I'm not noticing the hesitation as much lately, I've been compensating the hesitation by pressing the pedal more to start off.

Something else I've noticed about the automatic is that when I go downhill (there are a lot here in WV), my MINI will use stay in a lower gear to keep from coasting down the hill. I'm not used to this behavior so I've been putting the car in neutral and letting it coast down hills.

 

The reason the MINI stays in the lower gear is to keep from gaining speed while going down hills. If you want to gain speed just kiss the gas pedal and your speed will rise oh so slightly, as if you were in neutral. You will also save the wear on the transmission by throwing it into gear from neutral while moving.

 

200 miles to go until the break in is over,

 

do it! i'm well above 2000 miles now several trips out to shenandoah national park helped with that

 

After a vacation in Outer Banks, I broke 2000 miles and sadly I didn't get a picture of the 1000 or 2000 mile mark. But I do have pictures of my trip.

In front of Cape Hatteras lighthouse.


On the ferry.


In front of Ocracoke Lighthouse.


I took Tiffany off-roading in the sand, I didn't get far.


A photo shoot in front of Bodie Island Lighthouse.

 

Nice pictures. Looks like you 3 had a great trip. Too bad Tiffany wasn't up for much off-roading.

 

My vanity tags came today!

 

I added stripes this weekend.

 

Very nice Mark. I think that I would have spread them out just a smidge more, but thats just me. Over the weekend I took Alyssa to her first run. We met up with 41 of our closest friends and enjoyed 4 hours of twisties together. Easy way to rack up the time on the Openometer.

 

The stripes do blur together at a distance. That looks like a fun meet, where was it at?

 

Actually, out your way. It was in Cumberland, MD.

 

So, here we are, a week or two from one year since ordering our 2009 MINIs. How is everyone doing? I'm set to hit 10,000 miles tomorrow. To date I have about 194 hours of open motoring.

 

Just noticed the reply in this thread. I just hit 16,500 miles recently and it's all been fun. The heat this summer has sucked though. I'm looking forward to some nice fall weather and drives.

Unfortunately I also just got in a minor accident on 95 with a piece of plywood that decided it was done laying flat on the pavement. Flew up right in front of me and smacked my hood/bumper pretty good. The damage isn't tooooo bad but it's still a pain.



Anyone know of any good body shops in the Baltimore/Annapolis area? I'm willing to go out of my way to know the work is done right. Geico has these 'xpress repair' locations where I would bring the car there, the adjuster on site gives an estimate, and the work starts almost immediately at that same location. But I'm always weary of shops that my insurance recommends (paranoia?). I'll post this question elsewhere to get some other replies.

Other than all that junk, I'm pretty happy with my car

 

OUCH!! I'm about to hit 12000 and am still loving the car. My Mom liked it so much that she went out and bought a 2010 Red Cooper S convert. It's great to see a 70+ person out grinning ear to ear!!!

 

I passed 12,000 1 year to the day from when I picked up my MINI. The next day, a tree fell on it .