>>I was at a stop light on the way to work the other day, and the woman in the car next to me asked me if she could "Ask me a personal question." She proceeded to grill me about the MCS, what it costs, where it's made, etc. Then she picked up her cell phone and called somebody, and I heard her say "I just saw the car I want! It's called a MINI Cooper!"


** I love it ! **

About 2 weeks ago I was sitting at a light and facing me, going the other way was a couple and I could read her lips as she pointed at my car. She said "look at that" ! I was so proud! They realized I'd seen her point because I broke into a big smile so they then waved at me.


I got my Rear Fog lights today! I am very pleased with my dealership! However, when I drove up and got out the guy said "you have a ding" and Thinking he was joking I said "no I don't" and he said "yes you do" right there and he pointed right behind my driver's door !!!

In horror I could see I have a ding

I was in shock, they suggested a Paintless dent remover who will come to my office... bla,bla,bla... my head was swimming! A DING

I can own a Toyota for years and then a Honda for 3 years and never get scraped but own a MINI for a month and I have a scrape behind the drivers door, about 2 feet off the ground. Just tall enough for someone's big butt bumper. Like someone pulled in next to me and like totally missed their parking spot!

It didn't scratch the paint, just but a 2 inch indent where it grazed me. It left a dark grease mark (that wiped off ) ! The worst part is in the last 2 days I have run 3-4 errands each day for my manager. Going to deliver and picking up contracts both yesterday and this morning, I picked up a package at the post office this morning, I was down town in a 5 story parking garage yesterday, I went to the mall yesterday on my lunch hour ... hell, I've been all over town in all sorts of parking spots! I have NO Idea where I could have been hit!

I have been spending money like it's water and Christmas coming up so I have to wait to get this dent fixed.

I can't think about it any more. Makes my head hurt!

I'm going to watch some TV or perhaps read another chapter in my David Sedaris book, Me Talk Pretty One Day !!!

-- hey if you want a good fun book, get anything written by David Sedaris!!!
I was readying his Holiday on Ice and I nearly spit up my Dr Pepper trying to drink, read and laugh at the same time!!

 

Oh no! Pebbles, so sorry to hear about the dreaded ding. At least now we all know what to get you for the holidays :smile:

I too am going through money like water (and only some of it is on MINI stuff ) so I've have to wait until about february before I could get a ding fixed.

On the plus side, I bet it still drives like a dream. For me, its like I'm 17 again. Man I know I'm going to get in trouble with this thing... but it is so much fun!

Cheers all,

Chuck

 

Pebbles, my wife loves David Sedaris, have you read Holidays on Ice?

 

yes, I've read the Holidays on Ice and I'm giving it as a Christmas gift to the 8 members of my group at work!! I love him! It's really funny stuff!

I got more MINI gifts today! A pen, a journal, a driving game, and flash cards I can use to signal other people - like "hey sexy" ... It was nice to get something cute in the mail that is MINI oriented!

Thinking I was smart I parked at the end of a row, under a light when I got to work this morning - before dawn! This evening when I left I found a bird, sitting on the light had pooped on my car! OK , I won't do that again!!

 

snow snow and more snow.
YUCK!

o! i got more presents from miniusa.
man i love getting good mail from them!

 

:smile: :smile:

Yea ! Lo Mini got presents too! It's great!

We're all getting our MINI gifts !

 

all i got was the mug!

And btw, I LOOOOOOOVE David Sedaris and Holidays on Ice is the funniest book EVER! I laughed out loud in public sooo many times, I was so embarassed! Naked is also a very funny book. I've read it 3 times.

 

**UPDATE**

Went to the dealer closest to home and they need to schedule an appointment. BUT (everyone's got a big but), in the mean time, I I have since discovered what the volume problem on the NAV is (it isn't broken).

The volume of the NAV voice is directly proportional to the current volume of the radio. When the radio/CD player is cranked, the difference between soft and loud on the NAV woman's voice gets huge! That's the good news.

As for the MINI logo vanishing periodically, it still does that and I'll need to schedule an appointment to fix.

NEW PROBLEM: After midnight the clock goes haywire. Reads 0:06, then a few mintutes later reads 0:03! Somehow, it's all good when I get in every morning at 8:30am. WEIRD. Another thing to fix at the dealership.

But after my first 4 days of ownership, I'm very impressed. Spiffy car. I got bummed tonight when my friend pointed out a WRX sti to me and told me it was a 300hp Subaru that's 2 full seconds faster 0-60 than my S. Man, I would pay a lot of bread to get a smog legal 300hp out of my Cooper. Something tells me that kjust isn't going to happen though.

