i love the attention i get with the MINI.

i went to walmart tonight (my fiance had to pick up some beverages) and i waited outside the front doors. i watched an older gentleman load his groceries and get into his volkswagen beetle...he backed out of his parking space and purposely went the wrong direction so that he could pull up next to me. he slowed down and eyed my MINI and rolled down his window and said.."NICE CAR!!" haha i was sooo excited. haha i felt stupid but I appreciate MY MINI!!!

 

Now just try to imagine what it was like back in 02. Krayzee, yo.

 

That is fun! Stuff like that is generally a high point of my motoring day. It's funny...a lot of older folks relate to MINIs and will come right out and tell you so. Then again, kids seem to like MINIs, too. What shocks me is when cute young girls go crazy over MINIs as you motor past. Well, at least the MINI gets attention...

 

When I first took delivery in November '03, the new Mini was "still new." Then I got LOTS of comments, and I wasn't really surprised.

But now, almost three years later, with Mini's having become pretty common, just this week two complete strangers have stopped me in parking lots to remark on how fun the car looks and how they want one themselves. I usually say, "Thanks. I really love it, too," or, "It's the most fun car I've ever had."

Everybody asks me about the Mini's gas mileage these days, too. But I don't think they really care about that. They're just looking for a reason to dump whatever ride they have now and get a grin on four wheels. I know it wouldn't make any difference to me if it got 12 fewer miles per gallon than it does.

It's the first car I've had that almost everyone likes and really reacts to. The next best was my first car, a 1965 Karmann Ghia. While that was a cool car, too, even it never had the seemingly universal appeal of the Mini.

I believe that my next car will be a Mini, too -- probably a 2009 model, just based on mileage. And I hope they change as little as possible, except the exact same stuff that I've modded should become OEM by then.

 

I get quite a lot of looks, several smiles and had a couple of parking lot conversations with total strangers over the MINI. Many comment on how it's like the car from The Italian Job.

The MINI is small in size but big in character, they have what most cars on the road today do not so, they get a lot of attention.

 

The '02 days were a little crazy, as stoplights and fuel fill-ups turned into MINI P.R. events. Still more than three and one half years later, I get positive comments a couple of times a week. Not bad for a daily driver.

 

I am still amazed at how much attention my MINI gets. I had an 02 MC that, like others said, started conversations on a daily basis. Now, my 05 MCSC is still drawing stares and comments. Just last week at the gas station, the local mechanic came out and kept asking questions. I had another gentleman stop me and the family to ask questions before we watched us drive off.

We love to see kids in passing cars stare at us as we drive by. And, our HS aged daughter's friends all love it when I drive them home.

 

I love it also, on Thursday my father and I took his 54 jaguar to the jaguar shop for a tune up, so it was a 2005 HUMMER SUT with 24" rims that was towing a BRG 1954 Jaguar XK120 being followed by a 2004 MINI MC40. We got all the attention there was to have on the highway....everyone from 6 year olds to truck drivers were droping thier jaws!

I have pictures of the jag on the trailer...I'll post later!

Cheers!

~Neal

 

There is an elementary school by our house, and if I drive by during recess there's always a kid that yells "I LOVE YOUR CAR!!!" Makes me laugh everytime.

 

Now just imagine how it would be with a Ferrari

 

I think my favorite one was in late 02 when I had Mongo (EB/W). Pulled into a local gas station while the entire fire dept was stopped (with two trucks) getting drinks and snacks after a fire. Must have had 20 firefighters gathered around the car firing questions at me. It was really fun.

The first time I met gokartride in early 03, a bunch of us ended up at a popular burger place in Arlington TX. I think we made a scene that day, too.

 

About a week ago I went to pick up some Togo food, and happened to be watching my car in the little Togo camera which hovers above the Togo spots. It was funny seeing two different groups of people come up and peak inside my MINI.

Also, a few months ago, I was sitting at a stop light and noticed someone two cars in front of me in the other lane had their camera out the window and was taking pictures!!! hahaha.

 

A few weeks ago I was driving my daughter and her best friend home from riding lessons. As we passed a mom pushing a stroller with a little boy (about 4yo) walking by her side we heard the little boy yell, LOOK MOM A MINIIIIIII!!
I beeped the horn and he started hopping up and down, we all cracked up. Then my daughters friend says to my daughter "I just love your mom's car".


