My new Daily Driver

[VehiGAZ]

Between the price of premium, my VX's 100k birthday, and Isuzu's American-marketus interruptus (and the associated parts supply situation), I decided that I needed a newer daily driver that would be fun to drive and a lot more painless at the pump. THIS is what I came up with:


http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/Mini_GAZ.jpg
(yeah, I know - crappy cell phone pic!)

It's a 2006 Mini Cooper S with sport & cold weather packages, plus the rare limited-slip differential. We had the dealer add the checkered-flag decal at my wife's insistence. I think it gives the car a bit of a toy-like appearance, but some people really seem to dig it. I will give it a chance for now, knowing that I can always remove the decal.

The VX is not going anywhere - we still have plenty of uses for it!

So when did I become such an "automotive extrovert"?!?!

[VCrossfan]

Neat...My 13 year old daughter already has her eye on mini's. Looks cool....:thumbup:

[kodiak]

Nice mini, I hear they handle really well. I need to go test drive one.:p

[alanbradley]

They're not bad, but over here they're hopelessly overpriced dealing mainly on "image" which is somewhat tarnished in my eyes byt the number used as mobile advertising for estate agents (realtors) or driven badly by rich-kid-daughters.

That siad, the actualy car's a hoot and were it not for the above then I'd consider one!

The roof looks good btw!

A

[VehiGAZ]

They are not quite the "chick cars" over here that they sounds like in UK (above comments notwithstanding ;-).

It can be driven quite mellow or with demonic intent. Yes, it handles - it just corners soooo flat! I am not even close to understanding the dynamics of this thing yet, or the limitations of the stability control system. Gotta get more seat-time in...

[Francesco Rizzo]

kudos with your choice for the mini cooper type S. I had been shopping around for one for some time and they are pound for pound the best mpg vs ride quality/enjoyment in my oppinion. The safey is awesome which helps with insurance. I tried, but couldn't resist the xa's 5K cheaper sticker price. good luck with your new ride!

[MSHardeman]

VehiGAZ,

Make sure to keep us up to date as you get more seat time in the Mini. I have been looking for a second car so I wouldn't have to drive my VX so much and it is down to another VX or a Mini Cooper. The Cooper looks like a blast and I am leaning that way right now so I would appreciate your thoughts on it.

[VehiGAZ]

Will do.

I am learning that it is "Jeckyll-and-Hyde" adaptable - it is just as happy driving for max mileage (i.e., 1st-2nd-3rd-6th shifting) as well as for max fun, whipping into every corner and downshifting like you have no brakes. And it needs no transition to do it other than a 3-gear downshift. The LSD is a little lumpy in its operation compared to the one in my old Prelude SH, but what do you want at these prices?

As for safety, they are engineered quite well. A woman I work with got T-boned in her Mini convertible by an F-250 (!!!) and walked away without a scratch, as a passenger would have had one been in the car with her when it happened. Her car would have been totalled out if they had spotted all the damage ahead of time (but they didn't and she got it rebuilt), but she was perfectly fine.

I was hoping for 28 mpg in calm driving, but I have no idea yet - I didn't reset the trip odomoeter and gas mileage when I left the dealer, so it'll be a while before I can post real-life mileage. The average ecomony is showing 23.0 mpg, but I don't know what that is based on.

I think they are going to start selling really well - since the price of gas rose so sharply in the last 4-6 weeks, very, very few used ones have come on the market in a 50 mile radius from me.

[WormGod]

Neat...My 13 year old daughter already has her eye on mini's. Looks cool....:thumbup:

Bwahahahaha.... man, if that wasnt a blow to VehiGAZ's masculine disposition (and any other men who own one), hahahaha. :p I have a few buddies who have them and I love to throw the toy-chick car thing at them all the time. Just for fun, and they know it, as I get the lesbian-Subaru thing all the time, heh.

Congrats on the new addition V.

