On 5/2/02 10:08 PM, Paul T. Root <proot@horton.iaces.com> wrote:
>At lunch today, my friend and I went over to see three Mini's
>in the lot in "The Galleria" in Edina, Mn.
>
>Seems, Motorwerks BMW opened Motorwerks Mini in the Mall.
>
>They had three out in the lot for apparent test drives (one
>went out as we were there. The salesman pointed us inside
>the mall, where there is the store front.
>
>So I sat in a Cooper S. It's pretty nice. Comfortable driving
>requires the seat back to touch the rear seat, and I could
>stand to drive it to lunch position still wouldn't have
>enough room for my 5 year old back there.
>
>But it sure looks cool. Maybe sometime I'll be able to take
>one out.
My 72 year old father bought one a couple of weeks ago, and they paid us
a surprise visit this last weekend. I came home from work and opened the
garage door to put a way the MGA, and there was a bright yellow MINI
Cooper (not S) smiling back at me. I didn't even know he was considering
one, and it definitely wouldn't have been on my short list of car's I'd
picture him in. He is selling his Miata, as the MINI is his new toy.
Anyway, I drove it quite a bit, but it only had 255 miles on it, so it
was still in break-in. He got the CVT instead of the manual. Man, is that
weird! You can't tell when it shifts. Well, it doesn't really. You just
press on the gas and it goes faster. A combination of more fuel and a
higher gear ratio all at once. There is a [whatever BMW calls their
version of Porsche/Audi's Tiptronic] that has 6 speeds, but they are
really only 6 pre-set positions on the CVT. You can't feel the tranny
"shift" inot them, and there is no satisfying shift feeling when it gets
there. There also seems to be a lag between when I pressed the pedal and
something happened. Very short, but noticable.
At only 115 HP, it is not a barn burner, but it is a blast to drive. (I
just got a 227 HP Subaru WRX, for comparison, so 115 HP is half what it
has as opposed to twice the MG's power.) It corners like a go kart at the
mediocre speeds I had it at, but the local SCCA had one show up at an
autocross, and they had the same opinion. It is 800 pounds less than my
WRX, but still a half ton more than the "original" Mini.
It definitely has BMW's build quality. Fit and finish was perfect, and
someone ran into the back of it while my Mom was parking in a lot the
second day they had it. She said it felt like it hit hard, but there
wasn't a mark on the car!
As Paul said, it is really a two passenger car with room for pets, stuff,
or paraplegic friends in the back. I'm only 5' 8", but my 14 year old
daughter had to sit with knees splayed behind me, and my 5 year old in a
booster seat had her feetright up against the seat-back. Rear seat is
slit folding, so there is room for one small person and some stuff. The
security lid that goes over the hatch area is only about 8 to 10 inches
wide. Room back there for about three carefully packed paper grocery bags.
I couldn't get used to looking over to the center of the console to see
the speedo, but the tach right in front of your nose is nice...if it were
a manual tranny. I did find one thing extremely iritating though. in a
car this well built it is really quiet...until I turned on the turn
signal. Then it sounded like on of those old big can style flasher units
mounted right behind the speedo. Clank-clank. Clank-clank. Clank-clank.
Clank-clank. Really loud! I'd wrap some insulation around that thing in a
hurry if it were my car!
All in all it was fun and a real attention getter. I live on a semi-rural
road with a 25 MPH speed limit around a curve just before my house.
people usually drive 35-60 MPH by here, but this weekend it was slllowwww
traffic at the Morris residence. One van even stopped at the end of the
driveway for several seconds. much mor eattention than my MGA gets when
parked in the same spot :-(
I don't know if I would want one, but if I did, it would me a manual
Cooper S.
By the way for those contemplating getting one with cash or ready credit.
He paid MSRP, and walked in and bought one off of the lot, even though
this dealer has 600 people on a waiting list. Seems dealers have to see
what comes in, check the list and see who wants what with what options.
Try to get ahod of them and then find that they need to get financing or
sell their car, or just lost a job, Then go on to the next person and so
on. They get 3-4 cars in a week, and it takes almost the whole week to
try to weed out the real buyers on the waiting list. Come in with cash
and make a deal and it is yours, right now! I did the same with my WRX,
even though people are waiting for weeks still to get theirs.
This is getting long enough! Sorry for the rambling. Here's a picture,
and one with the WRX and MGA:
<http://homepage.mac.com/subaruwrx/visit.jpg>
<http://homepage.mac.com/subaruwrx/BeautyAndBeast.jpg>
Steve
Steve Morris Avon, Ohio
1958 MGA 1500 Red/Black
NAMGAR #5987 BuckAyes Ohio Chapter
LoCo Brits MG Drivers Club #5422
<mailto: MGA1500@mac.com>
http://homepage.mac.com/mga1500
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|
