My first car 20 yrs ago was a Fiat 128. I remember after a couple beers two guys picked up the back end of it and swung it around. Would it be possible for 10 guys to pick up a mini and put it in a truck and take off with it?

 

I had a 128. Part of the reason it was a great ride is because it was light. The MINI is too heavy for its size. There is no way a car with this small of a footprint should be anywhere near 3000lbs.

 

>>I had a 128. Part of the reason it was a great ride is because it was light. The MINI is too heavy for its size. There is no way a car with this small of a footprint should be anywhere near 3000lbs.


Dittos, that's why it can take on SUVs

Six airbags and enough steel to get a 4 out 5 JC Powers rating didn't come without a cost.

 

I heard from a service guy the reason this car does weigh as much as i does, is to incorporate the needed safety features.. to make this a safe car ina world where suvs are increasing in numbers.. I doubt a fiat 128 woud stand to anythign close to what a mini can.. and I've seen that ability first hand.

 

I also had a 128. It was a neat car until the first time I needed a part. There's a good reason why Fiat's aren't sold in this country anymore. My wife had an Opel Rally Kadett. After some, "friends" picked up the back end there were dents above the rear wheel openings. Don't ever let your car be picked up by the body. :???:


R.E.

 

 

I'd never defend the reliability of a Fiat, but I had a couple of 128 Spiders as well that ran well because a) I was a kid and didn't mind being under the hood every day, and b) when non-Fiat aftermarket parts became available, I would buy them. There were actually several quality Japanese aftermarket parts for the Spider in the mid eighties.

I bought the MINI knowing that JD Power said that is was a crap car. I figured I'd just stay on top of it and hope for the best because I really wanted an MCS.

 

I did a quick web search and found that the Fiat 128 weighed 1770 lbs.

 

As I have said before, JD Powers and Consumer Reports would not know fun if it jumped out of a reliable Toyota Camry and bit them on the a$$ ! ! !

I've had almost 19k miles with nothing other than a replaced coolant tank, a cracked windshield that remains unfixed due to MINI-USA's "Pin Test" conspiracy theory, and an incredibly slow oil leak that lets my MINI mark its territory like a proper British automobile should.

I'm positive I am going to want to be driving a MINI for a long time. I will simply extend the warranty or get a shiny new 2005 model (assuming that 10 football players don't pick it up and walk away with it first)

 

>>but I had a couple of 128 Spiders ...

I believe you may have had a couple of 124 Spiders...

(unless that thing I keep in the garage has been a 128 all this time...)

 

I learned to drive on a Fiat 128 - my dad's - and it was simply what I drove for the first 4 years of life behind the wheel. I loved that car despite its tendency to shed parts at an alarming rate. Frankly, the 128 driving experience is probably what disposes me to loving small cars like the MINI.

But back to the original point... Yes, I suppose that 10 guys could pick up a MINI (or at least one end as was originally proposed). Heck, fewer than that could lift one end ofa 128. In fact, i seem to recall about 6 of us in high school getting the whole damn thing off the ground (briefly...and then we were afraid the bumpers would fall off. A valid fear with that car.). So, what's your point? Is it about the lightness of the MINI -- which as has been discussed, isn't so light for a car that small; or is it about how easy it would be to steal a MINI by literally carrying it away? Remember, even if you have the car, you can't start it without the chip-encoded key. Yeah, I'm sure that some professional could find a way around that eventually...but certainly not 10 drunken frat boys.

_________________

Bring Out the Scoops!

 

What is it about MINI owners?

The first car I owned--and the first stick I drove--was a '72 FIAT 128! Fix It Again, Tony! Over the course of about two and a half years I spent $2K for the car and about $3K for repairs!!!

 

>>>>but I had a couple of 128 Spiders ...
>>
>>I believe you may have had a couple of 124 Spiders...
>>
>>(unless that thing I keep in the garage has been a 128 all this time...)

Right. My bad. It's been too many years. They were 124s. I believe they were around 2100 lbs. I also had a 124 Coupe.

 

The more time I spend with my MINI (...almost a year now), the more I appreciate many of the engineering (...and even styling) decisions behind its design. The weight is good, IMO.

Now I keep hearing stories of people yanking certain performance mods and returning to stock. I think the MINI is good (Cooper or MCS) and, yes, it can be improved upon, but I think it pays to understand (...and maybe appreciate?) stock engineering as best one can before disregarding the original configuration.....unless one is just doing it for fun!!!!!

Just my opinion....