[VehiGAZ]

Bwahahahaha.... man, if that wasnt a blow to VehiGAZ's masculine disposition (and any other men who own one), hahahaha. :p I have a few buddies who have them and I love to throw the toy-chick car thing at them all the time. Just for fun, and they know it, as I get the lesbian-Subaru thing all the time, heh.

Congrats on the new addition V.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I can handle the barbs - I figure if someone thinks that my VX and the 928 aren't masculine enough to carry the Mini, then there's just no pleasing them.

"the lesbian-Subaru thing"... THAT'S funny!

[LittleBeast]

I drove a Mini Cooper S around as I was debating an extra car to purchase while the VX was at Aamco, and it was really really fun driving that car around!!!!! And my friend who let me borrow it wanted only $13k for it and it was hard to pass up, but the moment I test drove a RX-8 I feel in love with the smoothness of the rotary engine, and it handled far better than the Mini Cooper S (something pretty hard to do). If I had purchased the Cooper S I would've black it out completely (what is the slang term "murdered it") and purchased a body kit for it, maybe something like this:
http://www.bodykits.com/249/286/672/673/674/1242/02-04-BMW-Mini-Cooper-S-2dr-Oracle-Full-Kit-p-26623.html
But I have liked the RX-8 so much that it gets the garage most of the time. I have put maybe 4k miles on it in 8 months.

[LittleBeast]

Any update on your average mpg? Liking the mini still?

[tom4bren]

"If I had purchased the Cooper S"

Tires stick out a little too far for my taste.

[LittleBeast]

"If I had purchased the Cooper S"

Tires stick out a little too far for my taste.

huh?

[tom4bren]

Sorry - feeble attempt at humor - it's an 'offset from hell' thing

[VehiGAZ]

"Still liking it"?!? I'm liking it more and more every day! There is no turn too tight for that little animal. It is just begging to be autocrossed...

No update on mielage - I didnt zero out the trip odo when I picked it up, and I was on vacay for 10 days, so I am just now finishing up my first measured tank. I will post my results - I'm hoping for 26-28 mpg (about double the VX!).

[VehiGAZ]

Update - the "miles left" counter accelerated its downward spiral on my home from work, so I stopped to fill up with 21 miles left to go. I went 319.0 miles on 13.054 gallons = 24.4 mpg. Not bad, but I think I can get better than 25 mpg once I'm done with all of these "demonstration drives" for my buds.

[Spyder]

Love the Mini.

I've been trying to get my wife to get one.

[VehiGAZ]

Gas mileage update...

After getting a slightly disappointing 24.4 mpg, I drove the next tank like it was the last gas on earth - shifting 1-4-6 as often as possible, keeping the gears high and the revs low, and got about 26.8 mpg. The average mileage counter suggested it would be over 27 mpg, but the math didn't cooperate when I filled the tank and looked at the pump and odometer.

So - no sense driving like a grandmother for maybe 1-1.5 mpg. I'll just drive it normally and see what happens.

That thing will probably get 30 mpg on conventional gas - can't wait to try a tank!

[WormGod]

I am in PRE-research for a small but sporty car with good gas mileage now as well since the Rex is simply too much fun to drive to possibly get the best mileage possible, heh.

I test drove the Saturn Sky Redline about 2 weeks ago and loved it, for what it was worth. No internet research at all, just went. Sadly, thing gets worse mileage than my Rex. The only thing it had over my Rex were numbers, but off the paper, my Rex would chew this thing up. No convertible hardtop option either. The lag was enough to make you think the turbo thrusted 0.000003boost. I wanted so hard to love this car for my needs, but it has a lot of shortfalls for the price they are asking. Low to mid $30's. For that, I could cut a deal on an '08 STi and have the bacon, eggs, and the AWD, heh. But, it came down to me still liking the Sky Redline for what it was and not what it could do for me. I would consider it were I a blue collar family man hitting a midlife crisis.

I am gonna look at Smartcars next. For the hell of it. :cool: