[JRowley]

Well, after years of contemplating, months of anticipating, weeks of browsing, days of test driving and many hours wrestling with my finances, my wife and my inner-soul - I've taken the plunge.

I received confirmation today that my new MINI Cooper Convertible is officially "on the books" for my local dealer's October order. It should arrive by Christmas.

- Mini Cooper Convertible
- Black top
- Cool Blue
- Cool Blue Interior
- Multi-function steering wheel
- Sport Seats
- Panther Black leather

Pretty stock and pretty simple. But it looks great to me!

JR

 

[JRowley]

I've been yearning for a convertible for so long and finally got to a spot in life where it was both feasible and appropriate ... and the MINI was right there!

I've driven many other convertibles from old to new (Triumph, Miata, BMW, Benz SLK) but was reluctant to buy because of the high cost (Benz) , high maintenance (Triumph) or high volume of similar cars on the road (Miata).

I'm not a engine repair hobbyist, by any stretch, so the older cars were not a good choice for me. The features on the MINI convertible, such as the glass rear window (a disappointment with the Z3) and the price (even paying full MSRP plus dealer markup) were right on.

JR

 

[JRowley]

RE: Heated seats

I was trying to pinch pennies a bit. I have a car now with heated leather seats (Subaru Outback) and I personally never use the heaters at all. My wife likes them a bit but she doesn't ride with me much. I asked her if she wanted to pay the extra $850 for heated seats in the new MINI and she didn't see the need for them either.

So, not having the heated seats is perfect for me.

 

[JRowley]

HowardPM,

My error - sorry.

The heated seats by themselves are $270. $300 if you get the whole cold weather package that adds heated side mirrors and heated washer jets.

Maybe in my head I was using an inflated price to convince my wife we didn't need them?

Thanks for the correction.

In any case it's still $300 I didn't need to spend. In my neck of the woods (Seattle area) we don't get more than 3 days of snow a year and I won't be driving the MINI on those days anyway! You could argue that in my neck of the woods we get 250 days of rain a year. But that leaves (let's see, 365 - 250 - 3 = ) 112 days of non wet-air open-top driving! (only 15 of those will be sunny, but I don't mind motoring with a coat and gloves! )

JR