Finally, after 5 weeks of ownership and too little driving (only 550 miles), the wife and i decided to leave the creature comforts of NYC and head to the snowy outreaches of Massachusetts. Great time, and I managed to finally up our MPG from a sorry 21 MPG to 26. Again, I'm still in break-in, so I can't ask for that much. Nevertheless, had a great weekend and caught up some good R&R. We've been loving "J'MINI Cricket" so much, and had been cooing over all the features. The heated seats were especially awesome in the 9 degree evenings.

On the way back today, I acquiesced and let the wife have a go. I'm a total control freak and was white knucling it the whole time, totally spazzing out over every turn. As much as I try and relax, she always seems to shift in a way that compells me to offer 'advice." She's a very good driver, just not so deft with a stick shift.

Alas, we were about 25 miles from home and stopped a light while she stalled (she's very nervous about putting it into reverse... I must admit that a better lockout could be devised, or at least a light on the speedo....). As she was in the process of rebooting... BAAAAM!

Who was the culprit? An R56! (MC, silver/silver) I stormed out to assess the damage. Looked like not much, if anything. (Of course, it was more about "are the cars OK" rather than are you OK...seems like a theme with MINI owners).

The guy admitted that he was fussing with his GPS. After pulling over and looking and determining that the damage was nothing more than a small impression from his license holder, I felt that calling the fuzz and getting insurance was not called for at this point, and I just said ****** it. People make mistakes and I might be that guy at some point... no need to be a jerk...

The thing that bugs me is that the MINI was a commercial one with commercial plates. You've seen the type: vinyl graphic advertising of some service. That's one thing I do not like about MINIs is their overuse as a commercial ad. I see it all the time: a Red Bull MINI, a Big Apple Circus MINI, Zip cars (a new type of co-op ownership in major cities). It definitely cheeses it up a bit for the rest of us.

Anyway, just wanted to share / vent / rant. Anyone else hit or been hit by a MINI?

 

No hits yet. Sorry to hear about it, however it doesn't sound like it was too bad. Glad No one was hurt.

 

wow, sorry to hear about that. At least both of you are ok. I would have taken down insurance info just in case you notice something later on, like if the hatch doesnt close right or something.

As for the commercial use of MINIs... i dont see them that often where i live, beside the redbull MINI but i think its kind of cool. It also give you even more reason to customize your MINI to how YOU like it. That way practically no two MINIs are exactly alike!

 

sorry to hear about that. i understand what you mean though, the first day i brought my new mini home the response i got out of some of my family was " oh thats the same car those red bull people drive". i know the red bull girls here where i live because i met them at Motor-tober but it still makes you want to say "ahhh their called mini's not the red bull car".

 

Sorry about your unfortunate incident. The name of your MINI ( "J'MINI Cricket" ) is MOST COOL!

 

Darn on board GPS!!!! Those things distract drivers as much as cell phones do.

 

Bummer! But glad to hear all parties including the MINIs are okay....

Donna

 

So sorry to hear this....does leave one w/ mixed feelings about gadgets. Clearly Sir Alec would disapprove.

Are you driving an R56 MCS? 26 mpg is normal?

 

26 mpg is terrible. I'm currently getting 33-34 in my MCS and it's an automatic. Does it have something to do with the extremely cold weather? I've noticed MINIs don't like the chill all that much... good thing I live in the south, even if it is 30F outside right now!

 

Unfortunately my bumper to bumper traffic reality is most likely the culprit.. but yes, I am now "up" to 26.2 MPH. The sad reality of living in NYC.

I

PS... Thanks DogDal24, for the comment about J'MINI Cricket. The name came about from a hard-fought debate. My wife loved "Cricket" but I thought it made no sense, since our MCS is Chili Red. Once I added "J'MINI" it all came together.

Here's a link to our blog to recount the details:
http://mslk.com/reactions/?p=440
http://mslk.com/reactions/?p=478

 

I see quite a bit of bumper to bumper on my daily 50 mile commute, but there are great stretches of highway in between where I can get that up above 40 at times. I'm seeing around 35 mpg in my MC stick..

 

Hi shokk, I think that the fact that I'm in a MCS could also be an issue. My avg speed on the computer read 12.1. After a 350 mile trip where I was doing mostly 75-80 the whole time, it only brought up my average to 19.1 MPH.

The very fact that you have a daily commute ensures that you'll be driving at a decent speed at least some of the time. I rarely use my car at all, and when i do it's during rush hour.

I think this means that I'd continue to see a steady increase in my MPG if I continue to go on longer trips. Since most of mine are local ones that are very short, I certainly skew the average.

I'm almost proud in a way that I must be the record holder of the lowest MPGs of anyone on this site.

 

Hey man, don't dis the Zipcars!!! I was a Zipcar user in Boston for a couple of years. It was a great way to test drive lots of different cars in real conditions (without a salesman next to you) and pretty much was the clincher in turning me on to the MINI. I had avoided the MINI zipcars even though I thought the car looked cool and on a whim one day, took one out for some errands and was completely sold on it. It was fun to toot around in, had adequate space for 99% of the errands I typically ran, could be parked virtually anywhere in Boston (a HUGE plus) and when we parked it, my wife (who is from the UK and whose parents drove around in a Mini when she was a small child) and I would always look back at it and smile. I had been leaning toward a Prius because of the fuel economy, but I drove a few Prius zipcars and realized you can't see a thing backing up or turning left and the steering is like jello.

I know a few others who've had a similar experience as well. Zipcar has made a lot of MINI converts. I do agree with you on the Red Bull MINIs though. I have an R53 MCS and my mileage was about 21 MPG with primarily city driving and a few trips up to the parents in VT and relatives in NYC. I think my average speed was like 18 MPH. In some ways, I probably should have gotten an MC instead, for the gas mileage. But I thought the R56 would be demonstrably better than the R53...