Kind of a random question....

Does anyone have a tiny garage for their MINI? How wide is your garage?

Reason I ask is I am looking at homes, and damn....the garages are tiny. Just seeing if anyone deals with the same issues. Kind of want to hear from people that had this issue and know their garage width.

 

We just moved into a new home and it has a 2-car garage--22' x 22'--pretty standard in this area. . . Unless the garage is actually golf-cart size like they have in FL, you should be ok w/ your MINI. . .

 

Well the homes we are looking at have a single car garage, built in the early 1900's. Not sure exactly when the garage was built or its exact size yet, but it looks tiny.

 

I might have to get one of these pedal cars.

 

You might find this thread right up your alley...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht=garage+size

.....Les

 

Since I live in an apartment... I have no garage... Mine's small!

 

At the condo we used to own we had a very tiny garage, something like 10' x 18'. It was so small I creased the side of my Neon jacking it up to change my oil when it hit the garage wall. We hae since moved out to the country and our new garage out back is almost as big as our condo was. 32' x 34', I can fit six Minis in it with no problem, maybe eight in a pinch.

-Keith

 

I got lucky and bought the condo with a 2 car garage The single wide garages suck, MINI or not.

 

Well, I don't have my own garage, but my building has one. Between the narrowness of the space and the building support poles everywhere, I am the only one who doesn't have to do a 10-point turn to park. Got to love the MINI...

 

Just Move From A Place Where I Had A 2 Car Garage, But Was Able To Fi All 3 Of My Vehicles In It. 21x21. My '85 Ford Ranger 4x4 On One Side, The '43 Jeep Perpendicular On The Other Side, And The Mini Able To Pull In Beside The Truck And Clear The Jeep. Able To Fully Open Drivers Door. On The Down Side. I Just Moved And Now I Have To Figure It All Out Again. So Far The Mini And The Jeep Fi, The Truck Sleeps Out Side.

 

I've got a 1 car garage, it's not bad. I can fit my MCS in there with no problems and still have quite a lot of space for other stuff. If I had to guess it's about 9 or 10 feet wide...

 

Our house is in San Francisco, built in 1906. Yes, it was built right after (because of) the earthquake. It will be 100 years old this year! The garage was originally a basement, and converted to a garage many decades ago. It is small, though not tiny by absolute standards.

The opening at the garage door is 91 inches (7' 7") wide, and once past the door the walls are 103" (8' 7") apart. The MINI clears the door with about 6" on either side of the mirrors. Inside the garage, the doors can just barely open to the first click. It's not bad getting in and out of the car while in the garage. This is relatively small for an American garage, but I have seen houses where it would be necessary to fold the mirrors to get in the garage, and a very tight squeeze to get in and out of the car.

 

Our house was built in the 1920's and has a pretty spacious two car garage. It is just big enough for the Carerra S on one side and the MINI on the other .

 

I have an extended length one car garage, but its wicked narrow. I was going to move last summer so there are boxes all up one side, so I barely have enough room to park and open the driver's door enough to squeeze out. Gotta move those boxes and give Spike some breathing room!!

 

My garage is supposed to be a two-car garage. I can squeeze my MINI and my 69 Chevelle into it by being very careful. I don't let anyone else park them in the garage. If a mishap occurs I at least want me to be the one who has it.

 

rkw-thats gotta be a cool place to live-and mini hawk-purchasing a house nearly a century old takes a pretty neat ability to see past "modern" things and appreciate old quality. most of those old tiny garages actually were "carriage" houses, built for a horse drawn buggy before everyone had access to an auto, then the first model ts fit right in them.
that said, mine is only 50 years old, but my built -in- the- last- 10- years garage is 50 feet wide!!and 26 deep-some enterprising marijuana growers bought this house and built the garage for the extra growing space!! while the house was a run down wreck, the new 1100 sq foot garage made the deal for me. house is now rehabbed and its all good-but I admire your old-old houses!

 

The single biggest thing I dislike about my house is the size of the garage.

This is our first home, and when we were looking for a home, for some reason, the size of the garage wasn't high on my list of things to watch out for. Probably because I had lived in an apartment previous to this, and I just thought, "Hey, ANY garage is a good garage!". I had been living with leaving my MINI in parking lots for years...

So with regard to the garage, I do suffer from buyer's remorse. I "can" do work on my MINI in my garage, even change tires out, but it means that I have to clean the garage, and move lots of stuff before any of the work begins. I'm always knocking things off the walls, or tripping over things while I'm working on my MINI too. It sucks.

My next house, I can assure you, will have a garage that has AT LEAST a 2-car garage, if not more!

So choose your garage, (I mean house) carefully!

 

one of the main reasons why i bought my current townhouse was because
it has a 2.5 car garage and at least 4ft wider than your typical 2 car garage
home in my area.. plus, no need to shovel snow, do the grass,
bushes, etc. has a full English basement, too.

i have two 2 door coupes in the garage with adequate space...but since
this is our starter home, the next house will be a regular house with a
3 car garage. my son will be old enough do the shoveling and lawn by then.

 

Our 1924 house has a 3 bay carriage house out back, and still has the metal ring used to tie up the horse. The doors are very narrow--the narrowest door is approx. 70inches. Scarlett fits it with a couple of inches on either side. We had to have custom made new garage doors made.

 

So, Scarlett, you are fitting your MINI in a 70" door. Mirrors folded in?

Anyone have the exact width of a 2006 MINI that includes the mirrors? I found a width of 66.5 without the mirrors, online. Anyone have the measurement with mirrors?

I just measured today, and I have an opening of 84" and then the inside of the garage is about 100". I hope she fits. This garage is almost 100 years old.

 

Oh, trust me, our first house had a tiny one car garage, but the MINi fit in it fine. Kind of had to squeeze out of it, but it was ok. Now we have a nice 2 car garage and the MINi can stretch it's little legs in there!

 

You'll be okay. The Owner's Manual says the width is 75.7 including mrrors. Inside, 100" is just a couple of inches narrower than mine, and it will be fine. Put padding on the walls where open car doors might bump. If you carry passengers, it will be easier for them if they get in and out while the car is outside the garage, and then you can park towards the right for extra inches to open the drivers door. Once in a while it might be tight backing out the car if it had been parked a bit crooked, and the simple remedy it to fold up a mirror.

 

RKW, thanks! Exactly what I was looking for.

I was wondering about the electric folding mirrors on newministuff.com. I have the winter package and want to keep my heated side view mirrors. I don't think the electric folding mirrors retain that option.

 

When I was a home owner in CT, I had a two car garage - each bay had oversized, nine (9) foot wide doors. I had a ton of room and even a work bench... Alas, "we" had an amicable divorce, sold the home, split the profits, and here I am today - a MUCH happier marriage - BUT parking my beautiful MINI outside at the brandy new apartment complex.
The upside of not owning a money pit with a big garage? We get to go to Greece every year on vacation! NO KIDS!!! ;-)

 

We have a typical 2-car garage (18 x 19), but I have built-ins that make my side a little short. I drive a Jeep Wrangler, so depth isn't as much of an issue as height is. I hang my hardtop in the garage, so I really wanted a tall garage (mine's about 12 feet high, so it works very well). The side where the Mini will go is long enough that we should be able to park it comfortably and raise the rear hatch to load/unload with the garage doors closed.

For the wall-side doors, I use those wall-mounted door cushions that you can buy online. They do a good job of keeping the drywall dent free and don't seem to scratch the car where the door hits it.

-- mike