 

don't make that face kurtster! ( It's not the power in the horse but how you... well you know.

 

>>don't make that face kurtster! ( It's not the power in the horse but how you... well you know.


AMEN ! Spoonleg!!!

and there's the element that most smart drivers aren't too concerned with killing themselves on the road trying to drive like they are in a NASCAR race.

Your car's being 2 seconds slower or faster isn't how you measure your worth in the real world.

 

Pebbles:

Just dropped in to see how you guys are making out. I'm behind in a few pages of posts!

Dings are bad. So are windshield chips - which I seem to be prone to.

However - Are you having the time of your life, or what?

MINIrock On!

 

>>Pebbles:
>>
>>Just dropped in to see how you guys are making out. I'm behind in a few pages of posts!
>>
>>Dings are bad. So are windshield chips - which I seem to be prone to.
>>
>>However - Are you having the time of your life, or what?
>>
>>MINIrock On!


RYGOLD ! !
Thanks for stopping by ! !

How's your Baby "My Sharona" after one year???
I know she's great!!!

You started it all with your Original Can't Wait for November Club last year!
We have a wonderful group here in the 2nd Can't Wait 4 Nov Club!

and yes, I'm having the time of my life driving Mr Bridger!!

It's a wonderful life.
Everyone loves my MINI.
People wave at me, give the thumbs up, and neighbors I haven't talked to in years are stopping to talk . . .

 

>>don't make that face kurtster! ( It's not the power in the horse but how you... well you know.


Plus, the WRX has an exhaust tone like a flatulent ox. Even worse with an aftermarket exhaust!

My MCS just suffered it's first owie. Took a rock on the right side of the wind screen. Nice chip with a crack. Called the repair guy and now it's all better. Can hardly see where it was.
Jim

 

Pebbles: After one year the MINI is even better than when it was new. It just keeps being more fun, if that's possible!

I had a couple of warranty things (coolant tank replacement, a bolt in the rear end, and a soon-to-be-replaced steering joint of some sort) but nothing tragic or earth shattering.

And you're right about people waving - this thing just keeps putting smiles on everyone's faces. It's quite amazing!

I added rear stripes in the summer, and had the hood scoop painted black. I have a graphic image from an artist for some terrific black flames that start at the bottom of the doors and wrap around the rear quarter panel. I've yet to find a sign place that can do justice to the idea, so this might take a little longer than you'd expect.

I did tool around Toronto all summer with my number 23 on both doors. It was cool! Kids kept saying "look at the race car"!

So - will you and some of the other Nov Club 2 members be joining us atthe 2004 edition of the greatest MINI event, anywhere??

I hope so - you'll have a blast! New site launching for the '04 even soon. I'll keep you posted.

MOTORmore.....

 

Oh yeah, and I finally decided on new plates:

It took almost a year for me to decide, but My Sharona now sports her own special plates:

MINI ROX

 

Hey all,

Installed the H-Sport springs, lower control arms, and rear sway bar this weekend. It was fun and the whole job took about 6 hours (first time I ever tried doing something like this so you may fair a bit better).

The ride is actually a bit less choppy. Sometimes I felt like I was riding on solid rubber tires before but now it takes the small bumps a little easier. and wow, the car is way more nimble. I thought I was cornering before....

Unfortunately I'll only call it a qualified success as I am now getting a lot of noise from the back end. Sounds to me like the control arms are rubbing inside their mounting brackets (which were reasonably snug for the stock arms and very tight for the H-Sports). Anyone out there experience this?

Cheers,

Chuck

 

Chuck - go back and recheck the torque on all your hardware you touched - the rear subframe, shocks, and swaybar mounts. Congrats on your new toys - I told ya it would ride better! Also, check your rear camber, and make sure to crank down on the lower control arms after setting them. Hopefully you remembered to use ALL the supplied Energy Suspension grease with the swaybar and control arm bushings!

Miss Pebbles - sorry for your ding, that sucks, but it's good to hear the paint isn't toast, so it should be an easy fix.

I'm finally back from hosting my Pulley Party all weekend, what a ton of work. Randy was a blast as usual, and everyone had tons of fun. Oh yea, MM2 now has HUGE power Got the ALTA pulley and intake, Webb/Powerchips ECU, Denso IK22 sparkplugs, and the Pilo coil-pack. The engine is smoother, rev's way quicker, has tons of torque all over the map, and I better start a tire-budget fund, woah!

