When you drive through Boise, wave!

 

Spotted a spice orange in the neighborhood (middle country road selden ny and bluepoint road holtsville area) twice in two days.

 

You can add a future roadster to the Babylon NY area in sept!

 

Congrats we will keep an eye out for ya

 

I saw two MINI Hardtops parked together at the Vienna Metro Station in Northern Virginia today. I usually spot the same Coupe in the parking garage.

But I have yet to see a MINI Roadster on the road outside the area immediately surrounding the MINI dealership in Sterling, VA.

When mine arrives from England in late September, I hope to be the guy spotted by all you keen MINI observers!

 

I know for sure that they've sold a bunch in my area but I have not seen a single one on the roads. All who I have spoken to who bought the roadster in my area are probably 50+ yrs old and all seem wealthy enough to get the roadster as a secondary or 3rd car for weekends, trips, and such.

On the other hand I have seen quite a few convertible among the younger working crowd I see during rush hour.

I guess it tends to make sens in a typical social context... it's the way things are

 

Yes us old farts like the roadster. But I daily mine, so have over 16,000 miles in 10 months even though I do not dive it in the winter. So 16,000 miles in about seven months or less.

 

I resemble that remark ... I'm a 57 year-old semi-retired lawyer. However, my Roadster will be my daily driver.

I'm surprised about your common sightings of the younger crowd driving MINI convertibles. Anyone have any thoughts on why this might be?

 

I'm 58, When I was at MINI's ON TOP there were 9 roadsters.

eight of the owners where in their 50's, 1 was a kid and his girlfriend (Mid 20's) from NJ and the other was a loaner...

Interesting...

Andy

 

Well I am in the under 50 group and its my daily. Met a nice gentleman at the last club meeting that had picked up his 2 weeks before me. Almost fell over when he said 7 thousand miles. He didn't quite believe me when I said we have already driven 41k and through 8 states.
I love mine and we drive it! Heartbroken now as I am stuck in the passenger seat for a few weeks.

 

Noreen ,

41K... Wow ... Any issues ???

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Had to replace HK amp last may- other than that its typical maintenance stuff was a little shocked at replacing the rotors 38 k but not completely out of the ordinary. Was secretly hoping to upgrade to jcw brake kit but when dealer covered standard rotors I knew my fiancé would have been a little upset as we are trying to save for another house ;(

 

At 57, I find that both interesting and encouraging. Peer pressure, social status, and image become less important with age. I bought what I want. I can easily afford another Jaguar XF, like my wife's, but only the MINI Roadster offers the driving experience and looks of my old MGB and MG Midgets. That did it for me.

 

I didn't mean to get on the age topic. It was not my intent... but here is what I think:

Generally speaking we should not be surprise by the average MINI roadster buyer 's age. We live in a culture that value "practicality" more than ever before and why technology is in our face 24/7.
The car manufacturer are in part responsible as they can advertise a lot more easily safety and features than they can advertise dreams and ideas of happiness the way they use to in the 50s for example.

As a result only when we hit middle age (and sometime earlier for some) we start counting the years we have left to enjoy ourselves. We go back to those more emotional instincts, and then the thought of a MINI roadster makes a lot of sense.
For the youngsters, social pressures will ask them to justify expenses and practical needs all the time, regardless of their income, so even if they may hardly ever have people in their car, or own a second "kids-car", the though that they might need a more practical and socially friendly vehicle will prevail. Likely why the younger crowd favor the convertible instead as well...

Since everyone is in the open I'll tell you this. My wife and I are a bit of an odd mix so we don't really fit averages usually. We've been married for 17 yrs (and known each-other for 20), one of us is barely over 50 while the other is not, and with 12 yrs apart (I'll let you dream wildly which way it goes ) I tend to push for these emotional instincts the sooner the better, even if our modest means aren't necessarily those of your typical MINI roadster buyer as I have observed . we do have two cars in total (including the MINI), and both are daily drivers. They will go through the winters and will be/are owned for the long run.

Anyway all this sharing to say that I am not surprised at all if we don't see a lot of MINI roadster around. They just are more often out of sight (on trips, during odd hours, or not always used) than most typical cars

@ noreen: these cars have good braking power so that's why the rotors will go faster. In mechanics, and in many other places, everything is a choice to balance.

 

Not to buck the age trend, but I'm 31 and bought my Roadster last October ;-)

It's my daily driver, but I'm lucky enough to live close enough to work that I haven't even put 7K miles on it yet.

I have definitely gotten the "that's not practical" comment, but I've only run into a couple situations where having more room would have been nice (road trip with friends, and transporting a bike). Otherwise, this is the perfect car for me - but I am a single guy, and bought it knowing this might be the last time for 20 years that I could get away with a purchase like this - practicality be damned.

Or maybe I just have an old soul.

 

34 here. Car can carry two people, my dog and enough stuff for a week-long trip. Good enough for me.

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If you need a bike rack for your roadster, try this guy! The system is a smudge pricey, but it's a great setup!

http://minifini.com/ShopDetail.aspx?id=55

 

My wife bought her '09 Jaguar XF in 2008 when it was first released. Despite several trips to Ohio (youngest daughter at Ohio State) and Alabama (oldest daughter at University of Alabama), she only has 34,000 miles on the Jag. Of course, she only works about 4 miles from home. My last vehicle had 18,000 miles on it in exactly 3 years.

Hopefully, I can drive the Roadster on a few more pleasure trips with the girls out of college.

 

This might become handy. It's the only thing right now we had to choose from between the roadster and the other car. Take the roadster for a fun trip or the other car to take the bikes with us. I wasn't what the options were for MINI racks yet

Historically I've favored roof racks with bike fork attachment but I'm okay with rear mount too. I'll just have to see it doesn't interfere too much with rear lights.

 

It might. The "mini-link" system has a ton of different attachments. I am trying to design one for them that holds two golf bags safely.

They will custom make things, if it looks like something that may become popular on their base link.

I got to meet them at the Avon, CO gathering. They're great people!

 

I finally saw one! There is a new one parking in the garage of my building here in Downtown Portland, OR

 

I've only seen two. I had fun with a JCW that was BRG on I-95 a couple weeks ago. It was a guy with a bunch of tattoos and we had a blast. It's nice seeing other younger people driving MINI's and the unconventional tatts.

 

Update - I've seen a total of at least 6, maybe as many as 8 Roadsters but only one Coupe on the road in 14 months. I saw two of those roadsters in the last week.

 

It must be regional as well. I've seen a few coupe around here but not one roadster other than a few owners at the dealer.

 

Spotted my fourth or fifth coupe today, but still no roadsters.

Just the way I like it.

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