I thought it might be interesting to share open motoring weather reports:
"12-26-06 Twelve degrees F crossing the Otowi Bridge over the Rio Grande at sunrise. On one side of the river it was a clear night, on the other side a sunny day."

And on days of motoring with the top up, excuses:
"12-29-06 Drove about 50 feet so that the Saab could be lined up first in our single lane driveway. The MINI was a plow. Kept the top up. See photo for excuse"

 

Excuse for 12-29-06 accepted

Here it was a balmy mid-70, mostly clear sky, perfect day. My car is STILL at the body shop , but they say next week.

 

It was 56 in Indianapolis yesterday.

No excuse for the top to be up. And it wasn't. Didn't even need the seat warmers or heat. Oh, it was GLORIOUS.

 

Bluebonnet - great photo! Brings back memories of my former life in Colorado! It's supposed to be about 70 today.... The top will be down on the way to the golf course!

 

The snow is certainly an acceptable excuse. Not much you can do about that.

I was driving around downtown Chicago yesterday with the top down, 50f and partly cloudy. I had a fleece on, and i didn't even need the heat. I did have the seat heat on low though. I thought about getting a big flag to fly above the MINI that reads "I like global warming" - kidding of course, but GW sure makes top down motoring more possible. I got more than a few compliments on Michigan ave from the shoppers - At just about every intersection, I could hear people saying "check out the MINI convertible!"

 

Hey - I was down there too! We did a little one-night vacation on Michigan Ave. and got lots of great comments as well.

Top down in Chicago in January for Christmas week - hard to imagine!

Mark S

 

how in the world do you get that much snow off of your car? and you have a convertible, isnt that harmfull to the top?

 

Wow, that's a lot of snow! It was 80 today in FL and we did some family motoring. Our kids love riding in the MCSC, but then it got a little "cool" (relative term here) and my daughter improvised a cover-up with her jacket.

 

I used a broom. That was after the first night and was about half of the total from the storm . . . about 2 feet in all. I think the top is built to take it.

 

Sweet weather reports . . . but how do you fit your golf clubs in the MINI convertible. I've been thinking I might get them in if I take them out of the bag. Oh, and, Hello Chicago!

Well, I've dug the MINI out of the snow. Haven't been able to get on the road yet . . . there are still too many tall ridges between the tire tracks on the roads around town . . . plus a sort of ledge from my street to Old Santa Fe Trail (the plowed road). Tomorrow I'll give it a try. Top down of course.

 

It's been really warm in Ohio too, and I've been able to put the top down several times in the last week. Do you ever notice that people look at you strangely when you have the top down in December, even if it is 60 degrees outside?

 

Fifteen degrees when I left the house before dawn. Nine at Camel Rock and 5 crossing the Rio Grande. My nose did get cold.

Ah, but last night I kept the top up after a day trudging through the snow and pants wet below the knee. Oh well

 

42F this morning in Indianapolis, had the top half-way / sunroof only (what is the correct way to say that?), did not go full top down because I've had a hacking cough for better than a week.

Stopped at a traffic light on the way to work, and a lousy Corvette pulled up behind me with the top down. I couldn't believe it! Most Corvette convertibles I see have tops up at 70F. I was so embarrassed his was down and mine wasn't. . .

 

Love it! Kewl, you see this? Something that would only be visible when the top was down, and could be removed in the summer by us southerners.

 

How true. . . how true. This is my second winter and below freezing I've yet to see a convertible with the top down. This includes the orange MINI with black strips that I saw twice this week. But MINIs do have their tops down much more often than other marques during the 30s-50s. From my experience. Oh, one exception to the winter convertible thing was my son's 82 VW . . . but then he didn't have a top until I bought him one last March.

 

I put the top down, opened the boot, removed the wind screen, folded down the seatbacks and set them in diagonally. Next time I think I will just place them in the front co-pilot's seat sitting up.... Anyone else have any better ideas?

 

No better ideas for Golf Clubs here. I think it is time for MINI FINI to have a go at it. Be kind of cute to have the racks from a golf cart mounted on one of their hitch attachments . . . it would probably put me over the critical mass of paying so much for a hitch (that and rifling the bores).

Meanwhile no weather reports as I've been leaving the MINI parked due to the large ice dunes in the Santa Fe City streets. They must be protecting the ice the way we do the riparian and the wetlands and the forest. It is possible to plow through a little snow but I don't want to think about the consequeces of trying to trim the ice. (Oh, 25 during my hike in the snow, I'd guess 20 when I put chains on my son's Honda to get it out of the City parking lot at the trail head, into the teens while driving the hardtop back from the grocery store after dark.)

 

I used to play alot of golf ,now it's when-ever.. Since I got my MCSc I use a smaller back-nine bag and slip the bag through the boot and fold down the back seat... It fits fine if you put it in a diagonal position.. If you don't have any passenger then you can move the front passenger seat up and no problem... This way I can still lock the car and cover the small golf bag portion with a towel or something and hide the golf bag and lock the car. I don't like to have my golf stuff be seen in the car ..compensating ,,, anything is fine as long as you get to drive MCSc ...Drive the MINI first ,Titleist 2nd...