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For almost three decades, I owned and drove two cars: a 1978 Volvo, seventeen years; and a 1995 Mazda MX-5 (Miata) for twelve years.
Starting the next car-driving decade, and moving up to a somewhat larger car than the Miata, behold our new Mini-Cooper. Probably you've seen them around, though they aren't common. There's one dealer in Oregon, and one in Washington, and if you want next year's model, you have to put your name on a list and wait. About three months, and no wiggle room on the sticker price. (Rent "The Italian Job" and watch what they do with these cars. The remake. Although the Michael Caine version in the old Mini is probably better ...)
No longer will slackwit drivers irritate me by tailgating my little red convertible.
Now, they'll irritate me by tailgating my little blue convertible.
11 comments:
I remember that Volvo: a classic beater that was just the thing for dealing with urban traffic wars. Like you, I tend to get new cars every fifteen or so years (my Toyota van had 268,000 on it) and getting a new car is like discovering a whole new technology.
Yeah, I was listening to Tom and Ray Magliozzi (NPR, Car Talk) recently and they pointed out that if something goes wrong with your new car, you're screwed. Just call the tow truck, because with all the modular technology and emission gear and such, you can't fix it. The days of the shade tree mechanic -- insofar as new cars, anyhow -- are over. The tools you need are beyond a Crescent wrench and pliers and a bigger hammer, and a whole lot of stuff under the hood isn't fixable, it either works, or you replace it.
In my youth, I could -- and did -- repair most of what went wrong, usually because I couldn't afford to play somebody. We had a 1960 Ford Falcon that became my unintentional hobby. Of course, in the good old day, when you opened the hood, you could a) see everything and b) reach it. Now, you need to be Houdini to get the battery out.
Hope you enjoy the Mini, Steve. I've been driving one for the past year and a half or so and they're a hoot.
I know what you mean regarding the repairs. The only problem I've had with my Mini was with the automatic transmission. One day it decided to only go 5mph. I had it towed to the Mini dealership (which is an hour away) and they had the car for 4 days before they could find out what was wrong with it. Turns out that one of the "modules" in the transmission wasn't talking to another "module". If it took the dealership 4 days to figure out the problem, what chance does a fool like me have?
Makes me never want to keep a new car past its warranty.
That's the only problem I've had though and the Mini dealerships are great to deal with. They're fun cars and they keep their value amazingly well.
Our criteria for a new car included several things: It needed to be a convertible, big enough to haul the dogs and a passenger, which left out the spiffy two-seaters that continue blossoming in the wake of the Miata, and it needed a good status from Consumer Reports.
There are only a handful of four-seater convertibles currently in production, and most of them didn't cut the mustard.
The Toyoto Solara did, but you can't find them for love or money, nobody locally even had one on the lot. Plus it comes with an automatic transmission only.
The VW drop-top looked cool, and I have fond memories of our old VW bugs, but the new one got a bunch of black marks in CR for reliability.
The Mustang and PT Cruiser Convertibles only rated so-so, not as well as their sedan models.
The Mini got a "recommended" in CR, and the cool-factor is very high.
As for resale, we looked at a used one a couple years old that was tricked out, and they wanted more for it than the new one.
Plus the one we got was a) in stock and b) the color and configuration we wanted -- though I confess I also like the British Racing Green color.
So, four more years of car payments ...
No more Miata? :O I used to love watching you unfold out of that tiny space-- it was like a one-man clown car...
Sharp Car! I love the Mini. I intended to buy one when I got my last car, but they had just hit the market and the dealership (here in Washington) was so rude when I asked about a test drive and the markup at that time so ridiculous that I went with something else.
The only thing I would change is to make it rear wheel drive. Unfortunately nothing that I can afford and fit in comes that way any more. I try the Miata every time they put out a new rev, but I have short arms and a long torso and always end up with my head making a bulge in the soft top.
Yeah, no more sempok/depok to get in and out the car. (Those of you unfamiliar with those terms, these are funny-looking cross-steps from pentjak silat that allow you to change levels efficiently. If you are standing erect, you can, with these, go all the way into a sitting position on the ground with one move.)
Oh, well. I'll just have to practice elsewhere ...
The Mini is like the Miata was when it first came out. I really wanted to take a Miata for a test drive in '89, and did, but to do so, I had to put up a $500 deposit (refundable, if I didn't buy it.) At the time, we still had kids and home and couldn't justify it, so I had to wait a few years before I got mine.
Back then, they were tagging two grand onto the sticker price because they could. Time I got mine, they were leasing them.
First Miiata to arrive in Portland was ordered by a woman my wife and I knew, who was at the time a race car driver. If you weren't on the list, you couldn't get one. When hers came in, a well-known local car dealer -- not Mazda -- called her up and offered her ten thousand more than she paid for it if she'd sell it to him. She did. A car that appreciated 50% in value the day she got it? Unheard of ...
Toyota's greencar, the Prius, was that way a year or so back. Couldn't get 'em. Toyota cranked up production. But gas prices dropped, and now they are offering 0% financing for the first year, and what color would you like?
Once a few more Mini dealers get rolling -- there's a trick to that, I found out -- and more of the Minis start showing up, I expect they'll be easier to get. At the moment, the salesmen grin a lot. You want it? Good. You don't? No problem -- there's a line ...
And the Mini, BTW, can be hot-rodded to the extreme: lots of cool aftermarket parts. I once flew with a guy who had a stage 7 Mini; the thing had a supercharger and all sorts of suspension and engine mods; kinda like an enraged roller skate when he cranked it up. Yeah, you need to think about doing this with yours. I used to work on Brit cars; everything from 110-series Jags to a 1954 Healey Le Mans that I rebuilt from the frame up. Those days are long gone, but I can make you a deal on SU carb tools, a timing light, dwell meter and other devices from the dark ages. Somewhere around here there's even a set of Whitworth taps and dies...
Mike --
One of the reasons I lusted after the Miata what that my wife had a '76 MG Midget. We bought it used, and I loved riding in that. Thing was, being an MG, it only started when it felt like it. She couldn't crank it most of the time, and while I usually had the touch, it was so precariously tuned that keeping it running was another hobby I didn't need.
It died at light once, and the guy behind me leaned on his horn. I gave him the finger, then he followed me for several miles, and jumped out at the first stop light, to come and chat with me. I got out in a hurry and after he offer a few choice words, he backed off.
These days, I keep my finger in the holster. The loons are all armed ...
Looked to me like the Miata was what the Midget would have become if they'd kept making 'em, but with the Japanese ability to, you know, keep running. Eventually, I think MG got into production again, at least in the U.K, I saw some new ones when I was there a few years back.
Congratulations on the Mini Steve! My wife really wants one. I think she's a sucker for cars that are zippy and easy to park. Not sure which is the more important factor, but I can't agree strongly enough on the cool factor. By the way, the mini's in the remake of the Italian Job were so heavily after market modded it's not funny. But they actually did all the things in those scenes, and the actors did a lot of the stunt driving. The making of in that film is a must watch. No special effects there!
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