Four years, five MINi's and an obsession (seriously long post)

[Washy]

As I am nearly about to pick up what will be my 5th MINI in 4 years and have recently clocked up 11,000 posts on MINI2 I have been thinking about the impact the car has had on me and came up with the following. Apologies if it is terminally cheesy, but I felt like sharing....

A story………

It was late 2000 and I was at the NEC motor show with some friends. I had gone with the intention of looking at the new E46 M3 which had just been released in Europe and more realistically I was keen to have a good look at a 3 series coupe which I was planning to get to replace our Golf GTi 1.8T.
I had been mooching round the BMW stand for a while when I realised that Sandra, my much better half, had gone AWOL. I finally found her sitting in a new MINI Cooper, which was also launched to the UK public at the NEC that year. It is at this point I have to say I was not a fan of the new car and to me it seemed like blown up caricature of the original Issigonis Mini, but without all of the things that made the original Mini the special car it undoubtedly was. I remember vividly saying that ‘there is no way I would ever even consider buying one of those things’ and at the time we moved on and went to see the rest of the show.

Fast forward to March 2001 and after a bit of shopping around we became the proud owners of a topaz blue 325i coupe. It was this car that started our association with BMW and given what was to follow was a pivotal point in our car owning lives.
I was beginning to see lot of press articles relating to the new MINI and most were saying how good the car was going to be. Sandra kept bugging me about how good she thought it was and that we should consider buying one. I was not interested for at the time for as well as the BMW we had a 206GTi, which I loved and had no wish to let it go. Despite the pestering, life moved on until about April of that year when the dealer we had bought the 3 series from sent us a pack asking if we wanted to attend the launch of the MINI. Out of curiosity we decided to attend just to have a look, nothing serious just a look.

MINI launch day arrived so we headed of to the dealer in Coventry and I was immediately taken by the silver Cooper with the black contrasting roof they had in the showroom. I sat in the car had a good look round and took the obligatory brochure and started to head out of the dealer to go home when the sales manager who had sold us the 325 asked if we would like a test drive. As we had not opted to test drive on launch day and he made a special effort to get us out in the car we felt obliged to try it. Two corners later I was hooked, I just had to have one of these cars. I was so taken that in the afternoon I went and had another look at the car at the dealer launch in Northampton and got us another test drive for the following Thursday. We ordered a car that afternoon.

The wait then started. As anyone who has ever ordered a MINI knows it is by far the worst part. I scoured the web for information and one day in July 2001 whilst searching 4 car found MINI2. I didn’t post much in those early days and MINI2 was much different then as no one actually owned the car and most were waiting for a One or a Cooper or speculating about what the still to come Cooper S was going to be like.
Slowly over the next few months’ cars started to be delivered to customers and the MINI2 community started to flourish. Then on October 13th 2001 I took delivery of my Chili red with white roof Cooper. I am still chuffed to think mine was the first car the dealer ever delivered with auto air con. It was love at first sight and for the first time ever I had a day off work just so I could drive the car. We took it to Scotland and discovered just how much fun it was on the Trossach trail where our friends in their 320 BMW couldn’t live with the agility and an Audi TT became mince meat. It took us to out first MINI 2 meet at Gaydon, Happy days.

By now I was hooked and two weeks into my MINI ownership I went back in for a MINI key ring and ended up coming out of the dealer with an order for the forthcoming Cooper S. As launch day for the S got closer I started to think about selling the Cooper. In the end the dealer sold it for me for a little commission. Back then even second hand MINI’s fetched list price so seven months of ownership cost me £700 an absolute bargain. I nearly cried when I left the car at the dealer for the last time and felt I had left the Cooper before its time. After a six week wait, which seemed like an eternity my Cooper S arrived at the dealer in July 2002. It was during my ravings about the MINI at this time I convinced a work colleague to go and have a test drive and introduced him to MINI2. That colleague was to me Bob, to the rest of an unsuspecting MINI 2 community he became Soggycornflakes. For this I am still truly sorry and wish I had kept my mouth shut.

My first Cooper was not without a few problems, and had suffered from faulty electrics which manifested it self in a flat battery and randomly opening windows, but this did not prepare me for what was about to come with my new S.
After letting rip as it reached run in mileage and getting a speeding ticket it became obvious all was not well with the gearbox and as soon as the revs hit 4000 there was a terrible vibration through the gear lever. After several trips to the dealer, none of which resolved the issue, and to be honest the service people just did not believe I had a problem despite their attempts to fix it had in fact made it worse. In the space of a few short weeks I began to hate the MINI and was seriously going to get rid of the car and leave MINI for good. Then by chance after yet another dealer visit they took the car out just before I was due to pick it up and lo and behold they found the symptoms I had complained about all along. At this point they got the factory involved, changed the gear operating cables completely and the issue was resolved.

