As much as I love the Convertibles, I know there are times that it is just too small. Some people have the luxury of a second (or third!) car for those big jobs. But I'm sure that many do not.

So, does anyone care to share if they live with only their Convertible? What's been the most troublesome aspect of not having a larger car? Any creative ways to overcome some of the challenges of living with a small car?

I've seen the little Mini trailer and the little Mini "shelf", although that's probably not what it's name is.

Trying to get up the nerve to bite the proverbial bullet!

 

What do you have now and what do you use it for? How often do you carry passengers and how many? I was only able to talk myself into getting my cabrio by keeping my pickup for when I need it. But as it turned out I "lent" my pickup to my son several months ago and have not missed it. It was more a security blanket than anything. I did have a sports link put on and do intend to get a shelf or something similiar to increase my load capabilities.

 

I almost just have my cabrio. I bought a 1980 brown rusting Ford pickem-up truck about 5 years ago for $850. I bought it for trips to Home Depot & the dump & yard hauling but it is not drivable for anything beyond that really. I live alone & the MINI suits me fine. The only time space has seemed tight is when I went to the dragon this year with my dog in the backseat & had to get a little help hauling my chili fixins for 60 people, 2 cases of beer for the brew swap, & my luggage

 

You can live with a Cabrio IF you don't have children. Single or single with significant other is fine. The Cabrio has pleanty of room for the two of you to go on vacation. Pleanty of room to go shopping. Need to take friends along to a resturant or vacation. What's wrong with going to the resturant in their car or renting a car for that one week vacation with the relatives? Hauling stuff? They make trailers for the MINI. I used a Miata and 4 x 8 light weight trailer, under 1,000 gvw, for years to do home remodeling, lawn work. Worked fine for me and the trailer is a lot cheaper than buying a pickup for occational use. It's all a matter of trade offs for what you want. My Cabrio is a toy for occational use.

 

I wouldn't even think of it...but as stated above, I have kids, wife, German Shepherd, etc. I can't even think what you guys would do when taking a vacation, as my wife seems to pack our bedroom when we go.

For a third car, perfect this is...as the only one, well, more power to those of you that can do it.

 

Just the cabrio and thus far its worked fine for all my needs... however, mind you I'm single with no kids, just a dog. I don't take much luggage when i travel and i have a local friend or two with pickups... so for right now, it fits my lifestyle perfectly!

 

If you're really concerned about the cabrio, you can also consider the hardtop -- in addition to a little more inside room (just a little), the hard roof with rack allows you the flexibility of also using a cartop carrier.

And the MINI Clubman coming out early next year will give you a little more versatility/room.

Having said that, I have a MiniDoMore hitch receiver, and it's great. I've only used it with a trailer hitch bike carrier, but I'd like to get a light trailer at some point to carry a kayak, cooler, etc.

 

We have 3 cars. 2005 Prius that I bought and use for daily commuter (BORING), 1993 Accord (manual) that's beaten up with 200k on it that's hers (I do all the repairs and it's pretty reliable) , and Sidewalk that we share and keep it in a remote garage so that it doesn't get beat on. My Prius sits about 4 blocks away, her car sits in the front of the condo on a street where our friend's car was broken into, and our cab sits in a secure garage about mile away.

Reason why we kept the Accord was my fiance is an auditor and she is on the road a lot. And it made sense to have a car that's paid for and low maint $ that can sit in front of my condo and nobody would bother breaking in. She can also make some $ with it as it's all paid for and not beat up the sidewalk. Also, we use it for doing all the dirty tasks as well.

And...
If I had a house and could park our park without worrying, I'd definately consider getting rid of the Accord. But living in Boston where cars are broken into (our friend's car's window was smashed and they stole his Serius radio and took his laptop, and my Prius's HID headlights were stolen and cost the insurance ~$9000 to fix it), I would be scared to leave our sidewalk in the street.

M.

 

I don't even want to hear it... we have two Miatas.


No kids, no dogs, don't carry big crap around all the time. People always ask "What do you do when you need to haul things around"... we don't. I don't buy lumber or play golf. When I buy large things I have them shipped to the house. I HATE large vehicles and see no reason to have more than I need. The very rare times we need a large vehicle, we borrow, no reason to own it full time.

 

I own just the 'vert but my bf has a Civic Si that we typically use for grocery shopping and such. There are times when his trunk is full (he's a service technician and on the road with lots of parts sometimes) so we'll take my car food shopping and such. We even took it to pick up our grill at Lowes, because we figured it would be easier to plop it in the backseat with the roof down.

