging out, contests, a dance, a car show... if THAT doesn't do it, check for a pulse...

 

Go autocrossing.

You will find love and joy again.

 

Or take a class with a driving school like Phil Wicks Driving Academy... you'll be hooked again.

 

i like to keep adding mods. little exterior ones i can do myself.
i love diy mods. i wouldnt have to do anything to still love my mini
but modding is just too fun. i tell my dad it's a hobby. he keeps telling me that it's just a waste of money. i disagree strongly.

 

Yeah, keep adding mods. And when you've done so many mods that you can't find anything on your MINI that's still stock... add another MINI to your stables and start modding that one !

Seriously... I think a relationship with a car, even one as fun and exhilerating as a MINI, is a lot like a loving relationship. It's going to have it's peaks and valleys. If you find ways to get through those low spots, you'll be glad you did when things improve again.

So, as simple as it might sound. Just be patient.

 

Okay, the Doctor is in. Start with a warm soapy bath, followed by a high quality hand wax job, that's right nice an slow don't rush, now it's time to dress those tires, now take her out, Starbucks (someplace) were you can sit back and watch all the common folk lust for the very thing you have. Oh' baby can you feel the love.....

 

Find the twistiest road in your area and go for a drive. Also, ditch the runflats if you think the ride is too harsh. Go to regular high performance tires.

 

As with love-affair rekindling in general, try some one (or, in this case, car) different. There will either be rekindling or re-awakening.

 

+1

If you still don't like it after some HPDE, then it is time to seek professional counseling.

 

Go find others who share the passion.



Do a rally


If there's any passion left, you will find it


Haha you might even find some gold at the end of your search


Photos from last Saturdays' c3(Cooper Club for Charities) Italian Job for Charity Run.

 

Unless you're willing to wait for the '09 R56 ragtops to show up, go test drive a new MCS. That might be what it'll take to get the juices flowing..

 

I was in the same boat as you. I dumped the MINI because we deemed it just too unreliable as my wife's daily driver. We reached a point I did not want her driving a car where it can go in limp mode on the highway or whatever. Spending time at the dealer was no fun.

OTH, we both love the car. I would buy another one is a minute IF they got their reliability act together. Fool me Once, shame on you ... etc. etc. etc.

IMO, when you hit the point you can't deal with it anymore, then you will dump it in a heartbeat. If your not there yet, then the "benefit" of keeping the car is more than the "cost" (e.g., trips to the dealership). As long as the cost/benefit ratio is good, your OK.

However ... if you do "have eyes for another" meaning a different car. Then game over.

 

Join the local Mini Club-thats the quikest fix. Always good people who love their cars. Ditch the run flats and maybe go to Koni FSD shocks- then find the curvey roads and show'em who's boss.

 

Alright, had decided just to put a little time and mods into my Alfie but then got the news that it would be yet another 2 days before I could get my tire and thus drive it again. Been 2 weeks that it has been sitting there not being able to be driven. I'm starting to have that wandering eye again and need a little love from NAM to keep the relationship together :(

 

Get some new tires! See if that doesn't pep things up!

 

My advice would be to give it a wash and wax. Nothing like going from mildly obsessed to maniac!

You almost think you're driving it for the first time. Pretend that everyone is staring at you with lust! <img><img><img>

 

It was washed well just a couple of weeks ago but I can't wash it with it up on a jack in the garage :(

 

My MINI shares space with a 97 police interceptor. Yes both cars are very different. And I guess each car makes me like the other one more. The vic is really solid, quiet, smooth while the MINI is go kart fun. They seem to balance each other out.

However, I feel like that was meant in a derogatory way and I take offense to that .

On the other hand I have had three MINIs. I usually get frustrated after a year or so with each one. Once you spend a significant amount of time in a different car you realize what makes the MINI so great. I would take the advice of others and maybe do some light modifications and definitely go on some rallys. They get you more into the MINI spirit.

 

Actually driving it helps a bunch. Finally got my tire in and got back in the saddle and I'm in love again. Gonna be posting a thread about some mods I'm considering too

 

One way is to get hit from behind and sandwiched into an SUV w/ enough force to push the front end in about a foot and a half and then spend over 3 months driving a Toyota Camry while the hard-to-get parts needed to basically rebuild the entire front and rear electrical system wiring filter in from God-knows-where. I'm now back behind the wheel of my '06 R53 full JCW, and boy, do I appreciate driving something besides a mush-mobile.

 

Go drive a Ford Festiva for a few days. You will be begging us to give you your Mini back.

 

wait for the tail pipe to cool and then......