UKPylot’s MINI Blog

Yeah, we know the answer to that but the woman driving her MDX didn’t seem to know. I don’t know what it is with people wanting to beat me off the line at traffic lights. Surely after all this time, people know that the MINI is, well, a bit quick. And I’m used to WRX’s, 911’s etc making their intentions clear but not often an SUV.

So tonight I’m in the left lane of two at the traffic light, next light is a left turn for me. I see the Acura come up behind, pause, and then come out around me to the right. My first thought is that she wants to go straight on at the next light. Light changes and she’s off, engine squealing. I don’t usually bother but I’ve been pissy all week and I’m frankly disgusted that someone thinks an MDX is faster than a MINI.

I catch her during the change from 2nd to 3rd gear (I bet most of you would still be in first!), cruise by her and am at the light 10-15 seconds before her; she pulls up behind me.

I don’t get it. I drive very conservatively, no crazy quick starts, no challenging other vehicles, and yet time and time again a car will pull this crap. Frankly I’m getting tired of it.

I finally joined the ranks of the iPhone users last week and am loving my new toy, never before did I think that using a phone could be fun. But, despite owning about 8 mounts for my Flip camera, I don’t have a good way to secure the iPhone in the MINI. Right now it just sits on the passenger seat but one tight curve and it’s off onto the floor. Or worse, with the windows open I could see it bouncing up and out into the wild blue yonder.

So as much as I hate to buy yet another mount, looks like I need something. I know Ian has a convertible and an iPhone - what do you do? RB - you have an iPhone, too. And anyone else care to say what they use?

btw, the picture is of a mount sold by MountGuys.com.

Last Friday I on my way home from San Diego I could see huge cumulus clouds building up in the East but one thing I have learned from flying, it is impossible to know how far away they are - could have been over home, or all the way to AZ or CO.

Got down to the Valley floor and there was a wall of grey 10 miles ahead. A huge storm cloud tilted in the sky, the left hand side tipping all the way to the desert floor. To the right, a veil of darkness. Hmm.. this was going to be interesting.

Inside the cloud it started to hail, giant balls of hail banging on the glass. The wind was fierce and visibility went down to maybe 20 feet. A lot of people had pulled off onto the hard shoulder but the storm wasn’t moving and I figured I could be stick there for ages. So I kept going, but at 20 mph or so, watching the white line real close. Yeah, I had the camera for a while but soon realised I was in enough danger as it was, no need for more.

Finally got outside the storm but it looked filthy in the sky in all directions,. A few miles later, a large brown curtain masked the road ahead. No rain this time but the storm winds had whipped up tons of sand and dirt and for a few seconds it was almost total brown-out. Scary stuff.

I was glad to get home and, I thought, get to enjoy experiencing the storm from under our patio roof (I have an extreme weather fetish) but the storm stayed to the west and the north of us. Naturally, I had washed the car on Sunday and now on Friday it was all dirty again.

It was also the first time for me to try out my new Anywhere Travel Companion, an aviation and street GPS unit. Maybe more on the latter in a future post.

This Friday when I went to leave work my fuel gauge showed totally empty, despite me having filled up that morning. I checked around the car in case the fuel line had broken, or maybe someone had stolen the gas out, but could see no evidence of any damage. There’s a gas station a couple of miles away so I decided I’d try and make it there and see if I could put any fuel in. About half way I was stopped at a light and decided that I couldn’t have gotten that far on nothing so turned the engine off and gave the car a good shake. Put the engine back on and the fuel gauge was alive and showing full.

Most likely a stuck needle in the tank (do modern cars still work that way?) but then yesterday I was driving around town and noticed that the needle was way below what it should have been, but after about 15 minutes it finally went up to what I thought was the proper mark. Hopefully just a transient issue or am I going to have raid the piggy bank for some repairs.

Talking of piggy back, I’m only about 3 months away from my Inspection II being due - I don’t even want to know what Brecht will charge for that.

Rumours have reached this desk that I might be planning to attend a MINI run in the near future. Well, it’s true! There is a very good chance that Teri and I will be meeting up with SCMM in Redlands on Aug 23rd to join them on their run to Big Bear. Yes, people, watch out - earthquakes can not be far behind!!!

And in other news from the future, I am sure everyone has received details of the room rate for AMVIV 6 in March ‘09; I think we’ll be at that, too.

Spent last night pondering whether to trade in my “gas guzzling” Cooper for something a little less thirsty. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, so let me explain…. my monthly commute is about 1600 miles, most of that highway miles. Unless I take a big cut in pay by working locally, or my boss decides teleworking is not evil, this isn’t going to change. So, my fuel costs:

In regular driving I can get 27 mpg, if I try real hard I can probably get 30, though I haven’t managed that yet. The Civic Hybrid claims 45 mpg but I figure 40 mpg is more likely.

Why did I use the Civic Hybrid as my comparison? I was looking at cars that I could trade in the ‘05 and not spend much more to buy. This puts the Clubman or new MCS out of reach. An MC could be possible but I’m tired of driving to Escondido for servicing, and the outrageous costs involved.

Am I really thinking about getting out of the MINI? Not sure at this point, it’s possible. I’m depressed about the state of the convertible top, why keep a car that you can’t put the top down? I’ve heard a new top could be as much as $4000, I’d rather put that to something new.

The cost of (private) flying has risen worse than the cost of motoring. Plane rentals in my flying club are up to the $100 an hour mark, saving $1-200 on driving could mean the difference between giving up flying, and still being able to do it. As much as I’d hate to give up the fun of the MINI, high gas prices may mean that the auto becomes utility again.

You have to love the optimism displayed by the OBC. Filled up over the weekend ($4.475 for those of you interested) and when I got to work this morning I had traveled approximately 150 miles and the OBC was saying I had 360 left in the tank. I’ve never gotten 360 miles from a full tank, let alone one where I’d already done 150. I’d love to see 400 miles on a tank, let alone 510!

What you don’t have to love is the, now, quite noticeable wear in the fabric of the convertible top. Both sides of the top have two clearly visible dots where the fabric has been worn thin by the underlying mechanism. At 61,000 I’m out of warranty (not that Brecht were willing to do anything about it when it was) so am faced with either a $2200 bill for a new top, or simply not using it any more. Neither seems that good to me. I suppose I shall trawl the forums for some DIY solutions, maybe I can do something to stop it getting worse?