Hi Bill,

You ran the Dipsea? Wow, I take my hat off to you!

And I heartily agree about that stretch of Route 1: from Jenner (where the Russian River meets the sea) to Mendocino is just absolutely beautiful. I've stayed at the Albion River Inn and at the Lodge at Sea Ranch before and it's just great. Once this gig in Albuquerque ends (August?) I am going to take a week off and go for a 2-4 day driving trip; haven't decided exactly where, but up the coast to Mendocino is high on my list. I would love to drive back out to Utah to see some of the parks there, but that's just too long for now. Maybe I'll plan a longer trip next summer to do that. At any rate, I think that the route 1 Sonoma coast, especially on weekdays, will be a fantastic drive in my new car.

Tony

 

congrats on finally getting your MINI, seattlemini.
glad to hear that they didn't drill into your new baby!




EAST coasters Group A // INTEGRITY // DEPARTED 04/19/08 // ARRIVED 04/27/08:
-cutters68
-filet0fish
-jkling17
-majorbill11
-MBX5
-peter314
-rockhouse
-ShaggyMike
-subdude

EAST coasters Group B // ELEKTRA // DEPARTED 04/23/08 // ARRIVED 05/02/08:
-fenwayscout (Honorary 16'er)
-sottili

EAST coasters Group C // WESTERN HIGHWAY // DEPARTED 04/21/08 // ARRIVED 05/01/08:
-JLL319

MIDWESTERN & SOUTH CENTRAL coasters // INDEPENDENCE II // DEPARTED 04/26/08 // ARRIVED 05/11/08:
-badzboy11
-chaoticx6
-danhen
-Doogs
-kevnallen
-lenhart05
-MiniBella

WEST coasters Group A // ABOARD TURANDOT // DEPARTED 04/28/08 // ARRIVED 05/19/08:
-Altruego
-bd_stance
-Btwyx
-dlaw255
-eron
-hcubed (Honorary 16'er)
-Magpie
-paradigm_crash
-Satsloader
-SeattleMini
-sfomini
-steaming79
-SteveJ
-wendybryn

WEST coasters Group B // ABOARD FALSTAFF // DEPARTED 05/09/08 // ARRIVED 05/28/08:
-booyun

 

We will have to post pics later after we resize.
Magoo is safe and sound in the garage.

 

OK..not sure if this will work..but heres my MINI

 

Bee-u-ti-ful!! Really love that color!

 

Magpie is now the LAST ONE we need to hear from....



EAST coasters Group A // INTEGRITY // DEPARTED 04/19/08 // ARRIVED 04/27/08:
-cutters68
-filet0fish
-jkling17
-majorbill11
-MBX5
-peter314
-rockhouse
-ShaggyMike
-subdude

EAST coasters Group B // ELEKTRA // DEPARTED 04/23/08 // ARRIVED 05/02/08:
-fenwayscout (Honorary 16'er)
-sottili

EAST coasters Group C // WESTERN HIGHWAY // DEPARTED 04/21/08 // ARRIVED 05/01/08:
-JLL319

MIDWESTERN & SOUTH CENTRAL coasters // INDEPENDENCE II // DEPARTED 04/26/08 // ARRIVED 05/11/08:
-badzboy11
-chaoticx6
-danhen
-Doogs
-kevnallen
-lenhart05
-MiniBella

WEST coasters Group A // ABOARD TURANDOT // DEPARTED 04/28/08 // ARRIVED 05/19/08:
-Altruego
-bd_stance
-Btwyx
-dlaw255
-eron
-hcubed (Honorary 16'er)
-Magpie
-paradigm_crash
-Satsloader
-SeattleMini
-sfomini
-steaming79
-SteveJ
-wendybryn

WEST coasters Group B // ABOARD FALSTAFF // DEPARTED 05/09/08 // ARRIVED 05/28/08:
-booyun

 

We've been away for the last week, and 2 weekends so our break in is behind schedule. I only just did the first fill up this evening. 29.0MPG is better than Tristan managed for his first fill up last year with much the same driving.Pagemill to Skyline is one of my favorite roads for breaking in a new MINI. Nice and twisty.Cylinders is not a measure of power, that a peculiarly American outlook on things. Most of the rest of the world makes do with 4 cylinders and only pretty exotic cars have more than that.

 

love this shot of your MINI, booyun.

 

On the MINI Owners Lounge, someone named Magpie on the Turandot noted she picked up the car at the end of May.

Maybe she's too busy driving around to share pics with the rest of us!

