Ken's new car

[Ken Robb]

I know it fits in the garage but I think I'll be using a rack to haul bikes.
2007 Mini Cooper S--Sport pkg. and suspension, limited slip. 6,000 miles.
Bought new in Hawaii by a Navy man who had two deployments back-to-back and is leaving again next week so he didn't get to drive it much.
It almost makes my M3 feel ponderous. :)

[Bruce K]

Welcome to the world of Mini ownership.

Fun cars. We love our 2002 S (35,000 miles - summer car)

I am not a big fan of the roof rack as I don't like putting holes in the roof of my cars. The after market ones used the rails, which to me seemed very flimsy.

There is a trailer hitch-like subframe that bolts on and allows you to use a hitch-type bike rack that hangs on the back. It's a pretty slick unit.

BK

[Pete Serotta]

Ken, I really like your new ride......Is that "goodrich blue".... and is the saddle a Regal??


I we had a dealer with 100 miles, I would have one for I really like them. (wife does not)


PETE

[Ken Robb]

Ken, I really like your new ride......Is that "goodrich blue".... and is the saddle a Regal??


I we had a dealer with 100 miles, I would have one for I really like them. (wife does not)


PETE

I'm a little worried about getting to keep it because Leslie thinks they're "cute". I think it's a little darker than "Goodrich Blue". hm, maybe I should ask Curt to make my frame match the car. Nah, that would be too cute for me.

[Pete Serotta]

If Leslie, "adopts" the mini, you need to get the Goodrich!! :)

I'm a little worried about getting to keep it because Leslie thinks they're "cute". I think it's a little darker than "Goodrich Blue". hm, maybe I should ask Curt to make my frame match the car. Nah, that would be too cute for me.

[Climb01742]

ken, congrats! after a few 1000 miles, would you share a "ride" report? :beer:

[Karin Kirk]

Nice one! :banana:

Good move on finding a slightly used one. That's what we did too, what a bargain. Enjoy the driving fun! That blue color is sweet and it has stripes too - most excellent!

[David Kirk]

Come on over and we can have a MINI meeting.

Yellow Bozeman MINI.

dave

[Bruce K]

I can't seem to get a picture of ours to upload.

I'll keep working on it.

Red with white roof and Union Jack decal. White stripes, Rallye Lights, Borla Exhaust.

It came over on the third boatload. We waited 15 months. Sight unseen. Final price unknown.

License Plate reads: LTS MTR ("Let's Motor" for you non-Mini types).

BK

[D_L_Huns]

Come on over and we can have a MINI meeting.

Yellow Bozeman MINI.

dave
Whoa, Dave! That is one sharp and coordinated Mini. White Minilites (?). Hot!

Clubman is on my shortlist, but it'll be a while.

Don

[Bruce K]

I think I've got it.

Ours is the first one in line from a very early Mini Owner's gathering in the fall of 2002 I think.

BK

[David Kirk]

Whoa, Dave! That is one sharp and coordinated Mini. White Minilites (?). Hot!

Clubman is on my shortlist, but it'll be a while.

Don

Karin say our car is wearing white sneakers.

dave

[D_L_Huns]

Karin say our car is wearing white sneakers.

dave
I think it looks fan-dam-tastic!

I went with my sis to Minis on the Dragon last spring. Rode mountains in the morning and drove her S Coop in the afternoons. Good couple of days. I'm forcing her to do it again this year!

[Climb01742]

Come on over and we can have a MINI meeting.

Yellow Bozeman MINI.

dave

dave, that's one of the sweetest looking mini's i've seen.

[William]

Ken,
Love the Blue. Now, let's talk about re-shoeing that thing.... :)




Dave, Nice Mini man!! :cool:

Just curious...what's that Orange bit there? Just part of the trim?




William


Of course I caught that...it's orange. ;)

[Bruce K]

William;

That's a side marker.

BK

[William]

William;

That's a side marker.

BK


Makes sense. Thanks BK.
BTW, Mrs William is talking the Mini up. Maybe in the cards for 09.


William

[David Kirk]

William;

That's a side marker.

BK

What he said.

Dave

[Hank Scorpio]

Do you swap out the wheels after labor day?

[David Kirk]

Do you swap out the wheels after labor day?

All the normal rules apply.

dave

[jmeloy]

I know it fits in the garage but I think I'll be using a rack to haul bikes.
2007 Mini Cooper S--Sport pkg. and suspension, limited slip. 6,000 miles.
Bought new in Hawaii by a Navy man who had two deployments back-to-back and is leaving again next week so he didn't get to drive it much.
It almost makes my M3 feel ponderous. :)
Ken, my new Ybarrola is painted in BMW Mini Electric Blue! Makes it easy to touch up a nick (hoping not to get one!) would look cool on your roof!
Jeff

[avalonracing]

Damnit! I wish I had a reason to buy one. I love the look, the size, and especially a car that can wear stripes and look cool while doing it. Alas we already have a sporty car (C-Class Kompressor) and a bike car (Forester). Hmmm, maybe I'll put stripes on one of those... Nope, other than a race car or a vintage car (or a car with really high power to weight ratio) if it isn't a Mini or a Miata it is tough to pull off stripes.

