Picked up my Mini Cooper this morning. Spent a couple of hours with my MA going over the operation of the vehicle. The vehicle was delivered perfect. My build on the Cooper is 10/06. I was supposed to pick the car up last Thursday, but Denver got hit with a blizzard. Here it is the following Thursday and another major snow storm is moving in. The car handled better than I ever expected in the snow. I doubt that I will need snow tires considering the way the car handled today. If I were making trips to the mountains then I would consider snow tires.

I noticed an interesting phenomena today--other cars especially SUV's sat right on my bumper at red lights. What gives? I have been driving many years and owned many cars over the years, and I do not recall having other cars get so close to my bumper. Is it small car envy? Have others experienced this phenomena?

It was a joy to drive this car home. The Mini is a very special car and I have never felt such a special attachment to a car. Santa was good to me this year and I have Porter Cable 7424; since I live in Denver, I have all the Prima products from Detailers Paradise needed to keep my car in top shape. I also have Richard's (Octane Guy) DVD on how to use that Porter Cable. My MA told me this is the best your car will ever look; I told him he was wrong, five years from now my car will look as good, if not better.

All the best to everyone in the forthcoming year,

Jake

 

Congrats!

I find that cars rolling up behind appear so close because there is no trunk on the MINI, and also no overhang behind the wheels.

 

I've been here in Colorado Springs for a week now and I have an appointment for snow tires this Sat. My runflats have about 16K miles on them and they are horrible in the snow/ice. My car has the LSD, but I find myself fighting the traction control when the car starts slipping. I should have gotten the new tires last weekend when I first got to the Springs.
Discount Tires is giving me a pretty good deal on a tire/wheel package, they actually beat the best deal I could get from the Tire Rack. I just hope some fool does not run into me when I try to go to DIA tomorrow.
Speaking of the tail-enders; I noticed this when I first got mine, but after checking with my other car, I find them to really not be as close as they appear. It does take some time to get used to the other vehicles around you. This also bothered my wife when she would drive the MINI, but now she has gotten used to it since getting her own.
Good luck and be safe, if you see a 05 Electric Blue/Black roof with VA plates, be sure to wave.
HNY
Robb

 

Congratulations on your new MINI! I got mine delivered in January with a bunch of snow. What a blast to drive! Just curious what tires you got. Mine were the 15's and Continental All Seasons. They kicked butt in the snow! I have a few pics in my gallery. Absolutely love it! The close followers are due to the lack of a truck etc. My auto dimming rear view mirror is heaven, so they don't bug me much at night. Daytime, I just figure they need a closer look of the coolest car they've seen! Happy motoring!

 

Congrats on your new Mini. I find that large suvs tend to snuggle closer to my Mini than any other car that I've owned. I think the suv's secretly like Minis!!

 

Mark C, Rimmis, Jimmy Racoon,

My Mini came with a spare; the tires supplied are Continnental all season tires on 15" rims. I absolutely did not want the RF's. I read many reviews of the RF's and decided that these tires are a mishap. Many of my colleagues told me to get the Cooper S and just replace the RF's with regular tires; somehow that did not make sense to me and I opted for the Cooper. Yes, I drove the S as well as the Cooper, I decided I would not have any problem losing my license with either model. Most of my driving is local and decided that the Cooper would do just fine. I also took both cars on the highway and I enjoyed both vehicles, again the Cooper did just fine. I understand why others would opt for the Cooper S, to each his/her own. I spent a lot of time going back and forth between the two models; it was a difficult decision.

The 15" Conti's did great in the snow, and these are not "broken in" tires. It takes two/three hundred miles before the tires are broken in/ruffed up to have better traction. These tires did fine and I was very pleased.

It will remain disconcerting to me to have other drivers ride up close to the rear bumper. It is possible they just want to take a closer look. I do not have regular plates on my car, just the piece of paper on the rear window with the sixty day grace period for new plates.

I purchased a Dynaplug and a compressor prior to getting my car. I doubt that I will ever have to remove the spare tire from the car; but in case that I absolutely destroy a tire, it is nice to know that a spare is available. There is a post on this site from a gentleman who developed a flat on a RF and spent a few days in the Death Valley area getting "rescued." That is something I would never want to experience. Things happen, if I should get a flat, I want to be able to either replace with a spare, or repair the flat. I do not want to spend a day or two in a strange town waiting for a replacement tire.

I find the Mini awesome, it is such a great car, I feel lucky to own this car.
Also, I got one of the last of the 2006 production run. I prefer this to the aesthetic changes that were made to the 2007 models. However, if I were told that there were no more 2006 to be had, I would be able to live with a 2007. Such is life.

Jake