I also like that people seem to "know" me because of El Kabong. I was at Walmart just after I got home from the Dragon and one of the guys who works there came up to me and commented on the Dragonslayer banner and the MOTD 06 sticker. Apparently he keeps up with my graphics!

Annette

 

amazing these little cars..

back in 03... fall, just a few weeks after i took delivery... i drove up to a school bus, the children in the back row started to look and point, i then proceed to past on the left, all the childrne on the bus started to just stare and point at my car! i honked twice and the children in the bus all cracked up... XD

good times, now though people dont so much bat an eye.......

 

I used to get a lot of pleasant attention on my Karmann Ghia, which was restored and had a custom ivory finish. Many people stopped and stared and said hello, etc. The GTI after the Ghia was retired? Not a lick. I tried to go a little stealth on that one, silverstone grey, make-it-go-away style in hopes of blending in on my commute in case of eagle-eyed police. And that was of course mitigated by my Yakima rack which made it very easy to see me.

Anyway, in the Pepper, I see a lot of pointing and smiling. Lots of 'Italian Job' comments. Some thumbs-ups. Anyway, I don't have a front plate, and my wife is hassling me to order the front tow-hook mod mount and have it in the boot so if a cop stopped me, I could always install it on the spot and get the ticket 'fixed'. Haven't had a chance to do so yet.

So yesterday, I find myself behind a cop here in SF downtown. They are far enough ahead to see the front of my car, obviously. They start to slow way down. They move to the side as we approach the red. The cop rolls his window down and I prepare for it.

"Great Mini, man!"

Ha, that was unexpected!

 

When our '98 Mercedes E320 coughed up the torque conveter while on vacation in Charleston this past March I knew it was time to get a MCS for the wife. She was not convinced. Then we purchased the car (she trusts me that much) and after driving it for a week she began to understand the concept of "motoring". Now it seems everywhere she goes she gets compliments on her PW/B MCSa. Just last weekend in Baltimore at a Home and Garden Show she volunteered "Mr. Pug" to transport tour participants from home to home and ALL of the older ladies wanted to ride in the Mini. Mr. Pug was a hit! Never underestimate the power of the Mini!

 

Life is good.... And the MINI makes it that much more fun.... I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody said "that car is so cute!!!"

Donna

 

Or a Koenigsegg CCX

(today I was a Shell with free air and the clerk on her smoke break came over and just gushed over my S, talked about the "TV show" Italian Job, and how cool the car looked. It's about twice a week for comment when I motor, but dozens of gawks and stares and points.)

 

My town has a July 4th parade...it's pretty big deal (for here anyway). Well this little old lady (in her 90s now) loved my MINI and asked me to park it in her driveway for the parade so everyone could see it. She lives in the same house she was born in right downtown, so the parade goes right in front of her house. It was a glorious day for my MINI and she was proud to have it in her driveway....obviously a status thing...but at 90+ no one questions motives.

 

Ya knw this actually makes me mildly nervous. I'm incredibly shy and since I've started reading threads like this one I now go out of my way to look for MINI's around. Very bloody few. I'm almost nervous about driving home in it as my neighborhood is obviously somehwat status oriented by the number of PT Cruisers shined and pretty in driveways.

Ah well, tinted windows and a go kart handling will get me through.

 

And here I thought they were looking at me

Mark

 

What makes me nervous is going through a neighborhood I don't know where everyone looks a little ticked off and then as you go by they all starte eying you.

 

In Alabama, we still have no dealer and sometimes its still like the 02 days were in other states. . . .minitiff is lucky to have a new MINI in our great state and get to enjoy the good old days right now!

 

I've been getting this from the little kids in my new development lately. As I drive by they all stop and look and yell "I LOVE YOUR CAR!" The other day one kid yelled it in a "bloody murder" type of way. I freaked out for a second and thought he was being hurt or something. I had to look to make sure he wasn't being attacked in his yard. Kids love MINIs .

 

There are a couple of little boys waiting for the school bus every morning when I go to work, they always give me the thumbs up when I drive by. It always makes me smile.