Hmm my MCS was 24,100 plus taxes and stuff. You must want a lot of options.

 

Don't worry about the oil burning issue that was only in early model (02 and some 03) 3.5L, I had an 02 Maxima that burned a lot of oil that's why I unloaded it and bought my Mini, my wife hated the Maxima found it too big, yet she drives an Odyssey?? ( better vision) but she took one drive in the Mini and loved it. If your wife already thinks it's cute you have no worries no one drives this car and doesn't like it. Also this a much better forum than Nissan.

I love this quote from an auto journalist:

[SIZE=1]"For the price of a Mini Cooper S, you could buy an Acura RSX Type-S or a Subaru WRX, and either of those cars would be a more reasonable, practical choice. But since when did car nuts become reasonable or practical? How many people have purchased a motorcycle for its excellent fuel economy? The Cooper S is a good value because it is two barrels full of monkeys. It's not unlike a ride on a quick go-kart. It's a rousing game of air hockey. It's a trampoline. It's the infectious laugh after hearing someone fart in church. If we didn't value that highly, we wouldn’t be driving a car like this!"[/SIZE]

 

+1

 

+1 - it's called the Permagrin factor.

Money can't buy happiness? OK. But it sure as heck can buy GLEE!

 

I used the mini site. It was a Blue/ white stripes and white roof MCS 6 spd with (looking around my desk for what I added) *from memory*: auto a/c, leatherette, multi funtion steering wheel, xenons, convenience pkg, sport suspension, center armrest, LSD... I think that's it. It came out to $28k and change.

There is one in the classifieds here (2005 with JCW engine upgrades) which is exactly what I would want (the JCW would be icing on the cake). Maybe if it's still for sale Jan-Feb I will consider it.

 

love it....

 

Re: Convertibles- While I can see the appeal of a convertible (anything), almost everyone I see in a convertible has a hat on. I'm guessing this is to keep the sun out of their eyes and the wind out of their hair..... why did they buy a 'vert again?

 

You ain't see me in my cabrio, then.

Those people with the tops up are poseurs.

Just like kids who call other people "posers" are poseurs.

For real cabrio people, if it's between 40F and 110F and not raining or hailing, it's top down weather...

Kinda like the difference between motorcycle owners who ride on the weekends in good weather to look/feel cool, vs. people who ride constantly in spite of the weather...

 

Because you feel the wind and sun everywhere else with unparalleled visibility. Having owned an MGB all of my life, anyone who DOESN'T weat a hat to keep the sun glare and hair our of their eyes, is a fool looking for an accident.

 

It's nice in NC. Try that in Sacramento when it's 110º, and the sun is melting your interior and frying your skin, you'll think twice about your assesment.

Unfortunately, the Mini doesn't have the feature that my MGB has... the ability to zip out the rear window, and keep the top up on extreme solar days.

 

Until you try to sell it. I've sold two, and no buyers with cash really wanted to hear that argument. Anecdotally speaking, I did much better with a Miata, a New Beetle and a Jeep Wrangler on recouping a percentage of purchase price.

 

my very good friend here at work has a G35C and can 100% confirm that the car while physically bigger has less space all around than the MINI

 

Gees why don't you try keeping a car for more than 3 weeks.

 

options......the car has great resale value, the 10k in options is what has no resale value to the second buyer

 

I bought my MCS last year used from a member here on NAM - and I just traded it last month (after owning it for 1 year and 10,000 miles) and the dealer gave me the same amount I purchased it for... I'd say that's good resale value!

 

It's definitely worth it to spend that much. Just find an option or two that she loves and it will be justified.

 

I couldn't agree more. That's what my DH did. We got my MINI, and only a few months later, he started talking about buying him a MINI. I gave in a few weeks ago.

 

Yep. That's a winning strategy. Eventually my wife said "Just buy the car and put me out of my misery" - direct quote.

 

For my wife's birthday, I bought her an '06 Lexus IS350, and an '06 MCS to drive to school for now, (she graduates in May and the MINI will be mine to race, so that one was not really supposed to be hers). The MINI has one option, (steering) and cost about half what the Lexus did. We have 8K miles on the MINI and 4K on the Lexus in 6 months, and I frequently take the Lexus on business day trips 300 miles round trip.

These little MINIs are addictive! BTW, she's the one that named it MINICHI because they bring such good Chi into the world!

 

also, during our hottest days... sometimes clost to 120... we have smog adviseries. Which means if you breath the air out side you will die or something. Actually i used to think it was a bunch of garbage, but you feel like CRAP the next day if you spend all day out side on an polution advisory day.

 

I don't have (much) hair, so I wear a hat to prevent the glare from blinding other drivers.

 

But it does have the sunroof feature, which does work pretty well on the "skin-frying" 100 degree/99.9% humidity/no breeze days we have in Swampeast Missouri. (However I still have the top down most of the time.) It would be nice to be able to zip out the rear window, though.

 

The MINI is great. Let her experience it firsthand and she'll probably agree. It doesn't sound like money (actual dollars) is the problem, just that she thinks you're not getting much car for the money... Let her experience some MINIs and she'll come to realize that it's a car of substance.

As to the G35....I test drove one, and I didn't care much for it. The trunk is WAY too small for a car of that size. If you're looking in the $40K range, test a 335i coupe. You can get an optionless wonder (yet NOT stripped)for $40K. It'll have a large usable trunk, usable rear seats, very roomy front seats, plenty of power and great handling.

Best of luck with getting the MINI, but consider the 335i as a fallback position!

Rawhyde

 

Smart guy!

 

Bought mine for $ with my options listed, only had 13k miles.