[pale scotsman]

... and that thing's huge compared to what we had when I was a kid. '72 Cooper S for a family of 4 living in England. My mom ended up rebelling so we got a Ford Cortina station wagon. My poor dad...

[austex]

[...]
There is a trailer hitch-like subframe that bolts on and allows you to use a hitch-type bike rack that hangs on the back. It's a pretty slick unit.

BK

Look here for receiver-hitch: www.minidomore.com


Tom
'08 Mini Clubman, Thule T2 hitch-mount rack

[CaliFly]

My father SO wants one of these this year. Hope the wife and kids will let me steal it away some weekend. How often do we get to live vicariously through our parents? :cool:

[Ken Robb]

Look here for receiver-hitch: www.minidomore.com


Tom
'08 Mini Clubman, Thule T2 hitch-mount rack

Thanks for the link. I will try my two adjustable "universal" racks before spending $500+ on this stuff so keep your fingers crossed. :banana:

[97CSI]

I know it fits in the garage but I think I'll be using a rack to haul bikes.
2007 Mini Cooper S--Sport pkg. and suspension, limited slip. 6,000 miles.
Bought new in Hawaii by a Navy man who had two deployments back-to-back and is leaving again next week so he didn't get to drive it much.
It almost makes my M3 feel ponderous. :)My wife just bought a certified '06 in the same color scheme w/o the stripes. Very 'sporty', to say the least. I like the 37mpg. And the extra room in the garage.

[Ken Robb]

My wife just bought a certified '06 in the same color scheme w/o the stripes. Very 'sporty', to say the least. I like the 37mpg. And the extra room in the garage.

The pre-2007 models were even a few inches shorter than the later models except for convertibles which continued withn the earlier chassis until the 2009 year models so you have LOTS of room in the garage.

[jeffg]

I'll post a picture of mine (including a bike in the back).

Next purchase will be the rear bike rack that takes two bikes and still allows hatch access.

Love mine!

[Pete Serotta]

I want one!!!!

Come on over and we can have a MINI meeting.

Yellow Bozeman MINI.

dave

[nelsonk]

Congrats on the new wheels Ken. Now all you need is a JCW kit for it.

Nelson

[97CSI]

I want one!!!!You need to get hooked up with Mini and get them to produce the "Serotta Model", ala Harley-Davidson. You would own #1. I'm thinking the Clubman S when my turn comes (3-yrs).

[Pete Serotta]

;) I like the Mini S,,,, maybe David will invite me out for a test ride.....

You need to get hooked up with Mini and get them to produce the "Serotta Model", ala Harley-Davidson. You would own #1. I'm thinking the Clubman S when my turn comes (3-yrs).

[David Kirk]

;) I like the Mini S,,,, maybe David will invite me out for a test ride.....


I'll leave the light on for ya.

On a different note. I have two sets of wheel for my car. The winter wheels are 15" and shod with Blizzacks and they work very well. The summer wheels are 17" and they have Kumhos and while the grip and turn-in are fantastic I wish it had 16" wheels. The ride quality with the 17's is a bit harsh and it has a bit of a crash feeling over sharp bumps. I feel 16's with a slightly taller side wall would have a better overall street ride. Mind you it's not bad but if I had my choice it would have had 16's when I bought it.

But the 17's look really cool.

dave

[Ken Robb]

mine has 16" with 195/55-16 performance Dunlop run-flats. My experience with my cars is that when I go lower aspect ratio than 45 the ride gets pretty rough with little or no gain in traction/response. The seller said he had planned to get some lightweight 17" wheels but spent too much time at sea to get to it. I asked why he didn't order them with the car and he said he investigated them and found that they were too heavy and he had planned to make it a dandy auto-crosser. That's why it has no sunroof, heated seats, xenon lights, etc. It's a frisky little puppy and the only one I found with a limited slip. The good news (i guess) is better grip accelaerating out of corners. The bad news (I know) is amplified torque steer. I learning to consider that the sign of a "lively" car rather than a big PITA. :)
I may decide I want some light, therefore expensive, 16" or 17" as a good compromise. OTOH, I also have a tendency to leave well enough alone. As one of my gal-pal instructors tells students: "Just drive the beach!" or words to that effect. :rolleyes:

[Louis]

You guys (Ken and Dave) have only purchased these recently, but anybody else out there care to provide a long-term reliability report?

Louis

[Bruce K]

We're using the original run-flats on the 17" rims.

The snows are on steel rims with cheesy plastic caps.

Our "baby" has only seen one winter since we got it.

My play happens when I can pry the keys out of my wife's fingers or the 3 weeks she spends in FL.

Mine made it to one of the Serotta Factory Open Houses where it met Lori Hoefer's Mini.

