Hey there,

I have a lovely mellow yellow (with black stripes) 07 convertible. My two little girls (almost 4 and 2) call it 'bumblebee'. Most of my friends thought I was nuts giving up my Honda Odyssey Touring for a mini convertible but I took the plunge and haven't looked back. I'm a Brit and apart from loving a car from my homeland, the climate here in LA just begs for top down driving. Have any other mums or dads moved to Top-Down Miniland with their little ones. I've seen plenty of hard top minis with little munchkins in the back, but not convertibles as yet. Our whole family loves the mini so for those of you who might be thinking of going convertible, here are our experiences.

Handy hints for top-down joy with little kids ...

• Car Seats - only forward facing for my two, both of whom ride in back. The Britax Marathon (to my surprise) fits if you squish it in under the headrests at the back, but little fingers were waaaay too close to the top mechanism. Our new Radian65 seats fit perfectly, the girls sit lower down, and when they are not in the car the seats blend well with the gray interior and look quite race-car like.
• Stroller - unless you want to put in in the front passenger seat (the Maclaren Volo fits fine there) then the only stroller I've found to fit in the boot is a Quinny Zapp. I'd love to hear if anyone else has found a stroller that will easily squeeze in there.
• Wind wind wind - little girls don't care for the wind factor if their hair is anywhere in the way. We keep two hats in the little elastic holders on the back of the seats. There is also space for a little toy for each of them
• Toss - my little scientists decided to see what happened if they threw their toy into the wind. We almost lost a couple of toys that way. It's a good idea to keep the toys soft and cheap, and if you have throwers, then attach their toys with pacifier clips to the carseat harness.
• Key Fob - disable the auto top down feature if you let your kids play with your keys
• Name - if you let your kids name your car, they accept it as part of the family and want to look after it; they like to call out it's name like a pet when we have forgotten our space in the parking lot (again ...), and they like to use lint rollers to clean the roof with me - very cute.
• Keep it slow - my girls are very little, we top-down at around 30mph on the beach roads and then sunroof open for anything faster. They are wrapped up and sunlotioned to the max whenever the top is down
• A place for everything - if my bumblebee is not strewn with toys and sippy cups then when my girls are home with their dad, I can hit the freeway top-down with the wind in my hair (I like the noise, it's part of the joy) and a great big smile on my face.

Hope I have been of help, if anyone else has little kid suggestions (school-age children are a whole new ballgame) then please let the rest of us motoring mums know about them

 

Bourbon in sippy cups helps 'em sleep.

jk

DEFINITELY sunglasses or goggles...
Lotsa dust and grit blowing around back there...

 

LMAO!

 

What do you mean by jk? It's a known fact.

I would get some of those green bee sting things where you break the glass to let the liquid out and rub it on the stinger. My daughter got nailed last year...

And I'm impressed your kids can get the fob to put the top down...I go nuts 1/2 the time trying to get mine to work.

 

Great Tips!! I have a 3 year old and and 18 month old, and they both love the Mini. We do have the family hauler in the Sienna and my daily driver is a corolla. Of all the cars, the 3 year old always insists on taking the mini, so now the Mini is my daily driver. And I'm not complaining.. They love the top down and enjoy the rush of accelerating onto freeway onramps. The joy of hearing your kids go "WEEEEEEE" as you floor it to get on the freeway is priceless. That and non of the other cars can make them go WEEEE..

Love the tips. My kids do have blankets in the back as well to keep them snug. We even drove the mini to do the trick or treating and I had a well bundled Eyore and Power ranger in the back..

Oh forgot.. Our new Mini is a 2007 PW convertible that we actually got for 2500 under MSRP... Now if only I can sneak some mods in without my Wife noticing..

-Mike

 

Welcome to the group Mike...

 

Reminds me of that great Rita Rudner line:

"Valium. What a wonderful, wonderful drug. then I realized that it was for me and not my kids..."

 

Great list.

 

Yep... you may have noticed an affinity for bourbon in my posts this week. It's the new wonder-drug.

 

The kids love riding in my '80 classic Cabrio. I went as far as to have four point belts put in back for our short weekend drives. We have four year old twin boys (who are already car nuts) who always want me to take them to or pick them up from school in the Mini so they can show their friends. My daughter (who is not quite 2) makes it part of her daily ritual to "drive" daddy's car after coming out to say goodbye with Mom.

As I am looking to get sell the classic I have thought about trying to get a new Mini Convertible as it would be a bit more livable daily driver that the kids (and I) could continue to have fun with. I might even be able to get all three in before too long.

 

A blanket definitely helps to extend the temperature range for top down. We have an electric one that plugs into the cigarette lighter. The rear does not get the benefit of heated seats, and the wind is much more turbulent back there.

 

That's actually not a bad idea... Where did you obtain a 12V DC electric blanket?

 

Mine is from MossMini. I stumbled on it while shopping for something else. However, I later discovered that they can be found for MUCH cheaper on eBay.

 

My 8 month old loves riding with the top down. He and my wife sit in the back and laugh at eachother for miles. It's quite fun.

 

I also have a MY convertible with black sport stripes my 10yr. old daughter named "Fish" 'cause it's the same color as Sunny, the Yellow Tang in my saltwater aquarium.

I picked up what possibly is the 1st '08 ragtop on Oct. 1st (see this thread: ) and we both love it. She loves the fact that when I pick her up (top down, of course) not only are we the only convertible in car line but often the only car and she semi-privately gloats as her classmates climb into minivans and SUV's.

I have Ev's windscreen (black w/ gray stitching to match the cloth seats and the anthracite surfaces) and it looks totally stock. My daughter doesn't mind the blocked off view, and with a ponytail holder and a MINI cap, she's happy as a clam. She also uses an 12v blanket when she's cool 'cause like RKW said, she doesn't have the heated seats. The blanket's pretty big. she sits on it and wraps it around herself , leaving her hands free to operate the seatbelt, and we're both comfy down to 47˙ under 55mph.

The idea of the bee sting treatment is excellent and I'll bee picking one up soon.

Happy Motoring!

Don

 

I pick up my three kids from school everyday and they love having the top down. As it is getting colder up here we don't have the top down anymore. My preschooler is picked up first and if I do not pick him up early enough, he falls asleep in the car. With the top down it is easy to pluck him out and carry him inside but now what?!? Has anyone struggled to reach into the back, unbuckle and pick up a little one?

 

They are not all that small any more, but my girls love to ride in the MINI sans top (with weather-appropriate coverage of course):

No bourbon allowed however. Single Malt Scotch on the other hand ... mmm!

 

How much for the little girl?

Your women - I want to buy them.

 

We want to dance with your dates.

 

That makes my back hurt just thinking about it! We had a similar situation with our old S10 Blazer when the kiddos were smaller. At least there was a higher roof in the blazer. Can you open the top, or will the noise from all the motors wake the little guy up?

 

Didn't even think of that, shows you how smart I am . I've just been waking him up. After I pick up the older kids, we go drive around the park so he gets a short nap in. Then I tickle him till he gets up. At first he's mad, then he asks me if we should go pick up the kids. Wait till he finds out he's a kid too!

 

I've had a few convertibles and my kids have loved them all. My 7 year old son has had a grin on his face ever since we brought our Mini home on Saturday.