Unfortunately by this time my faith in the car had gone and coupled with the fact I was never entirely happy with the Electric blue and white colour scheme I had picked in a hurry when I saw the first Dark silver demo cars and realised I could never live with that colour, had made me decide to have another go round the speccin’ loop. It was at about this time I found the speccin’ thread on MINI 2 and from that point onwards I became a hopeless speccin’ addict.
For my next MINI I decided to do it right and spent ages changing and adding to the spec. The £23k monster that finally became mine on the 1st September 2003 was a fitting testament to my indecision and the power of MINI 2.

I had a last found true love and my all black R90 shod JCW S became my faithful companion. I loved it, the power, the noise I was 17 again. Sadly as ever just when you think things are going well fate takes control, Sandra was made redundant and although she found work fairly quickly we could no longer travel to work together and for her now short journey both the MCS and our M3 were not suitable so we bought her a Ford Streetka. What I probably didn’t realise at the time was at the point we took delivery of the Ford in pouring rain as England lifted the Rugby world cup I was saying goodbye to my JCW.
The Streetka was a dog and suffered from numerous problems from day 1 and with Sandra finding a more suitable job which had a longish commute we decided to cut our losses and swapped it for a Cooper in May 2004. As it no longer made sense to keep three cars I sadly sold the JCW and we returned to being a 2 car family one more.
All the time I was hatching a plan to get a MCS convertible and we duly ordered one for delivery in March 2005. Another bout of speccin’ indecision caused the colour to change at least once and I finally settled on Hyper blue with a blue hood. Once again I settled down for the long wait and got back to the unfinished business with the Cooper.

As usual in my life all that was to change. Our other car at the time was an E46 M3 which although had never caused us any problems had been subject to several recalls and as part of one had had a bottom end engine rebuild. As it was getting toward the end of its warranty we decided reluctantly to look for something else and ended up ordering a new Porsche Boxster.
At this point we realised we were not only going to end up with 2 convertibles, but we would be stuffed on the practicality front so whilst on holiday we decided to cancel the convertible and get another MCS tin top.
Anyhow after a false start and the near defection to a VW Golf GTi. I will finally be back in the car of my dreams a fully JCW kitted pure silver MCS within the next six weeks. Oh yes and 22000 glorious miles later I can finally say I have finished my business with the Cooper and am looking forward to being in a MCS once more.
For me as long as BMW continue to make them there will always be a MINI in the family and for me it is a worthy successor to the original.

[laura f]

This is a post everyone should read you are truly addicted and i can't wait to see the pics when the silver beastie arrives I hope you're jaw doesn't ache too much from grinning

[SoggyCornFlakes]

Great stuff Neil. I've had the "pleasure" of watching and hearing of all your decisions, indecisions, joys, pains, and defections (a Golf ) but nothing mathces your enthusiasm for the MINI, and no one I've met matches it either.

And thanks for showing me the light too - even if the rest of Mini2 hate you for it

Long may your adventures be happy

[KPKalle]

Well put Washy and may your MINI story continue

[mad brummie]

great post Neil its like a brief synopsis of the speccin thread history! all we need is Aiden to do the same!

[Rakey]

you make is all seem so much more easier in that post than it has been watching the whole process in the Speccin' thread

Always makes me smile Neil to know there is someone else as MINI mad and JCW mad, your a great bloke, and your a bad influence on me

Oh and I was doing so well at blocking out that Soggy is all your fault

[northandy]

Great story Neil !

[Tracie]

I really enjoyed reading your story..can't wait to see pics of your new JCW

[jimskater]

I had no idea. Give me another six months & I might, just might, forgive you for Soggy.

Great post, Neil.

[MINI-Morgan]

Great Story.

I have to admit I didnt like Mini's when I first saw them...but after a test drive I was hooked. Owned only two mini's and driven about 15 or so Still havent driven an 05 MCS and a ONE D. Might have to go visit a few dealers

[AidenL]

Quote: Originally Posted by mad brummie

great post Neil its like a brief synopsis of the speccin thread history! all we need is Aiden to do the same!

The Speccers' Novel?

Neil, great story, so good to read it all in one post, brought back all the fun, heartache, indecision and finally the pleasure of MINI ownership and indeed the joy of having you and all the rest of the Speccers', full-time and part time as friends, not to mention the rest of MINI2............

Long may the happy association continue...........

[Haggi]

nice story the MINI thing happened for me when i saw the first cooper S's in edinburgh one look and i was in love with MINIS forever and now am very happy owner of chilli red / white cooper

[Washy]

Thanks for the kind replies

I should add that the community on MINI2 is very important to me and that I would like to register my thatnks to Paul, everyone involved in keeping the site running and everyone who posts for keeping my obsession fed.

I have made some good friends through MINI2

[minicore]

Great post!

[Mike Clarke]

Nice post Neil, with such enthusiasm for the MINI we can probably forgive you the one blemish on your record