Well today I did it. I sold my 2008 Mini Cooper Clubman. I absolutely loved the Clubman. The Clubman provided us with 78k miles of driving excitement, and reliability. I still love the Clubman, and when the time is right I would buy another Mini.

My wife and I just had our first child and needed some extra space, and extra ability. We purchased a 2000 Toyota Land Cruiser. The car will suit our needs much better than the Mini at the moment. With my profession as a commercial photographer I haul around a lot of gear. Often times I would over load the Mini's weight capacity. With the Land Cruiser I will be safely with in the weight confines of the max cargo capacity. Also from time to time I have to go out into rural areas with out roads for my photography and borrowing my wife's Volvo XC90 AWD was not always the best option.

 

now you'll just look creepy when you stare at us in our MINI's

 

Aw Jeeze! You coulda kept it! Babies are small!

Hope you get another someday.

Dave

 

As others have been told. You'll be back. (And the were.) Just a matter of time.

We all hate to see you go!!

Motor safely!

 

Be safe and enjoy

 

hope u come back after kids are gone

 

Funny... I traded in a MINI hatch for my Clubman to get the extra room when our daughter was born.

Don't have the photography gear to haul around, though.

 

You had a baby human? Because they are small, and stay that way for a while. The car you got is if you want to haul around a baby giraffe or other baby animal found on an African savanna. Never understood the need to give a child 20 times there mass in a car. My mom let me stand on the front seat and her ARM was the seatbelt.

Seriously, Congrats on the little one... I wish you many happy years!

 

I did the same thing years ago - now I am back. Good luck and hope you make it back!!

 

Um, haven't you met any relatives with babies? I remember a hilarious GM magazine ad for an SUV when it first came out. The sentence at the bottom had me laughing for a long time "GM's rule for SUV owners: the smaller the kids, the more space they occupy." Then, they of course boasted how much space the new SUV had by showing what every mom and dad needs for a trip with the new baby: a cooler with 6 milk bottles, 2 boxes of baby formula, bag with baby food, baby powder, diaper rash cream, large tub of wet wipes, collapsible crib, blankets, baby's favorite stuffed animals (which are of course larger than the baby!), baby's favorite toys, duffel bag with baby's clothes, baby monitor, stack of baby books, burping blanket, pacifier and of course, a mega fancy stroller complete with cup holders!

Yep, GM was right. The smaller your kids, the more space they occupy!

 

Makes you wonder how the human race survived to propagate itself in the time before all that stuff was 'necessary...'

 

Yep that is how it goes. Combine all of that stuff with some photography gear and you have a full SUV. Then add to that all the gear you need to go camping and some things will be living on the roof.