My Dad comes over for dinner most Thursday evenings before heading off for his Elk's Club meeting. I had told him a couple of weeks ago that we had ordered our MC and that we were really excited. He seemed a little uncertain of what I was talking about and admitted to me last night that he didn't think he had ever seen one. So I, being an overly-excited future MINI owner, took him for a ride to the dealership. As we pulled into the lot I pointed out several MINIs in a variety of colors. Daddy wasn't all that impressed. He currently drives a 94 Camry which to him is a smallish car but he's crazy about it. Prior to that he always had a land yacht with all the trimmings. I could read his thoughts and they were saying, "What have my crazy daughter and her equally crazy husband done now?"

I told him he had to sit in one before he could even begin to appreciate it so we went inside. They had a nicely loaded BRG/B on the floor glistening under the showroom lights. The interior was awesome with two-toned leather seats set up with a nicely coordinated green as the 2nd color. The trim was silver and the whole thing looked like an airplane cockpit. He climbed into the sports seat and I slammed the door - that nice solid "thunk" you know. He looked around with an approving look on his face, nodding the whole time. I could tell the car had won him over. I began to gush about all the saftey features and all the extras that come with Cooper ownership; the warranties, the road service, etc., etc. He climbed out and stood back looking, this time with a much more positive attitude. I went over to talk to the manager and out of the corner of my eye I saw Daddy circling the car and then he climbed back inside and sat with his hands on the wheel. HEE!

Now I know my father would NEVER consider buying such a small car but the fact that he actually liked it says a lot for the appeal of the MINI. We didn't have time to take a drive - Elk's meeting you know - but he asked questions all the way back to my house and actually said that it looks like a really nice car. WOOHOO, this from an 80 year old man who for many years drove nothing smaller than a Mercury Grand Marquis.

Another plus to the story is that I found out from the dealer that my VR/W MC has just gone into production - YAY!!!

Laurie

 

:smile: :smile: :smile:

 

wait till he takes a ride in a MINI

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Hola Laurie... Thanks for sharing your story..

My mom drives a Honda. She also thought i was nuts when i got the car, but now she is seriously thinking on buying one, i gave her a ride the other day to her house and i saw her face change from 'i don't care' to 'wow'... the only thing that stops her from trading her big car is the fact that here in Mexico they don't sell the Mini with the CVT, she's not very used to drive manual transmission. She currently owns a big car as well... My mom is in her 60s even though she swears she's in her 40s =). I spoke to the BMW dealer and they don't plan on selling CVTs for the near future... too bad.

Greetings from Guadalajara Mexico

 

What a terrific story Laurie!
It's nice to have your Dad's support with your new car. He will really fall in love when he takes his first ride in it!