[ontheroadagain]

From the New York Times Automobile section today:

Tale of the Tape: Different Sizes, Similar Passions
By BONNIE ROTHMAN MORRIS

Quote:

HUMMERS and Minis. These specialty cars, which are relatively new to the marketplace, are driven by two very different kinds of customers, right? After all, the Hummer H2, which is like SpongeBob SquarePants on steroids, is not playing the same game as the Powerpuff Girl of the Mini Cooper.

Not exactly. As it turns out, drivers of the gas-guzzling, flashy, 6,400-pound behemoth H2 and the fuel-efficient, equally flashy but teeny-tiny 2,314-pound Mini have more in common than they would probably like to admit.

They both want to stand out in a crowd, and they both really like to drive...

To read the whole article click on this http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/22/au...es/22MORR.html

I'm not exactly in agreement with the premise but it was nice to see a photo of a MINI with its happy looking owner in the paper.

[Minimum]

It appears you need to register with that site before you can view the article. Oh well.

[ontheroadagain]

Oops forgot you do have to register, but it's quite easy and it is free.

Here's the article, if it's OK to post the whole thing here:


------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 22, 2003
WHAT THEY DRIVE

Tale of the Tape: Different Sizes, Similar Passions
By BONNIE ROTHMAN MORRIS

UMMERS and Minis. These specialty cars, which are relatively new to the marketplace, are driven by two very different kinds of customers, right? After all, the Hummer H2, which is like SpongeBob SquarePants on steroids, is not playing the same game as the Powerpuff Girl of the Mini Cooper.

Not exactly. As it turns out, drivers of the gas-guzzling, flashy, 6,400-pound behemoth H2 and the fuel-efficient, equally flashy but teeny-tiny 2,314-pound Mini have more in common than they would probably like to admit.

They both want to stand out in a crowd, and they both really like to drive.

Melissa Griffin, 27, has put 36,000 miles on her yellow Hummer H2 in the last 11 months. "Driving is my life," said Ms. Griffin, the owner of a screen-printing company in Washougal, Wash. "I did a 7,000-mile road trip at Christmas and a 3,000-mile one on July Fourth. Holidays are one more excuse to hit the road and go." She said she took her car off-road, something the Hummer is designed to do, although only about 10 percent of Hummer owners ever try it, car dealers say. Some Hummer advertisements do not even show the vehicle on a road.

Just as the Hummer is promoted as the king of the hills, the Mini is known for its speed.

"I'm not going to tell you what I do on the parkway, I'd get arrested," said Penny Berg, a New York City schoolteacher who bought her Mini in August after seeing the movie "The Italian Job." The film features characters zooming around in Minis. "When you're doing 85 you don't realize it," Ms. Berg said, revealing her highway speed.

Whether driving too fast or bouldering on mountains, owners of Minis and Hummers say their cars are social magnets. Drive them in town and strangers give thumbs up (or down), gawk and ask questions. The attention suits the owners of these cars; after all, they bought them for their distinctive qualities.

Trend analysts say that although both groups want to stand out, they differ on where and how. Owners see their cars as "social filters," said Irma Zandl, the president of the Zandl Group, a research company in Manhattan. "Hummer 2 owners project `Bling!' while Mini drivers are more quirky, cerebral and antimarketing."

Both cars reflect a certain status, said David Kozatch, the owner of d.i.g., a marketing research firm in Manhattan. "The Hummer is about separating yourself from society," he said. "It's the ultimate extension of fear with an overlay of status. Mini is the opposite. It's status, but it's social and sharing."

Not surprisingly, both cars have vehement, sometimes violent, detractors. Marc Ferguson, 37, of Lafayette, Colo., races his Mini Cooper S part time and operates Mini cooperonline.com, a Web site for Mini enthusiasts. Mr. Ferguson said that "trolls" on his site bash the Mini. "It inflames people," he said. One e-mail message from a man planning to buy a Hummer called the Mini a "Death Trap Gadget!"

In the world of niche marketing, where these two cars reside, vehemence is not necessarily bad, said Scot Eisenfelder, a partner at Accenture, a global automotive consulting firm.

"You've got to give both credit," Mr. Eisenfelder said. "Successful brands have to choose what they are not. Hate isn't the opposite of love, apathy is — and they are not apathetic."

Passionate owners agree.

"The Hummer or the Mini are at two ends of the spectrum, it's a matter of the personality of the person who's going to be driving it and the statement they're trying to make," said Dr. Darius A. Holmes, a pediatrician from Hauppauge, N.Y., who bought his red Hummer H2 in August after his father bought a sunset-orange H2 last year.

"People try to be unique in one way or another," he said, laughing. "I chose to be unique in a big way."

Copyright 2003*The New York Times Company

[courtinnyc]

I don't disagree with the premise that both MINI drivers and Hummer drivers like to get noticed, but we like to get noticed for totally different reasons. We like people to see what a smart move we made when buying such a cool, fun-to-drive car, whereas I gather Hummer drivers have far more ostentatious motives. After all, the article points out that only 10% of Hummer drivers take their behemoths off-road, while most MINI drivers -- or at least the ones represented in these forums -- go out of their way to find twisties and other places to get the most out of their car. We're a far more practical bunch!

In any case, I take great offense to being called a Powerpuff Girl.

By the way -- ontheroadagain, how's the wait going for you?

