lisa's 3 month review (NOVEL length)

Okay, so I've had my lil speedo for 3 months now. I've put 3,900 miles on her. She is averaging 32 mpg or so, a bit better on the freeway, a bit worse in town. She's a plain-ole Cooper with DSC and the Cold Weather Pack, as well as stripes and spoiler (ah, vanity!)

I have got to say it--she is STILL so damned fun to drive. Just a complete delight. She is brash and full of brio, and I'm loving her to death, in a way I've never experienced with any other vehicle. And I STILL just love to look at her. She's in the garage, or I'm behind the wheel, so I don't get to see her lovely exterior too much. But I LOVE pulling up to a really shiny van and enjoying the reflection of her pepper white bonnet with black stripes. And I still turnaround as I walk away in a parking lot for a last glance.

I have learned (finally!) how to signal without flashing my brights. I have fine-tuned the appropriate volumn>speed boost ratio for my particular preference. I still have yet to learn how to parallel park (what is it about a MINI that's so different? is it how the wheels are at the outside corners?) I can always get into any tight spot (with relish!), but I do more back and forth than is cool. I keep thinking it has something to do with the steering radius of turning. Like, why is it this car just zips around corners, but doesn't do a tight U-turn? (Or am I just a dolt?)

Now, she's not without an owie or two. Mostly caused by stuff flying about inside the car while I'm taking what would be a tight curve in any other car at about 75 mph, but which Gigi seems to take in stride. MAN, I HAVE TO TIE STUFF DOWN to keep it from happening. Most of the owies are in the boot, but one big gouge on the back of my pilot's seat came from husband's guitar case (we were roadtripping!) I've rigged a couple bungies in the boot and pretty much wrap them around anything I put back there. But still, quite a few bumps and bruises.

I think I could be sad about the scrapes, but somehow I just can't. I mean, it would be great if they made the interiors a bit more impervious, a bit tougher. I mean, even when I tell myself that I have a case of water in the back, and even when I TRY to turn a corner more circumspectly, it just doesn't happen for me. (I finally figured how to rig my lunch box to the co-pilot seat adjustment lever, so that it stops bouncing around there on my way to work. Just seemed silly to open the boot for a lunchbox, ya know? And if I set it on the seat, well just forget it! It's like it's on rails, it flies so fast.) And don't EVEN open your glove compartment while you're in motion, man, or EVERYTHING will come flying out at you! I tried to buy one of those CD holders that velcros to the weeny sun visors (okay, a little gripe...will the new larger ones in the 05 fit in my 04, do you think?) But, anyway, couldn't keep the darn CD's in the holder. The last two would just fly right out of the case as I turned corners. (They would land in the door pocket--a little trick they learned from my clever cellphone!) Took the holder back to Best Buy and exchanged for a tighter one. They were laughing at me testing the options...imagine me putting old CD's into the cases at the store and then flinging the holder, but not letting go, and seeing if the CD's would stay in or not. Many were disqualified! The new holder is so tight that it's not great, cause it scrapes the CD's a bit coming in and out, but when you compare it to throwing CD's across the car, I guess it's better ;-)

It's a real relief that the scuffs on the silver door plastic seem to rub right off with a little cleaner. I seem to collect those with regularity (like from my purse, just getting in and out).

The black carpet needs a lot of vacuuming to stay clean (wish that could have been RED too ;-) And, of course, ya gotta do it. This car just inspires bathing, primping, preening. We're expanding the museum where I work, and the dust from the construction makes it hard to keep Gigi's top appropriately shiny.

I've got some strange streaks on the inside of my windows from something inside the door rubbing them when they go up and down. The marks are about

4-6 inches back from the pillars, above the door handles. They extend vertically across the side windows. (I couldn't figure out why they weren't coming out in the wash--it took me awhile to realize they were on the inside!) They clean off easily with glass cleaner, but they're a little irritating. And the windows will squeek a bit occasionally, I'm assuming from the same rubbing. (Anyone else have this happen?)

And poor Gigi was attacked by a flying meteor the other day, and now I have a new windshield. No truck in front of me, no overpass above. But I saw it come from out of the sky--nowhere really!--arch and hit. Heard the smack of it. (It was a tiny sharp rock that rode the rest of the way home on the rubber windshield seal--see even the rocks wanna go for a ride! Maybe that's where it came from, come to think of it. It was a hitchhiking rock!) It was a tiny chip for about 3 seconds, that immediately blossomed into a 4 inch crack, that with the love and attention of one more day grew into a dandy foot-long, tri-directional web. Damn glad I never signed that glass waiver, ya know? (Don't know why anyone would, actually. Never had a car that didn't need the windshield replaced at one point or another, and with a MINI, in particular, it seems wise to include the glass coverage.) A new windscreen was $450, and boy, am I glad I didn't have to pay for it.

