My wife felt the same until I got it home and took her on a date in it. Now she loves the MINI. It has become not only our date car - but also our road trip and farmers market shopping car.

 

I've owned both. Frankly, a MINI has the same or slightly more usable space than a G coupe. The trunk on the G is positivey miniscule; they claim it will hold a bag of golf clubs, but I don't see how. It holds about 1 week's worth of groceries for 2.

I regularly take a large (2 week' clothes) bag and my laptop bag in the MINI when I travel. The 2 bags completely fill the boot, but they fit without difficulty. The shallow depth of the G's trunk would not allow me to carry the same bag in it.

-- mike

 

I looked at the G and the Cooper S when I was shopping. As you can tell from my Sig, you can see where I went.

I enjoyed the G, but I knew that car would be trouble. From insurance going higher with the G as well as the fact that on my test drive I couldn't keep it under 80. The G was fun, but my Cooper is so much more manageable fun.

I just moved to SoCal about 3 months ago, and I see the G's everywhere.. Not as many Coops.

Like someone said on the first page, every time I get out of my Coop I am wearing a big smile. I get nods from non-cooper drivers and even questions all the time. It's almost a sense of pride you get from having one.

 

If you live near a Lotus dealership, stop by there on the way to the Mini dealership. Have the wife try on a Lotus Elise for size. Then, after the four-minute process of squeezing in & out of the vehicle, take her to the Mini place and plop her into the front seat. She will immediately see what an enormous luxury car the Mini really is.

I just ran the Lotus idea past my wife. She says the key is to research Minis and talk about little else but the Mini and its many options and good crash ratings and high performance for about six months. Eventually she'll insist you buy it just so she can have some silence.

(Not that I've stopped talking Mini)

 

Must agree that worked for me as well

 

I have a JCW, but the effect would be the same. One day in Yosemite, we were heading up to Glacier Point. There is a LONG uphill tunnel to traverse.... and as I was screaming through it, I shouted (you sci-fi fans will remember this) LAUNCH VIPERS! Just as we exited into the sunlight.

Peter Egan said it best in a recent Road and Track, in talking about the Mini he had (and misses):

"You pay more for a Mini and you get more. Much more power, much better handling and an indefinable edge of personality that only the British and Germans working together could have produced. In short, the Mini Cooper S-whatever its obvious limitations in space and towing capacity-is a charismatic car of great breeding. You have to drive something less inspired to remember how good it really is. Or was. I missed the Mini immediately and suffered several sleepless nights over this trade.

And one day, while passing a truck on a slight uphill, I depressed the Vibe's gas pedal in 6th gear and not much happened. I downshifted to 5th, with similar results. The Mini, in the same situation, would have blasted itself into hyperspace."

 

my G's insurance is only nickles and dimes more than
my cooper-s. maybe $40-50 more for 6months?

 

both are great cars. my wife doesn't like my mini since i got the manual transmission but if you get an automatic, guarantee your wife will love it.

i only chose the manual knowing my wife cant drive it making my mini much less stressful. vroom vroom vmini.....

 

^^

 

Damn, I wish I could have stopped at $30k...although, I regret not getting the NAV now, which would have put us over $35k.

 

just get a Nuvi. i never liked the rectangular screen in the
middle of where the speedo should have been anyway.

 

Well not all women prefer automatics. If my husband drove an automatic I wouldn't go near it (unless I had a sprained ankle, broken leg, or such )

sheeesh, what NAV were you lookin at. I thought the Mini NAV was only $1700

 

1) A MINI will get better gas mileage (even when driven hard)... sell it as a sports car with the performance similar to a G35 but much better fuel economy. This might be easier to relate to if you go for the JCW version (like I did).

2) Keep in mind that the $10k saved on the MINI can go a long ways towards customizing it out. For example, I also considered a G35 and 350Z, but would probably have been able to afford only the base model (no leather interior, no sun roof, no custom black wheels, no aftermarket stereo, no suspension work, etc....). Now I'm even thinking to get some side stripes to make it stand out more...

3) If you can afford to go more, why not check out the Elise/Exige? If you don't need more than 2 seats, they look like a lot of fun... IMHO.

 

If my significant other gave me that "30k for that little thing" routine, I would offer to trade her a new three carot CZ for the tiny little single carot diamond on her finger

 

[quote=bamatt;1278232]Well not all women prefer automatics. If my husband drove an automatic I wouldn't go near it (unless I had a sprained ankle, broken leg, or such )


didn't mean to offend no-one. its rare to see ladies who know how to work a stick properly but if you say you can than more power to you. would love to see you in action with the stick. 'reader discretion is in affect'.

 

I did. Got my 04 G35 Coupe and thought I'd been totally converted until the MCS joined the family. The Mini is more fun to take on a trip, and keeps your attention, and accomodates a threesome - or a foursome if you can convince someone to stand out of the sunroof. The G accomodates two bags in the trunk easily- but that's all. It is effortless, powerful, and smooth - you can fold down the back seat and actually sleep in the flat boot area - somewhat of a challenge for the mini. I've kept meticulous records of every gallon of gas used in both, G has averaged 20.04 MPG for the past 36K miles, the mini has produced 23.7 over 24K miles. Both accomodate four adults resonably well -once you are through the doors, short legs and long torso's fit great in the mini, long legs and short torsos fit great in people in the back seat of the G, rather the rear sunroof is actually the rear window!

Generally, the G35 passengers can't read the speedo as readily as those in the Mini (just try to hide) but neither do they feel the need to look to find out how fast they are going...

 

Careful with the street speeds guys. Don't want to get the thread locked.

 

and don't forget--- for 30k you get all of *us* too... lol (we are much more fun than G35 people hands down)

Dragon Dragon Dragon.....

 

this is very true.

 

No big deal. He had a lapse of memory and was talking about km/h, no ml/h

 

There IS something to be said for this. The sense of community seems great among MINI owners.

 

As is the sense of insanity!

 

come on in .. you're living in SD ? with all that nice air outside you should be getting a cabrio MCSca ,then tell your wife to drive it topless and make her a deal, you can go topless anytime .... tell her she has her mini(van) and you have your MINI(Cooper)...MCSca(convertible.automatic)or ca for California.. enjoy the drive...km

 

Taken care of, thread will remain open.
LOL - yeah, riiiiiiiiight.

 

Sorry, mate. My wife understands performance. She was mostly like that when we met and demonstrated support through my many years of motorcycle racing. She's looking for a small go-fast car for herself presently. Her daily driver for years has been a 1975 BMW 2002. Prior to that she had a little Porsche. I think you know this: when you understand the value of performance, you understand the pricing.