So yesterday I drove Oscar to Lowes and was on my way home. I could see a white Pontiac G8 pulling hard up on me. I dumped the clutch and took off....

He was in the lane beside me and it took him a whole lot longer to slow that sled down, I was stopped and creeping forward and it looked like he wasn’t able to stop in time.

He did and as he pulled up next to me, he rolled down his window and said with a scowl on his face, “You know, I don’t even like mini coopers but that looks bad as hell”

I guess that was a compliment?? Who doesn’t like Mini Coopers?


Mark

 

I love Mini Coopers. But you know there seems to be a whole cadre of people out there that have it out in one way or another for Mini Coopers. In fact you even see that within the Mini community itself. Those that badmouth certain models etc. I never did understand that. Hey everyone has their own "view" of the perfect car, and there all different so why bash?

But it was a heck of a compliment I think.

 

I was chatting with a lady at work about cars and she used to have a convertible and we were discussing how much it was nice convertible weather here lately. I mentioned that I came close to buying a MINI Cooper convertible. She retuns back with a look of disgust on her face "Those are the ugliest cars on the road!!!"

Me and my other coworker were aghast and he says "Wow, you said that right to his face, didn't you?" I retorted with "Ugliest? Ugliest car on the road? Uglier than the Scion Xb?"

She came back with, "Oh yea, forgot about those, maybe the second ugliest car on the road!"

We laughed, it's ok, if everybody loved MINI Coopers then my garage would be full of them. Wait...I fail to see a bad side to that.

You see, now you can't get rid of your car. You'll never get those kinds of compliments with any other car!

 

I'd go with compliment. It would tough on the guy to just come right out and say something nice when a his macho muscle didn't do well against Oscar...nice going.

 

I agree... I love all cars... just because I think they may be ugly (and there are some UGLY cars) but it might not be to them. As far as dissension among mini owners, I think it’s a shame. They’re ALL minis, no matter if it’s a “justacooper” or a “JCW”.

Gotta love ‘em....


Mark

 

Definitely a compliment. No law says anyone has to like anything. Not even the law of good taste. While you (and I) may not share his taste in cars, or manners, he was admiring your car enough to vocalize it.

 

It always feels backhanded when a woman says my cooper is cute... I always make sure to tell em it's fast lol

 

The Mini Cooper has to be one of the most polarizing cars out there, whether it be its size, the hipster image it (unfortunately) portrays, or the general misperception that it's a girl's car (unfortunately).

Seeing a fast, mean looking JCW must have really sent that H8R for a loop, he probably didn't know what to think. But I agree it was a compliment, he got over a lot of himself to actually vocalize his respect for your MINI.

As for S vs. non-S you see that a lot of that here as well, which is a shame. Personally I don't give a damn, I'm going NA from a R56S in a couple of weeks hopefully, but I have my own idea of which MINI works for me. All I know is that it will be a Mini regardless.

 

We had the unveiling of my wife's car with my family for Easter. Later on I hear my dad make a snide comment about the car that went something like this. " Any car that small is just a toy". I really wanted to say something like, "I will put the Cooper S against your Cadillac CTS any day and twice on Sunday". He is 80 so I kept my mouth shut. When I get my Countryman I will take him for a ride and see if that changes his tune!

 

Ehh... the CTS is very capable and it would be a bigger challenge than you might think.

 

If it was a CTS-V I would be worried....

 

If it was a CTS-V, just walk away. But even the regular CTS is no slouch, at least on paper performance compared with the MCS.

 

I love Mini Coopers

 

Yeah, no shiet.... my times at the track are pretty good but the last time I was out at VIR, I had a CTS-V hand my azz to me in bone stock condition. He didn't lose me in the turns but I could not pass him to save my life and once the straight-away hit, he was GONE!!!


Of course, he was a professional driver but still, the car was bone stock. Really embarrassing....


Mark

 

CTS is a fine car...until you need to work on it. Something as simple as a valve cover gasket can be a nightmare. At least the MINI (R50, anyway) is easy to work on.

 

I don't even feel comfortable typing out what my Mom's husband said about my first Mini. It's very offensive. I think most people dismiss it and have preconceived ideas about it due to it's size. I've changed a lot of peoples minds already, however, by taking them for a ride or letting them drive it. My sister in law was one that didn't like them and now she's shopping them after carpooling in mine 3-4 days a week.

 

Ha ha, that's pretty cool man!

Since i'm from the Motor City, most people think I drive a "girl car." Every other sports car on the road is a Mustang, Camaro, or Corvette. I respect Corvette's engineering, but man the rest can eat me. I get silly comments at work at the time about it and the MINI Cooper toys I have on my desk. Funny how these big bad Camaro and Mustang drivers couldn't drive their own *** out of a paper bag if they got on a track. Yea, it's got it's quirks and issues, but I'm a MINI owner for life.

 

For me, the most backhanded (and most regular) compliment I get is, "Your car is so cute!"

 

Get that at least once a week in northern VA.

 

I'm curious.....just how fast is your Mini? A G8 does 0-60 in 5.0 and the 1/4 in 13.5. I often see posts on NAM of people claiming how fast their Mini is but I guess its all relative....fast compared to what?

BTW - I agree with the G8 owner....your Mini is "bad as hell"

 

Magazines... only if they posted modded numbers.

 

MINIs might not be the the slickest/meanest looking cars (Oscar is pretty damn mean though but MINIs are certainly the most unique and have the most character.

 

Iv'e been on both sides of that equation. I did the same thing to the Mini's when I was in my GTO. This was back in 2005. The Mini's could hold there own in the curves but in the nice long front straight they were in my rear view mirror rather rapidly. It's very difficult to beat brute horsepower. Now the CTS and CTS V will both handle better than my 05 GTO so I doubt it would be much of a challenge.

Anyway that is my experience.

 

Havent done vir in my MINI but many times on my bikes, i could imagine the roller coaster would be the arena to shine in.

 

OrangeCrush your car is very cool and I'm sure the guy has a completly different attitude towards Mini's now.