Cheers,
Ryan

 

>>Hey all,
>>
>>Installed the H-Sport springs, lower control arms, and rear sway bar this weekend. It was fun and the whole job took about 6 hours (first time I ever tried doing something like this so you may fair a bit better).
>>
>>The ride is actually a bit less choppy. Sometimes I felt like I was riding on solid rubber tires before but now it takes the small bumps a little easier. and wow, the car is way more nimble. I thought I was cornering before....
>>

>>Cheers,
>>
>>Chuck

Your comment about the ride with the H sports got my attention. Normally lowering springs result in a stiffer ride. That has certainly been my expereince with an Eagle Talon, 1st gen Miata and Protege5. The MINI's ride with aftermarket 17" wheels and 215/40 Falken 451's is stiff enough. Now if I could have improved handling without truly sacrificing ride comfort, well that would be having my cake and eating it to! ) Is it truly better than stock?

 

>>Chuck - go back and recheck the torque on all your hardware you touched - the rear subframe, shocks, and swaybar mounts. Congrats on your new toys - I told ya it would ride better! ).

Trav,
Call me crazy but I really do think that the ride is improved, at least when going over small bumps. To me it used to feel like the whoe car was very solid, sturdy if you will. Now, not only does the car feel more nimble, but going over the small bumps is much less jarring than it used to be. Granted if you hit a good lip in the road doing 70 then you'll definitely feel it. This is my first experience with aftermarket suspension on a car so I have nothing to compare it to except the stock set up. Thus far I'm totally pleased.


Chuck

 

For those of you keeping track of the exhaust conundrum, I was just out for a spin in Larry's (aka gosharks) MINI. I know I know, this thing has been beaten to death so I thought I'd post my small review here.

Larry has the UUC as well as 15% pully, EVOTECH ECU and Madness intake. UUC is louder than stock with good burble but by no means too loud. Below 4K the UUC is the dominant sound, above 4K it is the supercharger. Granted we didnt cruise on the freeway so I cant comment on drone but I was hesitant before; I am not now.

I'm eager to read the reviews of the Milltek when those units get shipped (big hint there Ryan) and I'll probably get the "quieter" of the two but right now I'd have no prob with the UUC.

Chuck

And man was that car fast. It was really sweet. I cant wait.

 

I probably have the dubious honor of being the last of the November club to take delivery of my MINI.

I ordered it from Moritz MINI in Texas on October 1st, with an estimated delivery of early to mid-December. This was just fine because I couldn't fly out of Seattle until Dec 11 to pick it up. As I was tracking the build process, it seemed like things were going faster than I expected. It came over on the Jingu Maru and Moritz called on Nov 17 to say it was ready!

It has been hell knowing my baby was sitting in Texas waiting for me and I couldn't do a thing. We've been looking forward to the road trip, so no way was I going to have it shipped.

Anyway, we fly out of Seattle early tomorrow morning and are taking a nice road trip home through New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington.

I've been following NAM since before I ordered the MINI and am really looking forward to a long lasting relationship with this car. This is a great site. Thanks for all of your insights.

Duncan

 

a pre-emptive Congrats to you Duncan, I hope you love every mile of your roadtrip back home!

I just turned over 2200 miles today. Newfound power meant I softened my front swaybar to counteract the added on-power understeer (tightening the rear swaybar is another option)

Motoring-On!,
Ryan

 

Got my body kit back from the painters last night. it is bew-t-ful. Cant wait to get the thing hooked up. Pics to follow. Have a good weekend all.

Chuck

 

>>I probably have the dubious honor of being the last of the November club to take delivery of my MINI.
>>

Congrats, Duncan! So everybody's graduated from the November club now? Any stragglers?

For the record, I'm at 1300 miles now, and everything's cool.

Ryephile, you're giving me mod-envy! Look, I'm green . . .

 

Wow this thread is loosing momentum. Guess we're all out motoring

Installed the aerokit and wheel arches last night; all body colour. Looks pretty sweet (I'll put up a pic tomorrow).

Dealer wanted 3200 for this setup therefore I bought it from CAC, had a buddy paint it and installed it myself. Total cost was about 50% of dealer cost (pats self on back) but it did take me about 6+ hours to for the full job (I tried saving all of the several thousand little plastic connectors, totally not worth it). I threw in the "+" because I'm not exactly done yet. My grille is currently held on with duct tape . For the life of me I can not get these self taping nuts to bite. Anyone have a good technique for making these little buggers work?

Thanks

Chuck

_________________
Motorin' ... right now!