[speedx3]

WHY!!!!......... WHY PowerPuff girl...... =.="

[ontheroadagain]

I'm with you courtinnyc and speedx3, what is it with that Powerpuff Girl comparison??? Very strange unless there is something I don't know...maybe they drive them in the cartoon?

I can't say that I've chosen to buy and drive a MINI to get noticed, but I certainly do take note of MINIs when I see them. I notice the ugly, hulking, ostentatious, gas guzzling Hummers too and think about how much they must have cost and try not to submit to my holier than thou urges to pull up and ask them if they don't have something better to do with their money? I figure a fully loaded, or not so loaded, Hummer costs about as much as a college education in the USA.


P.S. As for "the wait"...I'm controlling myself from emailing my MA to see if I can now gain entry into the owners lounge and find out if my new MINI is in the works or not. And you?

[Minimum]

I didn't buy my MINI to be noticed or to make any kind of statement - I bought it because I loved the look of it and the way it handled.

[courtinnyc]

The Powerpuff Girl reference has nothing to do with anything, so far as I can tell, except a mis-guided impression by the NY Times reporter that the MINI is a car for women.

But of course, the NY Times never gets its facts wrong...

[jason2025]

Definately an interesting article. As someone who will be going from an SUV to a Mini soon I can say that I am NOT buying a Mini to attract attention or stand out in the crowd (though the car certainly does that) but rather I am looking for a fun to drive and practical car to replace my now aging 1988 4 cylinder 4Runner.

For the life of me I cannot understand why someone would buy something like a Hummer as a daily driver, it's totally beyond my comprehension other than as a status symbol. It's like how people buy SUVs and outfit them with bush bars, etc, and you just know that the thing will never see a dirt road.

Until now, I have had no real interest in a car but with the Mini I have to admit it was love-at-first-sight and then a good friend bought an MCS and made the mistake of loaning it to me for a long weekend. 700km later I knew I had to have one, and soon will

Cheers.

J\

[PigLick]

I don't know, have you guys ever sen the Powerpuff Girls? They're cute, and they kick serious ass- not so bad a comparison if you ask me. I'm a 27 year old (straight) guy and I like the powerpuffs, I took it as a compliment.

PigLick

[ontheroadagain]

Perhaps it's time for some letters to the editor?

[AidenL]

Quote: Originally Posted by speedx3

WHY!!!!......... WHY PowerPuff girl...... =.="

Yep, I agree.............

[ontheroadagain]

Thanks PigLick, I checked with my daughter who said as she remembers (from sooooooooo many years ago - lol!) the Powerpuff girls were tough and strong - "didn't take nothin' from nobody" types.. the puglistic sort, ya know. So I'm with you - let's be proud of our feminist tough guy descriptions! Now what did they ascribe to the Hummer's? ...Oh, right, "Sponge Bob Square Pants"... don't know if you all across the pond have the good fortune to see these cartoons..but Sponge Bob is kind of a wannabe heavy weight... Actually I don't think the reporter who wrote this really has a good handle on these cartoons because Sponge Bob is a nice guy who always trys to bulk up an be Mr. Brawny but ends up realizing he's fine just the way he is. Don't think the Hummer owners fit that stereotype, quite, do you?

I would be interested to know if the Hummer sales went up directly after September 11th here in the USA.

P.S. Jason2025, I'm with you! I was truly afraid to test drive a MINI because I knew I'd fall for it.

[SugarBelly]

Quote: Originally Posted by AidenL

Yep, I agree.............

Me too.

LOVIN' the, "MINI drivers are anti-marketing" statement!


LO
Ve

...."love, love, love -- all our" MINIs!

[ontheroadagain]

SugarBelly, I liked that anti-marketing comment too, but you have to admit that MINI does do a great marketing job. Where I live, in the NY Metro area, there is very little blatant marketing, but each day I drive into Manhattan on the West Side Drive I see a wonderful billboard that shows a MINI and says, very simply, "It's small at the top."

They're definitely following the "less is more" philosophy.

[gtshnzr]

People are buying the H2's in droves because of the IRS tax loophole that gives ACRS depreciation and a large amount of 1st year capital expense write-offs for light trucks used in a trade or business over 6000 lbs. GVWR. Just google "SUV Tax Credit" and you'll see what I mean. Even though I'm self employed, I still got the MINI instead of another truck. One gas guzzler (my wife's Expedition) is enough for me. I'm tired of 11.4 mpg and $48 tanks of gas.

[guru220]

i thought the minis weight was 2678 lbs? (for the s) I even just looked on yahoo autos and in the specs it says 2678lbs so haha the writter is wrong

[KJ_daGreenMini]

i really really want a H2

[uptick]

Um, let's see - for the cost of one H2, you can get two fully loaded MCS's today.

That H2 owner in the article who does 36k miles in 11 months would pay enough just for gas to have bought another MCS at the end of 3 years of her kind of H2 driving!

On the other hand, it would take about 11 years driving the 2 MCS's each 40k miles per year to have spent enough on gas to buy one basic H2, (though, at today's price)!!!

[wmd]

At a recent Auto Show I spotted this H2 model that I'd really like to have---$1795 manufactured by Montague.
http://www.hummerbikes.com/yellowlxopen.html
http://www.hummerbikes.com/yellowlxfolded.html
It folds to 3x3x1 and should fit in the back with the seats still up. Then you' could have both-an H2 and a MINI.