If I were to be in the mood to replace my BMW wagon a Clubman with the JCW package would be high on the list.

The latest Mini rumor is that they are working on an "SUV". I'm guessing it will be something like a Clubman with AWD and jacked up a bit. Maybe even a little wider to be a legit 5 seater.

Now THAT would be cool. Especially with a JCW kit on it!!!

BK

[Ken Robb]

Don't tell my wife but I'm not perfect-I mis-posted-Mini has 16" wheels not 15".

[David Kirk]

Don't tell my wife but I'm not perfect-I mis-posted-Mini has 16" wheels not 15".

How do you like the ride with the 16's?

dave

[97CSI]

You guys (Ken and Dave) have only purchased these recently, but anybody else out there care to provide a long-term reliability report? LouisWe did a fair amount of internet research as I was a bit worried about the CV transmission used until last year. It apparently was a problem back in '02, when it was new. But, ZF seems to have fixed the problem. Overall, that was the only issue we found, other than brakes and headlamps, which seem to be a complaint on most all autos. The nice thing about purchasing a 'certified' car from the dealer is that it includes the balance of the 50K/4yr new warranty extended to 100K/6yr. Our dealer was happy to deal, as well. Mini/BMW dealers are suffering along with the rest.

[rounder]

Ken,

Amplified torque steer...from fwd?? I know that most cars today have front wheel drive, but it seems like the sportiest cars today including those with a lot of horsepower have rear wheel drive or all wheel drive. Do you think that fwd is an advantage in handling, especially in autocrossing, with a car like a mini. Also, at what point do you think fwd becomes a disadvantage.

[Ken Robb]

the major advantage of fwd is in packaging the drivetrain as compactly as possible. All things being equal I prefer RWD. Having said that there is no way to pack RWD into such a small car and still seat 4 people and short wheelbase cars like short wheelbase bikes can turn a bit quicker. There is a practical limit to the amount of power that a FWD car can put to the pavement. When a car accelerates hard there is a lot of weight transfer from the front wheels to the rear wheels leading to wheelspin instead of acceleration. When cornering hard the front wheels are typically doing more work than the fronts and when you try to accelerate through and out of the corner you use some of the traction needed for cornering for acceleration instead which can lead to the FWD car "pushing" straight ahead. You then have to modulate the throttle to restore some traction for use in cornering.

This is a broad generalization and various tricks of chassis set-up and driving techniques can offset some of the conflict but again- all things being equal RWD allows a driver to better divide the demands for traction between front and rear tires.

Cars like the MIni don't have overwhelming power and their light weight/short wheelbase chassis make them eminently "tossable" but a 250 HP Mini probably wouldn't be that much faster around a road course than a 200 HP due to limited traction available to utilize the extra power.

Dave: the ride with these tires isn't too bad. The suspension is firm and well-damped but the sharp edges of bumps aren't as sharp as on my 330i ZHP w/40 and 35 aspect ratio tires. There has been NO evidence of sidewall rollover either. I have yet to check tire pressures but the sensors aren't lighting up warning lamps so they must be close. I'll check in the morning.

Meanwhile Les came home and all our vehicles (except the soon-to-be-sold M3) are in the garage. TAAAAH-DAAAH!

[Climb01742]

ken, putting cost aside, would you have rather had a 135 or the mini? the mini has a lot going for it, but it does seem to have a trade-off between hoot-to-drive handling and ride quality. then there are the handling trade-offs between front and rear wheel drive. i'm drawn to the mini but i wonder if on a daily driver basis, a 1-series might be better.

[Bittersweet]

http://serotta.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32183&page=3&pp=15&highlight=mariposa
(bottom of page)

Mine with bicycle content included. The nickname for those 17" wheels are Mini-Heavies instead of the original mini-lites. I've looked very hard at light 16" wheels as a replacement but have always put the money to other projects. I have 15" wheels with snow tires and it goes great in the winter. Amazing how much lighter they are than the 17s.

Climb you're talking about two BMWs at this point so I'd just go to the dealership in Peabody MA and take a few test drives. If you're a hot hatch guy you might very well like the Mini but if you really want a great driver's car I personally lean toward balanced rwd rig.

[Ken Robb]

I think the 335i and 135i are two of the best road cars I have ever driven. I was sorely tempted by one of each offered with 15,000 miles for under $30,000 each here in SD but neither of those would have solved my garage space problem as the Mini did.

We already have a 2004 330i w/Performance package when we want a bigger and somewhat cushier car so a kick-ass go-kart back-up is practical. We get 23 mpg in town and-28 mpg on road trips with the 330i. The computer in the Mini shows the seller averaged 32.4 MPG for 6,000 miles, much of it on Oahu so we know it wasn't all freeway driving.

I was surprised to read in the owner's manual that while 91 octane fuel is recommended it's ok to use as low as 87 in this turbo-charged engine. The wonders of electronic engine controls and direct fuel injection. I'd only go that way if there was no option because performance and mileage would be less.