 

hmm.... nice find on the whereabouts of magpie, wendybryn.
i'll still wait on the person to let us all know before i award those precious wings we all share.

anyways....on to another piece of interesting news....

tonight on my way home from santa cruz on 17....i found out the TPMS works rather well. in fact....it alerted me about 15-20 mins before my rear right tire went completely flat. when i first pulled over, my friend and i checked all the tires the moment the warning went on. they all looked fine then. but 20 mins later when we got to a gas station to fill up (3rd time now), we looked again....and there it was. flat tire. luckily it was run flats and i was driving around 50mph only. tried filling it up with air with the air compressor at the gas station, but it wasn't helping. seems the air is coming straight out of the tire the second it goes in. the hole seems to be a nail puncture located in the middle of the tire (not the sidewall, thankfully).

well then..... now its time to search the forums to see if i can get the tire plugged up (or repaired), because i really don't want to spend money on a new one (or a whole new set of regular tires).

ah....... the lovely adventures of owning a car...and not just a car...
...but a MINI.

 

seems like the car crime rate has gone up in santa cruz.
someone was scoping out cars along the street where i was parked (dark alley). the guy walked slowly by the cars to take a quick peek inside...but when he reached mine, the glowing red alarm light on the tach made his thieving butt move to the next car pronto. while my friend and i were watching this guy, i had my fob in hand ready to set off the "panic alarm"...but i never needed to. still pretty sucky to have to worry about your car though.

 

Clubman roof decal photos!!!

Hey Steaming and bill and all- I've been off the list due to work for a couple of weeks.

The short story- Decal didn't arrive before delivery. Made a trip to the dealer later, the decal got messed up (Their first clubman), they would have to re-order. Second decal arrived, went on OK, but a couple of squres would have to be re-done. Got the car home and my wife said,"It's silver. I thought it was to be black and white." We take the car back for the third decal set, and the service advisor finds out that the decal set is available in white. The fourth decal set is now on order.

Anyways, here's some pics of the silver checkered roof.

 

Sorry to hear about your flat, steaming, and about the Santa Cruz crime rate. It seems like in the bay area you need to worry more about leaving things visible in your car than about the car itself being stolen. I know that breakins happen a lot in SF; one friend of mine started working up in the city and he left a tent in his car - in plain view. I told him that was like gold to a homeless person. A former colleague of mine had her Perl programming book stolen from her car (break a window for THAT?). After that I used to tease her about seeing a homeless guy on the street reading a programming book....

 

I've been uncharacteristically careful with what lays out in the open in my new baby. My old truck looked plain enough that I never gave much of a thought about it. I should say things are quite different here in Mayberr... I mean P.G.

Santa Cruz, on the other hand, has been a crime story for the last 8 years. The old school hippy ideals ( the "Golden Rule" with a buzz ) are more the exception than the rule on the streets. A lot of desperate folks are just trying to survive in this tougher economy, but there's some real dirt bags there as well. The local's general attitude is still mellow, but nights ( from a break-in standpoint ) are a big risk if you don't know the town. Advertising ( via your vehicle's bumper stickers, etc. ) that your a tourist isn't real smart..

Bill in P.G.

 

well... wheel works was asking $350 (before parts & install) for the goodyear excellence RF AND they straight refused to patch or plug the RF. the dealership was quoting around $450-500. so i ended up going to a place called Skip's Auto (a couple building away from wheel works) and they said they would look and patch/plug if possible. after inspection, it was determined the whole was too big and the steel wires were in bad shape (which would explain why it couldn't hold air). they said can can get me another excellence RF for $220, but i should just get a normal tire (cheaper). so i got a falken for $130. pretty cool of them not to try and push a RF on me like the others.

anyways... after that, i FINALLY went out to pepboys after work and i got myself an air compressor as suggested by this person's posting:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...7&postcount=24

this weekend i'll head up to harbor freight in pleasant hill to pick up some dynaplugs.

oh... i got my clearcover license plate frame from weathertech the other day. its pretty nice. the rubber gasket around the inside backing of the frame is cool.

 

steaming...thanks for sharing your experience.

so you got a flat about a week ago.. what did you do in the meantime? were you able to continue driving on that flat while looking for a solution?

i have run flats myself, and I'm just concerned about the first flat I'll get... i know i've probably had maybe less then 5 flats my entire lifetime on all my other cars, but these are my first run flats and it seems like these for whatever reason puncture quite easily. anyways, i'll probably do what you are doing and replace my RFs with standard tires and get a patching kit and air pump.

let us know how it all works out for you!

 

booyun... i replaced the tire the morning after the flat. i don't like the idea of not driving over 50mph...

you should get that compressor i linked to in the previous post. it was like $35 at pepboys. and it works better than those smaller compressors that come in those slime/sealant combo packs. plus it all fits in the compartment in the trunk like the photos shown.

i gave harbor freight a call and they said they had the dynaplugs in stock.
and i called the tire place and they said plugging flats are cool, just be sure to bring the tire in to be patched. so that was nice of them.....

anyways.... still loving my MINI. i find myself detailing the car twice everyday: once in the am...and again in the late pm. i even bought myself a nice microfiber mitt to "dust" the dash. i drive with the windows down and sunroof open ALOT.

i can't wait til i replace my RFs with regular softer & quieter tires.
and i need to do my post-break in oil change soon...i'm at 1550 miles now.

