I recently went to Europe (Germany, Holland and Belgium) on business and saw lots and lots of MINIs there but I did only see one single Cooper S. That one Cooper S was actually super tricked out, but I was curious, is the Cooper S just not very popular in Europe?

Herbert

www.GuerrillaComm.com

 

Did a Mini run through the Odenwald this weekend. Saw only a couple of Mini's that weren't MCS's -- out of 30 to 40 Mini's.

Plenty of them in Germany.

 

MINI is a pretty expensive car here by German standards. So, they tend to stick to the lower end. Also, gas is another factor. Gas in the US is 2.10 (very rough) per gallon. Here it is 2.10 per liter... (roughly 3.78 liters to a gallon).

So, Germans are a lot more thoughful about their purchase. 30K Euros for a car is pretty steep for a lot of Germans.

 

I've discussed this topic with my German Mini salesman some time ago. He said the Germans purchase Mini One's (Diesel and Gas) over MCS's at a rate of 10 to 1, whereas Americans purchase MCS's over regular Coopers at a rate of almost 20 to 1.

He said it's a cultural thing. The Germans grew up with the Autobahns and favor fuel economy over performance due to gas prices (over $5 a gallon). The Americans who are here with the military are in Germany a short time and prefer higher performance cars to take full advantage of higher speed limits and well maintained roadways. It also doesn't hurt that gas prices on military facilities (and at participating German gas stations) are more inline with stateside prices.

 

Thank goodness for that or I would be modless!

 

I never knew that the ratio of MCS to MC here were so high!