jealousy not having a MINI does that too.

 

And they go on and on as to variables - which pretty much makes drawing any real conclusions from the data (by the way, I know what you mean but 'emperical' does not seem to be a word) more then iffy. I think it says more about the survey, how they chose to classify and define things, and who they asked more then then providing any general info that could be universally applied to a type of car or car buyer

 

Shouldn't you be detailing ur car about now?

 

How, in the w*o*r*l*d did I manage to miss that funny quip ??

Let's see now... the answers would be: no, yes, and yes.

I also like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape. But I'm not much into champagne nor do I like getting caught in the rain.

So, what do you say ? Are you the lady I've looked for ? Would you like to come with me and escape ??

 

That profile may be statistically valid in the San Fransisco area, but it's just about opposite to me.

I love my MINI. To me, a typical small car is just a beater...an appliance. (I'm probably gonna get one due to my new commute, but it certainly won't be a treasured possession like my MINI.)

Rawhyde

 

so it doesn't look at causes, just what tends to line up. Is it a big surprise that people with smaller budgets buy smaller cars? Or that eco-freaks like me don't by a F350 dually for daily commutes?

As far as the Mini not fitting a niche, I think thats just us Mini owners blowing our own horn. You can buy cars of the same size with close to the same performace, style or economy (sorry, that's just how I see it). Sure the brands bridges more than one car class, that's what option levels are for. Oh, damn, I forgot again that the new Mini has completely redefined the modern automobile. Silly me!

It would be interesting if they'd put "blind brand loyalty" into the study to see what that correlated with!

Matt

 

why im already done.

 

Blind brand loyalty you say?

For me that'd be BMW, MINI, Rolex, Maglite, Beretta, Horizon (milk), Coca-Cola, and Chevrolet (if and only if produced prior to 1973)

Why? Because I have consistently had more good experiences than bad with those brands.

Rawhyde

 

and here's the problem....
"The p^2 value of the final model is 0.177, indicating that the model explains 17.7% of the information in the data."

 

I knew someone would read and translate all that ANOVA mumble jumbo since it was like 30 years since I've had that class!

Thanks Dr. O!

 

Fit the profile? I really fit no profile. We live on 10 acres two miles from a big shopping mall. I used to train horses in Colorado. I hate city life, love my own space and driving anywhere anytime I want. My husband and I are each full time artists. We drive a Chevy conversion van all over the country. He has a Masters degree, I have two year degree. I like city night life, hate traffic, waiting in lines, crowds, and noise. I love gardening, koi ponds, sunny days and driving (oh, did I already mention that). I am environmentally aware, but, I love to drive (there I go again). We have several vehicles to choose from. The MINI would have the best mileage if I were to drive it like a "normal" person - oh yeah, I like to DRIVE. Just replaced my AWD Astro van. I tried to go with a good gas mileage car (Scion xB), REALLY boring to drive. I deceided on a '04 Turbo Lite PT Cruiser, not such good mileage - but, regular gas unless I re-chip it for more horsepower. Another small car though. I've already started to "youify" it. Bought a hotrod flame-painted hood off eBay. Great, now I have two (small) cars to modify and DRIVE!!! I love my MCS!!

 

i am a loner. so that i agree. the rest i can't friggin understand.

 

Matt I'm pleased to see that you are beyond the whole Minis are better thing. By the way have you passed the 10K mark in mods on your Mini yet?

 

Chows I know just what you are trying to say. You are trying to say that you know what 160K people were thinking when they bought their Mini and that you know their demographic profile. Unless you did your own survey how would you know?

I think you are missing my point that many people I meet who are not car people let me know how much they want a Mini because it is different. They are not on a forum but they are enthusiastic about the Mini. Minis are not rare in my area but mine still gets attention and it is because of the cache that Mini has built up that other small cars don't have. I haven't seen other small cars with the same kind of enthusiast following that crosses all boundries as with the Mini.

As far as the survey:

People aren't paying 10K more for a Mini over other small cars if they are low income.

The Mini is made by BMW and is expensive, wouldn't that tend to appeal to status seekers?