One important point: if you have a bad violation record, look out! Mine has been clean for 18 years or so, but it's coming to an end. It's just a matter of time, you know? There is no speed on a freeway at which she feels out of control. She's alert, responsive, totally convincing at fast speeds. Curves are the best. They don't even FEEL fast, ya know?. Same is true in town, where I'm a classic jack-rabbit starter. And the brakes are firm and fast and seem to handle it all well. She simply WILL NOT GO SLOW. So I'm expecting to to end up in jail (or at least in court!) eventually. I'll try to remember NOT to try Spunky's comeback with the highway patrol, but it may just pop out there, in spite of all efforts to the contrary. We actually were stopped, but not ticketed, when we went to Chicago. Cop SWORE we ran a red light. Both my husband and I were AMAZED. We kept trying to figure out which intersection he meant (was that the intersection after the intersection with the yellow light, officer? ;-) , because we had passed a few of them before entering the freeway, and he had to catch us on the freeway. Can't believe after all that he let us off with a warning, especially since Tony was driving, and they seem to be harder on guys. Interestingly enough, saw only two other MINI's all weekend in Chicago, when I can see a few a day in Minneapolis. Guess it's just because there are so many more NON-MINI vehicles there, that the proportion is a little more favorable for sitings in the smaller cities?

Well, if you made it this far, what's shocking is that there's still more lovely things I could say about her. But I will spare you any more excruciating details. Clearly, Gigi remains FASCINATING to me at least. But it's probably like parents with their kids, ya know? I'm always going to find her every little nuance infinitely interesting. Haven't made it to a local MINI-owers club where such fascination would probably be well understood by the other drivers. There's a group by me that's taken to going to the drive-ins on Saturday nights. Picture a whole row of MINIs checking out I-Robot, and it starts to get freaky!

Basta! Enough fun for me for one night!

Lisa (whose MINI-id is routinely trouncing her MINI-ego!)

Reply to
poo
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Lovely sentiments, Lisa! It's wonderful to hear that you and Gigi are getting along so well!

I, too, have had to deal with common personal electronic devices growing ballistic in turns, and I'm totally with you on the window squeaking/inside smudge. Sometimes the smudge is there; sometimes not. The windows seem to squeak a lot more in hot weather (which, in Los Angeles right now, is always).

Let us know when you finally get nabbed by The Authorities. I've had a spotless record, as well, but given my propensity for chirping the tires off of the line, during right turns, and during left turns, revving my engine for no good reason under overpasses (I mean, other than to scare SUVs), and givin' it a little 'extra' on the freeway, I'm sure that a reckoning can't be far away.

erik

Reply to
Erik Peterson

Lisa,

Excellent review. Let me share a couple of things I've put together in my 2 years/58k miles...

First, and best, I found this tip about a year ago. If you take an old 35mm film canister and screw the bottom of it to your cell phone holster (after taking the clip off), it will fit exactly over either the light dimmer button or the hazard flasher button. Now it is right in front of you, and cost nothing (unless you buy the holster). You can get as many film canisters as you want for free at any drugstore film processing center.

Second, go to

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and buy a "sticky pad". It's a thing about the size of a typical mouse pad that lies on the peak of your dash and things just stick to it. I use it for my radar detector. I can't shake it loose on any turn. A very sharp bump will knock it off, but that is a rare occurrence. Yet you can just pick it up and put it in the glove box when parked (or pulled over). It really works, $5.

Third, get the glovebox organizer from MossMini, it's worth it.

No idea what you can do about CD's. Pull off the gearshift knob and stack 'em?

Anyway, have a ball, it only gets better.

Reply to
jtpr

Thank, Jim, you've inspired me to investigate the new world of accessories.

Bought the boot net, the glovebox organizer and the seat pulls--not crazy about how the last item looks, but the functionality of the pull cannot be disputed--or maybe you just have to be less than 5'5" to appreciate them ;-) Have been thinking about buying the net and organizer for awhile. Even thought for just a second I might go for the pillar organizer, but it was just a bit too much for one buying spree. (Yikes!) Just hoping the net is as expandable as it claims. And the organizer seemed so minimal that I wasn't sure it would be worth the dough. But the endorsement of fellow MINI drivers is a good thing, so I'm going for it. And I'd basically invented (in my head, anyway) some seat pulls, only mine had a much lower profile and were attached just below the seat latch (I wasn't exactly sure how it seemed like they could be a factory installed item and be secured before the plastic latch went in).

Saw some truly ugly arm rests. Several, in fact. But also saw a nifty small round one that looked trim and not expensive. Anyone try this round arm (more like elbow) rest?

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It wasthe only one there that somehow didn't scream after-market to me. But itlooks as if it only comes in gray? There was a good armrest thread going onthe forums at mini2, so maybe I'll check that out too.... Moss' prices seemed good/best in comparison shopping, but they really need to do some better image adjustments. And larger-size images would be great. Shopping online adds enough uncertainty, that it's very helpful when you can really see the goods, ya know? Could hardly see some of the details because many of the images were so dark At least their site is navigable, which many of the accessory sites don't seem to be. (Snark, Lisa! Can you tell I manage a design studio ;-)

Ms. Verbose is takin' huhseff offline!

Cheers!

Lisa

Reply to
poo

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