 

To get back to the original point, my fear was that the mini could just be picked up and stolen. Jsun rested my fears a bit w/ the coded key and all. Maybe a tie down hook or something would add extra security. Maybe hitching posts might come back in fashion.
My fiat 128 was a great handling little car. FW drive it handled better than my parents car. I bought it for $500.00 w/54k on it. It needed an alternator and then I drove it from NY to CA. I would say the FIAT was a good 75K car, after that, get ready to fix it again tony.

 

Yes MINI owners are pretty neurotic about the security of their babies!!!!! I've never actually encountered the picking-up-the-car-thing and I've driven lots of cars that could be picked up (...like my Spitfire). I think we've all got our personal tricks and strategies for safe parking. Most are quite elaborate. If I had a tie down hook available I'd probably use it!!!! I'm just as worried about getting keyed, though. I did get a door ding from a stupid SUV (grrrrrr).......but I survived.

 

>>Yes MINI owners are pretty neurotic about the security of their babies!!!!! I've never actually encountered the picking-up-the-car-thing and I've driven lots of cars that could be picked up (...like my Spitfire). I think we've all got our personal tricks and strategies for safe parking. Most are quite elaborate. If I had a tie down hook available I'd probably use it!!!! I'm just as worried about getting keyed, though. I did get a door ding from a stupid SUV (grrrrrr).......but I survived.

I do the park-out-in-East-Jesus thing, as I have done even with my boring econoboxes, because I want to minimize encounters with the doors of the masses. No matter what kind of car I have, I don't want some bozo putting a dent in my car because he/she is too lazy to control his/her door. I never park next to SUVs specifically because their doors are often heavy and unwieldy, and their owners and occupants aren't going to put in the extra effort to keep their oversized doors from smashing into anything in their path.

I doubt anyone is going to pick up a MINI and walk off with it.

 

>>My first car 20 yrs ago was a Fiat 128. I remember after a couple beers two guys picked up the back end of it and swung it around. Would it be possible for 10 guys to pick up a mini and put it in a truck and take off with it?

The MCS is 2750 pounds and not that light that it is easily moved plus the alarm would sound with motion if it was set.

10 guys each lifting 275 pounds could move it but how far and is there enough place to hold on to?
3000 pounds is not unlike other cars so no greater risk of theft.

1900 pound lotus Elise might be a different deal though.

 

Back in high school, eight guys from the football team had a hard enough time moving the assistant principal's 1600-pound 1987 Chevrolet Sprint any appreciable distance. Not that I'd have... ummm... any firsthand knowledge of such an incident. :smile:

At 2750 pounds, a MINI Cooper S weighs nearly 200 pounds more than a Dodge Neon, Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla, or Ford Focus sedan - none of which, as far as I can tell, are picked up, stuffed in someone's pocket, and stolen.

Don't let its diminutive outer dimensions fool you!

 

At 2700+ pounds I think you are safe with the MINI. My other car (a '91 Miata at 2250 pounds) and my wife's '01 Camaro SS (at 3350 pounds) have never been
picked up or messed with. The MINI fits in between the two, so I think you're safe.

DesignIt

 

If someone REALLY wants to rip off your car, they will find a way. The standard immobilizer and the Mini factory alarm will help make it more difficult... but not impossible. I, ummmm, witnessed a 1992 Geo Metro (base) have the back lifted up, it took 5 football team guys, and they only lifted the wheels maybe 6" off the ground. Weren't they about 2,000 lbs?

As long as you have theft coverage, not all is lost in the long-term

 

My Dad had a 128. Pretty good car. But when he installed a second gas tank in the trunk during the first gas crisis, I felt a lot safer in my 1,200 pound Austin Mini Cooper.

Back to your original question, the new MINI is heavy enough. Too heavy IMHO. But as previously pointed out, safety carries a weight penalty.

Regards,
Red

 

2 guys and a minivan can nab my GSX-R600 and it's paid for. Bummer.

Who cares how many can grab my MCS. It's a lease

Just a data point.

 

>>I had a 128. Part of the reason it was a great ride is because it was light. The MINI is too heavy for its size. There is no way a car with this small of a footprint should be anywhere near 3000lbs.

The MINI also has the stiffest structure of any production car and it's handling and crash worthiness are attributable to this fact, so I don't complain.

 

My MGA is about a foot longer than my MCS yet weighs only 1950 Lbs., my MGC is over 10" longer than the MCS and weighs less than 2400 Lbs. even with its 2912cc 6 cylinder engine. Yes, MINIs may be small, but they sure aren't light. Maybe like the rest of us, the weight seems to go up without an increase in other important dimensions like overall length.