UKPylot’s MINI Blog

First, I bet everyone is having fun with the Hammer and Coop website. I’ve seen a few action names posted so thought I would add mine – Pulverizer Seawolf. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Second, my Dad swears blind that you can increase the range of your remote key by pointing it at your head. The idea is that you get just far enough away from the car that pointing and clicking the remote does not work. But if you point it at your head and click then it will work, if you haven’t gone too far. I’m not sure how close the remote has to be to your head but he says he’s tried it and it works.

…. is that in order for us to buy it we need to be feel like our existing MINIs are no good, or at least somewhat inferior. And so that of course is what I read from MINI, and MINI-apologist sites like MotoringFile, and I am instantly turned off the new vehicle. Of course the new MINI does have improvements over the current generation, as technology has moved on, but I hate being made to feel like I bought a unrefined, underpowered, piece of crap.

Which I certainly did not.

One difference I continually notice between UK and US driving is in the meaning of flashing one’s headlights. At home, it almost always means “after you” or “I’m letting you out” but every time I flash someone here to let them know to come out it is taken as a warning and they don’t come out. I’ve been doing it for years and I don’t seem to learn.

Only got one MINI related gift this Christmas – a bunch of new magnetic badges. I don’t really expect a lot of MINI news this year but I’ll continue to post pointless junk as and when I feel like it. Happy New Year, all.

Merry Christmas from the oil companies!

At a happy hour with some old Navy colleagues a woman I worked with asked if I still had my MINI. She had been thinking of getting a convertible but her husband told her that small cars were dangerous because they do not hold the road well on corners. I’ve heard some complaints about the MINI from non-owners but never that one! I assured her that quite to the contrary the MINI stuck to the road far better than most vehicles and her husband didn’t know what he was talking about. I am glad to say she is going back home and telling him she is again interested in a MINI.

Since I work on the PS3, I probably shouldn’t give our shoddy rival the press but I saw this picture and thought I’d post it anway.

Click on the picture to see a few images from the Singapore Car Show 2006, but be warned its more about the babes than the cars!

Well, never expected to see a Mini but on my way back to the office after a little walk I was passed by a white Mini Mayfair! It looked like it hadn’t aged too well but the young male driver looked like he didn’t care.

Also saw a Hummer which somewhat predictably cut-off some other car without giving a care. Good to know that Hummer drivers are a**holes no matter where they live.

We were supposed to be going home tomorrow but we’ve been “extended” until next Weds. I suppose we must do what the company wants but there’s not one of us happy about it. And, most importantly, Tokyo seems to be fully booked for the weekend and we have to move to a hotel we aren’t sure about….