The Mini handles well, and much better than other small cars, wouldn't that indicate that people who buy it enjoy personal vehicle travel?

As far as the other items in the survey I think you would have to do a survey of Mini owners to determine what the profile is otherwise you are just guessing.

People I meet with Minis have all kinds of jobs and work habits and are all ages. I do see a lot of woman driving Minis, but I haven't seen a survey on the percentage. I see a lot of Minis in San Francisco which has high density housing. I don't know if they environmentalists or just like being able to park?

 

I am not defending nor the article nor do I even know if MINIs were involved. No, I dont know what the other 130K people are thinking. Maybe JD powers knows? Just curious to see if people think they fit in that survey ... that is all.

I get it. Yes, I always got comments (just not from teenage girls). The question then becomes ... would they buy one?

I dont understand this one. Who is paying 10K over MSRP. CA? Or do you mean $24K car vs $14K car?

I have no idea if rich ppl buy MINIs. But I think there are more MC vs MCS on the road. http://www.gbmini.net/wp/mini_sales/ by a small bit. While there are a lot of MC owners on NAM, it seems like there are more "active" MCS owners ... more into power. The average car sold in the US in 2005 (dont see 2006 numbers yet) was about $28K. That places the MC & MCS into the low end to average price range.

But the article is a generalization. Dunno if MINI was even part of the survey

Well, BMW is a status symbol ... used to be for the DINKs (Double Income No Kids). But I dunno. Seems like there is more emphasis on it being a Brit car with British heritage (and associated British car problems) more than BMW.

FIAT, I think, owns Ferrari. VW owns Lambo and Skada. Would you buy a Fiat thinking your getting Ferrari status or a Skada or VW thinking your getting a Lambo?

But, that is an excellent question. Maybe one that should be asked!!! Does that fact that BMW owns the MINI brand influence your decision in buying a MINI? Excellent question I know for me it did not. My wife just said "Its cute, I want it, buy it"

Thats a leading question using an attribute to make a conclusion. We would have to ask that.

I'm not defending the article, I was just curious if ppl think they fell into the general conclusions.

 

In the beginning you stated:

"So what you think? In general ... not anyone individual but general statistics of all 150K or so MINI owners in the US, is this representative?"

Which is asking what all the other Mini owners are thinking, which we can't really know unless we do a survey.

Of course it is fair to ask people where they fit or about what they have observed.

In the case of my teenage niece her father is expected to buy the Mini next year when she gets her drivers license. I am presuming the same is true for the other teenage girls in the town where I live.

I am talking about the Mini costing 10K more than other small cars. I had a friend who sold his Mini after having problems and got a Scion for 10K less. He wasn't a Mini person.

I am talking about Minis being expensive for a small car. You can get many other small cars for a lot less.

Many people ask me, isn't Mini owned by BMW? It seems to be important. The Mini has some traits common with other BMWs, like build quality and sporting ride. People relate to that.

People are aware that the Mini handles. They mention it all the time when asking me about my Mini. People who buy other small cars don't seem to care about handling from what I have noticed. People who care about handling are people who like to drive.

 

Fair enough

 

But sadly, I've passed $10k long ago......

If you read the paper in it's gory details, it's not very conclusive. The model is statistically significant when compared to no model (encouraging, but not very) but really is just an existance proof that adding more variables to the model accounts for more data (which is pretty much always the case if you don't choose stupid variables). The main point was that inclusion of some of these "Softer" metrics increases accuracy greatly.

But in reading about the drivers in SF, they really should have had a question for parking convienience. My Mini is the easiest motor vehicle I've ever parked in SF, short of a motor cycle. There are many examples of yuppies getting very small vehicles (there are some funky three wheelers running around SF now) just because of the hassle of city driving and parking. This would bias all classes to more small cars in the city, something I actually think happens! but without more data, it's just a hunch...


Matt

ps, it's always fun to look at how we as individuals map onto the "model car owners" decribed in articles like this. Here's one for you to do! How different are you than a 22 year old Chinese girl? I think by numbers, that the "average person" on the planet.