Drat, I Got A Flat!

Load the car up this morning for the weekly commute to San Diego and the front tyre is totally flat. I’m sure it will be no surprise to hear that I have no source of compressed air (and not even a football pump for that matter) so I sit here waiting for the nice man from AAA to come help. The car hasn’t been moved since Friday night and it was then, wonder what happened to it. Ah, there is a big nail sticking out of it…

My first time in 4 years of MINI ownership I regret having an S. Nah, not really. Though I am now wondering about why I ditched the run flats….

Snowing in San Diego!

It’s a Festivus miracle!!! Well, ok, not really but it sure seemed like it was snowing on the way home tonight. A couple of bags of small feathers had been dumped on the freeway and so for a short spell of road there were small ‘flakes of snow’ dancing in the air on the car as I drove along. It sure reminded me of some precarious nighttime winter drives in the English Lake District but, alas, it was just feathers. I wish I had had my camera to hand, it would have made a great photo.

Oil Change Done

Given my lack of preparation I ended up taking the car to Brecht for the oil service. I was prepared to pay a lot for the service; sadly I was not prepared enough. Ouch. I think I could have a lifetime’s worth of oil changes on any regular car. I need to find a better solution for the next one. The advisor said he thought the “Service 2” was around $750 which is less than I expected but still crazy. I have that to look forward to in about 9 months I would say.

Once again they wanted to do the fuel injection flush but I said no. Partly because I can’t afford it, and partly because I feel its a bit of a con. Oh, and I am sure I can get that done somewhere cheaper – unless MINI has proprietary parts on that too?

They also found that the right motor mount was leaking and suggest that I get it replaced soon, another $325 for that. It sure is fun being out of warranty. Maybe I should go swap it for a Yaris and a briefcase of cash??

Time for Some Servicing

At 51k, I’m just a couple of hundred miles short of being due the next oil change and can’t decide what route to take. Brecht is a pain in the derrière to get to and they charge too much, take too long. And I was brought up never to pay dealer service prices (thanks Dad). Yes, I know I am supposed to do it myself but I have neither time, aptitude or desire. Which pretty much leaves me with a regular lube place. I fully appreciate that its simply not done in the community to take a MINI to such a place but I don’t really see much choice. I do wonder if a lube’n’go will have an oil filter in hand but surely by now the MINI is popular enough that they should be prepared.

Oh, also going to replace the air filter but that one I will do myself.

[and in some other news, my driving licence is finally here – yay!]

It’s Official, the DMV Really Does Hate Me

Went to the DMV this morning to chase down my missing licence, and found out that my licence was not lost in the mail – they never sent it to me as my renewal application was on “hold”. The lady said that maybe I ticked a “yes” box by mistake and didn’t fill in the “explain answer” section but since all I did was go online and type in a password and give a credit card, that is more than unlikely. It was pretty obvious that they weren’t ever going to tell me my renewal was on hold so it was good that I went in. So they had me fill in a new form, make a signature, give my thumb print and a new picture; should get a new licence in 2-3 weeks.

Definitely been a bad year for me with the DMV.

50k Miles, Finally

As I predicted, Carrie turned her 50,000th mile this weekend just as we were leaving Sedona. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried but mostly we’ve motored. I had meant to leave my camera out for the occasion but packed it by mistake so there is no 50k shot, nor are there any pictures of the cool roundabouts (now I am a US citizen do I have to say turn circles?) that Sedona has. It may be 10 years since I drove in the UK but it still felt odd to go the ‘wrong way’ round. Damn, 10 years since I drove at home??

Anyway, with the 50k reached, I’m now driving without a safety net. There’s no way I can afford MINI servicing or repair, or want to drive the 150 miles to Escondido for an oil change, so will seek out a decent lube shop for the oil and keep fingers tightly crossed on the repair side. I did have a fleeting thought that I should trade her in for a swap of something easier to maintain but after 730 miles of, mostly 80 mph, freeways this weekend I am sure I would not have anywhere near such fun in a different marque. And that 730 miles at an indicated 27mpg which isn’t too bad, I suppose.

I’ll be uploading some pictures from the trip tonight, will put a link here, plus I think I have a new banner picture for this ol’ site.

Oh, and there’s still no sign of my driver’s licence… grrr

One More DMV Rant

You may remember my earlier woes with the DMV in trying to renew my tags at the same time as getting the title. Well, now I am getting anxious because my driving license expires on Friday (which also happens to be my birthday) and as of the mail pickup on Tuesday I do not have a replacement card. I renewed online over a month ago and if I go back to the website it says that my renewal has already been received. I assume they want it to arrive just in time? Or else they just want to *!@% with me once more. Grrrr.

To celebrate my birthday, Teri and I are off to Sedona for the weekend (no thanks to the INS that are keeping me in town until mid-afternoon with the naturalisation ceremony). Usually we would take the Camry for such a trip, more comfortable and the cruise control make a more pleasant experience over a long distance, but it has developed some kind of leak this week so Carrie will get a shot at visiting the red rocks. It’s very possible we’ll hit the big 50k on the way home.

Back in the MINI

It’s been a couple of weeks but I am finally able to drive the MINI again, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been in the wife’s Camry. Driving home in traffic last night it was good to be able to put my foot down and get through the holdups, take the curves at ‘appropriate’ speeds, and most of all just feel the responsiveness of the engine. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Camry, and it was nice of Teri to make the ‘sacrifice’ of driving the MINI for a couple of weeks: I know she suffered terribly 🙂

Just over 48,000 miles on the clock, time for one more stop at Brecht to see if they can find the rattle without me having to pay them to do so. Not going to make the oil change before 50k, alas.