 

stevej... is the clubman finally adoring its correct colors?

on another note...i might have mentioned to you guys that my seat was squeaking. i couldn't really find any helpful threads here on NAM, but i checked somewhere else...and i got the info i needed. i went to the orchard supply hardware nearby and looked for some dry lubricant with PTFE. i couldn't find any that was in an aerosol format (there isn't much space under the seat to maneuver my hand around in), so i ended up buying a $5 4oz. bottle of tri-flow lubricant with PTFE.

i sprayed it on the joints that were involved with the raising and lowering of the seat (including the crank itself). and viola! no more squeaking. it SERIOUSLY was driving me bonkers. so i saved a trip to the service dept, though i still need to get that trunk button/trunk fob key looked at.

and i STILL need to do a break-in oil change. so i think i'll head to the mini dealership next to work (that i don't care much for) to buy a filter. i decided to go with the mobil oil that this one fellow in the oil change thread just spoke of with such high regards. plus i need to make sure i have all the tools necessary to perform the oil change.

hope the week 16 family are safe and is still enjoying their MINIs. i know i'm still enjoying the honeymoon!

 

Break-in oil change?? I thought it was at 15K??

I am having so much fun with Stella!! My poor husband is lamenting he never gets to drive anywhere anymore. I've assured him the new-ness will pass eventually, but I'm not quite sure.....

I must say I"m disappointed in how many fellow mini-drivers don't wave back when I see them on the road here in Portland. I think I'm only getting about 1 in 10 waving back. I'm going to stop trying at this rate.

Its taken me a lot longer than I thought to get used to the gas pedal. I'm still pretty jerky with my stopping and starts. I guess I just need more practice!

 

All,

Sorry I hadn't gotten around to letting you all know that I received my Astro Black/Silver Clubman S on May 9th. This was much earlier than the dealer had thought. So far, I enjoyed motoring around in it very much. Also, my family of 4 (boys ages of 5 and 8) fits quite nicely in the car. I've been getting 28-32 MPG on mixed city and highway driving.

Here are some pictures:

 

Yeah I stopped trying. Same results here. I had one lady in a CR/W pass me (normally I don't get passed but I was hyper-mileing) she didn't even look over...nothing. I sped up to give a second chance but she was in some kind of zone.
As for your jerky starts I found the sport button all but eliminates it. Thottle is much more responsive. Wish they would have made the car that way all the time without pushing a button. MPG is virtually the same with or with out sport on. However you may be tempted to zip and zag a little more with the button on therefore leading to lower MPG. Filled up this morning reset OBC and on my 45 mile commute I got 40.8 MPG.

 

kevnallen... nice looking clubman you got there! glad you were able to get it early to enjoy the new MINI. and thanks for checking up on us.

wendybryn... the break-in oil change is supposed to happen within 1200-1500 miles. even the bmw/benz/porsche people agree.

cutters68... i haven't been waved to, nor have i tried to wave at people. i usually just let them initiate, but so far zilch. as for the sport button...i save the for the freeway. if i use it on the street/residential areas...i tend to go way tooooooo fast. and sometimes i forget to turn it off when i'm exiting the freeway. haha.

anyways.... i did my break-in oil change tonite (finally!). took about 2 hours to figure out all the tricks. easy. coolant was the only tricky part. altogether it cost $45 bucks for the oil and filter. used the mobil 1 0w40.

it doesn't say in the book....so i'll save you the trouble from searching the forums: 4.5 quarts go into the engine.

 

Great looking Clubbie Kev!

Steaming79... Glad to hear your oil change went well.

Re: Waving
Have a had two waves out of I don't know how many Minis/MINIs. I usually try to make eye contact first but if they are too far away I just stick my hand out the window. I figure I might make someone's day just as the folks who have waved to me made mine.

 

I am a week 23'er and I am waving to Mini drivers while crusing around in my junky car while my Mini gets to the dealership.

PLEASE keep waving. Its what makes us special.
<<waves!>>
Rebecca

 

i missed my first wave today. i am a bastard. it happened outside of apple in cupertino. the guy was driving a dark silver mini. he JUST bought it so i was trying to see where he got it from because he still had the dealer plates on AND they installed the front plates. sorry man!!! whoever you are....

on a lighter note... i got my mini field kit today in the mail. yellow smiley face ball (in case anyone was wondering). and i got the stencils the day before.

the mini is STILL a blast to drive. i still need to bring the car in to get the trunk release looked at. and also to pick up those velcro things for the driver's mat and the plastic disc that come between the rubber bumpers ***** and the body of the car.

anyways....hope all of you are still enjoying the ride and are being safe.
cheers!