 

My cabrio is my only ride...but it's fine for me. Single w/ a significant other, no kids, no pets (that want rides anyways) and I don't haul anything that can't be shipped. I HAVE, believe it or not, fit four people in my car. I'm 6'2", had a 6'6" passenger-shotgun, another friend (who's pretty big) and my gf in the back seat. I had to push up my seat a tad, but it was just fine. That said, SO much better as a two seater!

 

My previous car was a Miata, so the Cabrio seems vast by comparison. Also, I have no kids. Just the same, I plan to buy a cheap junker for winter and for driving to work. Keeps the miles low on my MINI.

 

We have two convertibles, being that there is just two of us it's not bad. Shopping at first was hard, but out of need we have become packing gurus. We have been amazed what we can get into a MINI. We keep finding new ways to pack and store every thing we need for a road trip. Still have not figured out how to travel with golf clubs. Any one out there have a solution for this. We do have the sport link but am not crazy about my clubs being out side the car.

 

^ If only you had the MiniDoMore:
http://www.minidomore.com/mini_coope...ub_carrier.php

I saw the GP pictured (Brent's) at the Dragon with the double carrier . . . and it was a great set-up.

 

Only problem there is that it does not look like it will fit the sport link.

 

Nope, it won't -- although if you can get a 1 1/4" hitch adapter for the sport link, you may be able to use this

 

My MCSc is my only car. It replaced a Z4 (2-seater!) that was my only car for 3 years. I survived. You will be amazed how much you can fit in a convertible. There are actually many things you can fit in a convertible (tall stuff) that you can't fit in a fixed roof car. Other than my girlfriend and our dog, I never really have a need to carry other passengers (although I did buy the car keeping in mind that we might have a baby sometime soon). I do have the sport link to bring my bikes.

97% of the time I have no need for anything bigger. For the other 3% I can get the items shipped if it's an object or borrow or rent another car if its passengers.

 

I honestly haven't had too many situations where I was in a fix due to the cabrio's size. Last summer, my wife and I made a month-long roadtrip from Florida to California and back. We loaded up our suitcases and cooler with our groceries in the back seat. Our tent and camping gear went in the boot. We were very efficient, bringing along only what we needed, but we still had more than enough room for everything.

I've brought things home from the store in my cabrio that just wouldn't fit in our A4. I've loaded up the back seat with 14 bags of mulch. With the top down, I once brought home a 12' canary island palm. Having the ability to put the top down actually gives plenty of space to pack stuff

We now have a new baby and have found that the baby seat fits better in the MINI than it does in the Audi, giving the front passenger more legroom. It's also easier to get the carseat in and out with the top down than it is to crawl into the back seat of the Audi. We've had to downsize the amount of stuff we bring with us when we use the MINI, but who really wants to haul around all that extra baby stuff anyway?

I guess the key to successfully using the cabrio as a main car is to be efficient. You can't just use it like a minivan and leave all your crap in it all the time.

 

We also have two cabrios. In addition, we have a 25-year-old ex-farm truck, but we pretty much only use that for trips to the landfill, or to bring home big pieces of furniture and things like that.

I just finished a 3200-mile trip from Virginia to California for school, and I was amazed at how much of my stuff I was able to fit in the car. Packing it well involves playing a game of "luggage Tetris", but there's really a fairly good amount of room spread out throughout the car.

 

I live in a city that's primarily dominated by drivers of pickup trucks and large SUVs. I'm right in the center of oil country (Alberta) so my small car is a rarity. However, 90% of these people that drive trucks don't actually need them.

I think 2Phun hit the nail on the head when he said "You can't just use it like a minivan and leave all your crap in it all the time."

With due diligence in keeping the vehicle clean of clutter, you'll be amazed how much stuff you can fit in it.

My Cabrio is my sole vehicle and it's not been an issue. I generally never have more than my girlfriend and I in the vehicle for passengers, and the backseat is usually empty because I keep the trunk clean enough that I can use it for storage when I need to. When I do need to transport anything bigger than that which would fit in the trunk I can usually just stick it in the back seat. Having the top down certainly makes it easier to do that.

But as people have said, if you have a family, then yes, you're likely going to want another vehicle. If it's just you (and your significant other), then yes, you can likely get away with just the Cabrio.