This thread made me smile! Congrats on your Mini. I bought my first brand new car and I LOVE my Mini so far. It's been a little over a month and I smile every time I see my Nigel.
My friends say that the car is just so me so I must be really ridiculous and i am darn proud of it! Rock on!

Oh even my mom who didn't care for the car when we did the test drive is now loving it!

 

I'm almost 49, and I do too.

How's the car though?






Great story.

 

You should have replied, "doesn't it suck to have your head perpetually imbedded in your ***?".

 

My good friend's comment was: "Dude, it's a chick car". then I took him for ride. He wasn't laughing after that. Just a couple of points.

1. I'm 44 and don't need to be called "Dude"
2. His "Samll-*****-mobile", a bright yellow Mustang GT, gets 15 mpg, has been in the shop coutnless times for repairs and has a less roomy interiror. Oh, and I smoked him on the local twisties.
3. My insurance rates are consideredly less than his.
4. I am way past the point in my life where I need to worry about others opinions.
5. His car has a 2 year residual value of about 50 to 60% My MINI would sell just a few thousand shy of its MSRP after a year.

I had similar comments from freinds and family. "Clown Car", "Tin Can", "Death Trap on Wheels". I say let them snicker. I'll be laughing all the way down the highway!

 

My grandpa, who is almost 30 years older than you, does not feel ridicululous at all. He especially does not feel ridiculous when all the young girls he flirts with give him loads of attention.

Grandma, to whom he has been married since WWII, does not think he is ridiculous either. Matter of fact, she is a bit peeved that he always seems to find some reason to drive the MINI, like going to Home Depot to get a $2 item.

That MINI is grandpa's amusement park [took the place of his 1963 Bug that he also used as a babe magnet.]

 

I am a big girl 5'8 and not skinny, I dont fell anything but like smiling....if they give me any grief,about it slow I come back with my sons R8 i just bought him

 

I get that question a bit, but in the Lotus Elise

 

some day that person may need a lift and you can reply. why would you want to ride in a ridiculous car.... walk. hehehehe.

 

Why would they ask such a dumb question as that about a Lotus?? Or is it just that they didn't think you were as pretty as the car...? (I'm just kidding - you're gorgeous. )

 

I'm giving up my GT for a MCS in a month or two once it gets off the boat.
I love Mustangs but the new ones are just like the old ones, they require mods to handle well and the MCS takes off just as nicely. Sure on a straightaway I could smoke a Mini, but the MCS is a lot more fun to drive, gets twice the mileage, and in NJ the GTs are all over the place.

The only things I'll miss are the droptop and the exhaust note.

 

Maybe I was a tad harsh. I do happen to like the Mustangs. It would have been much better without the live rear axle. I drove an 08 GT and found the dimensions, especailly the bqck seat, too small, even for my ten yrar old. Every once in a while i get the "maybe I should have bought <INSERT NAME HERE>" thought running through my mind. But then i go out and either look or drive mine [my second actually, the first was totalled] and inwardly just say "nah"

 

I remind them how guys with little peckers need big trucks to compensate, then I leave it at that! No compensation needed!

 

Welcome and congrats on purchasing one of the funniest cars out there to drive. By the way, what a ridiculous color combo. I'm actually kind of fond of Chili Red with white stripes.

 

Your co-worker... not to put too fine a point on it, is an a$$!

Drive what you want, and love what you drive. It's not your fault that your co-worker is wandering through their days hating driving an appliance when they could be loving motoring in a MINI.

Congrats on the MINI and welcome to NAM!

 

No need to apologize- Mustangs are what they are. They're a modders car too, but really, an adult driving one is no less "different" than driving a Mini when we're "supposed" to drive boring cars, right?

 

Well owning both a Mustang SVT Cobra and a MCS is having the best of both worlds. (Plus my practical 3/4 ton Dodge with a Hemi (hey I have real horses what else can I say)). Guess I'm just ridiculous all the way around at the age of 48.

Peggy

 

I think a reasonable response is, "No, what's ridiculous is that every night, after you leave, I fart into your coffee cup."

 

lenscap, I am in complete agreement with you on the personality of these MINIs. I am 60 and have also enjoyed many cars in more than 44 years of driving. This car has the personality, handling and verve of the very best of them. My other car "summer" is the 1987 Afla Romero my beloved husband bought me for our second anniversary. The smiles that both these cars engender are priceless.

