Category: General

Well, unless you are here infrequently (I know you all check this everyday!) you can’t have helped to notice that the site looks different. I’m still playing with the format and may go to something very simple later but for now this is how it is. Most importantly I am now using WordPress as Blogger was annoying me; props to DB for inspiring me.

I’m pleased to say that Brecht’s didn’t bat an eyelid when I asked if they would replace the windshield although it did mean coming home with the loaner and going back again today to pick the car up. Whilst I was there I also had them fix the driver door that would always slam shut on you when you tried to open it. 15,500 miles to the next service – driving to San Diego 1-2x a week should see us there pretty quickly. Only a few days before the anniversary of my adoption!

In the almost year that I’ve owned Sarah I’ve experienced many of the common faults but I’ve always been glad that I was spared the dreaded windshield crack that so many MINIs have suffered. Well, that was until today when I saw a 4 inch or so crack coming down from the top centre of the glass and then curling away toward the passenger side. The car is off to Brecht’s on Weds for the inspection, maybe I can persuade them to do it under warranty…. it doesn’t look like a stone chip, although the car is two years old now, I would have expected that to have happened by now.

I’ve long thought that my Cooper S is not really an S at all. I need to drive someone else’s to compare my car’s acceleration, maybe have someone drive mine and tell me what they think. Maybe I am expecting too much from a stock S but most every day I am left standing at the light by a pick-up truck or Geo Neon, and that just doesn’t seem right. Yesterday a Ford pickup out-accelerated me to 70mph, wtf?

Sarah is in for her 28K inspection on Wednesday, maybe I will ask them about it then.

In other news I have a new job, will start in San Diego August 9th.. maybe there will be some performance mods in Sarah’s future… but not until I’ve finished my Commercial pilot’s licence.

Sarah turned 30 today, not 30 years old of course but 30,000 miles. Thats a lot more miles than I am used to doing (welcome to Southern California driving!) but still nothing compared to this guy. Only around 20K of those miles are mine, and only a couple of weeks to my one year ownership anniversary. If/when I start working in San Diego, that figure will get a lot higher!

I’ve come to the conclusion that the MINI is a dangerous car. Not because of its design or construction but because it is so damned small. First, its impossible to see over or around 80% of the vehicles on the road which makes me edgy in close-moving traffic (i.e. all the time in SD or LA). Second, a lot of drivers underestimate the power of the MINI and will pull out in front of you thinking that the tiny car couldn’t possibly be going fast enough for them to be in the way. Finally, some vehicles just don’t see you, especially in the super-lifted automobiles of the Imperial Valley, I swear I could drive underneath some of the monster trucks on the roads here.

Be careful out there!

Last weekend the MINI and I went to the Ramona Air Fair, somewhat north of San Diego: had a great day watching the planes and their acrobatics. I was looking at their website today for pictures of the event (I had been stupid enough to forget my camera) and to my surprise, Sarah made it into their photo album!

Click here for the fair’s website

I love the optimism that the MINI trip computer shows. Yesterday before I left for San Diego it was showing a range of 367 miles. On arrival in San Diego, 120 miles later, it was showing a range of 407!! How many cars get that kind of mileage!!

I’ve had Sarah for almost a year now and I am still often not getting it right when I pull away in first gear. The Cooper has a high torque engine and it doesn’t really respond until you get above 3000 rpm. So I try to get the rpms up before I bring the clutch up but what happens quite often is that it’s about 1500 rpm when the clutch engages and the first thing that happens is the revs go down to about 1000, its like the accelerator has fallen into a hole. Then it picks up and we’re off.

Its annoying because I get challenged quite a bit, either implicitly or explicitly. I’ll roll up to a stop light and the car (usually a pickup of a Neon) behind will pull alongside me. 9 times out of 10 I should have no trouble leaving the car in my dust but when I get that first gear wrong, it takes a few seconds to catch them up – leaving the wrong impression about the might of the MINI!

Not really MINI related, but MINI financing… and I really should have caught this earlier so its all my own fault really. I thought I was being fiscally smart, each month I was making more than the required payment on the loan, get that thing paid off early! Well, they are smarter than me… they’ve been reducing the required payment each month so as to keep me on track to take the whole term of the loan! Yeah, I should have noticed the payments were getting smaller but I still feel duped.