I happen to work in a building having lots of federal agents of various agencies. My car is prominently parked in the garage. I can't begin to tell you how many of these guys have come over when I am arriving or leaving and are full of questions about handling, response and of course mileage.

I think that as seasoned citizens, we have more than earned our right to fun. The MINI has the same personality as the old VW Bug did during the 60s and early 70s. As another old hippy, I love my MINI!!

 

Congrats, and welcome to the zoo, er, uh, I mean family.

Enjoy your Mini in all the ridiculousness you can muster.

 

Thanks to all for the comments and great replies. MiniMama2 I couldn't have said it any better than you just did.

Cars are cars, they wear out, they break and they need maintenance and attention. Some people, and I guess my co-worker is one of them, view cars as appliances, as someone said, just a tool to get you from point A to point B. For them, any discussion about the "joy of driving" doesn't register because it's is an extra cost and not something that provides a return for that cost.

Other people, like most of the members of this forum I would suggest, feel differently and for them (and me) the tradeoff of extra cost for driving fun is an easier thing to accept. Yes, my commute is short, less than 10 miles each way, but it is a commute that I have to make daily, and I choose to do it in a car that allows me to enjoy the ride by being the driver, shifting the gears, matching engine revs with the gear I select, and trying to get that "perfect" shift in and out of turns. I can't put a money value on that, but at least for me it's clearly worth it.

What makes the MINI so incredible is that the resale value is among the best of any car sold in the world. Because of that I get my cake and can eat it too - the extra cost I pay up front for the MINI is returned to me when I sell it, if I sell it.

My car brand new with only cruise control was a bit over $20,000. I'm pretty confident that in four years, when the warranty runs out, I will be able to sell the car for at least $12,000, and probably a lot more. Even at $12,000 that is $8,000 cost over the four years, essentially $2,000 a year. That's pretty cheap for transportation and fun every day.

If I bought any other car (except a Toyota Prius - which is what I sold to buy the MINI) the depreciation would have been higher, and the net cost would have been greater than I will spend on the MINI, and whatever else I would drive would still be an appliance.

So the MINI is really a "no-brainer", you get daily fun, low operating costs and a fully warranty at a lower cost than almost any other vehicle. In fact, my Geico insurance for the MINI is well under $800 a year, the base Cooper is considered an economy car at Geico with no performance surcharge.

To me, the MINI is the best buy of all time. Would I prefer a Ferrari, you bet. But the sales tax on a Ferrari is about half of the purchase price of a MINI. BMW 330i? - nice car, but the twin-turbo runs hot and has some issues that appear to be ongoing. Porsche Cayman? - great car, but double and more the cost of a MINI, and even if you buy it you can't redline it in gear without blowing through the speed limit. Corvette? - another fine ride, and good resale, but is it twice a MINI, not to me.

The MINI has more usable power and handling than anything I test rode - although some other rides were fun too -- R32 VW among them. For me the combination of the MINI and a motorcycle can't be topped - and the combined cost is less than any of the cars I mentioned above.

Enjoy the MINI, ridiculous or not I can't find a better value, a more fun ride, or a higher resale combination regardless of where I looked.

Thanks again for the comments, they are all appreciated.

 

I got the exact opposite reaction from someone which really surprised me.

Ive had a friend that i've known since high school and he was always a man's man sort of guy. I mean when we were 15 striking out with 16yr old girls (who'd date 20 yr olds) he had three girlfriends on the go that all knew about each other. Football player at the university level, drank like a sailor with scirocis.

Talking to him i expected him to give me a hard time for driving a "girlie" car

Anyways when i told him about putting my down payment on the mini he said 'thats the coolest car on the street'. I thought at first he was being sarcastic, but then he showed me some brochures he had sitting behind the bar. (yeah basically he's sam malone).

Enjoy the car, you deserve it, I only wish more 60 yr olds were driving minis and not '84 olds cutlasses

 

Hah they tell me that at school until my Cooper S blasts by them :-P

 

And then there is my favorite perk of driving a ridiculous car--having been flashed by a nubile blonde in a passing car, which would not have happened had I been driving my Grand Marquis.

 

That must be a Southern thing. I had that happen the other day (red head if I remember her hair correctly) and almost lost it. Kept my cool and went on to work. Bless those little Southern Girls!

 

Too bad it didn't make the Beach Boys' song, eh?