Thanks Moe!!!

 

How my life has changed since my Clubman S entered my life:

1) I get separation anxiety during the week while commuting by train to NYC.
2) I am always the one driving on the weekends (see #1)
3) I am in constant denial about the lack of trunk space.
4) My right pant leg often gets caught in the seat heat adjustment. Oh well.
5) I take every turn as fast as possible, my girlfriend surprisingly promotes this.
6) NAM daily.
7) I am always looking for another accessory to buy. This week's purchase was the lightnsight. Next week is the Euro OEM ARMREST. Spring will be some new wheels. There is a gameplan.
8) Open the club door for no reason.
9) Always ask the person in the backseat "Are you comfortable"?
10) Dont like when someone passes me on the highway no matter what type of car it is.
11) Change the Accent light to purple for the first lady.
12) SPORT button is always on.
13) Still haven't figured out the wipers.
14) Decided my car was a female.
15) Feel good about lowering my carbon footprint.

I knew this car would change my life but never this drastic. I smile every time I look at my Clubbie and look forward to get back in. Good Luck with your new Clubman, you will not be disappointed.

 

I went from being the Kansas Chapter Pres. of the HEMI truck club (I'm sure you can guess my old ride) to my Clubman JCW. You just can't compare it... night and day. I'm a sever automotive enthusiast, and I can just about like anything if there's function to it. I miss my truck, my HEMI growl, rear wheel drive fun, a bed, a little more options for aftermarket pizazz...

But the MINI does change things a bit. My former members of the club can't believe I fit in it, and my co workers... well let's just say I'm in the Army, and 6'3" 200lbs. You can imagine the looks and questions I get.

1 thing I can say if I was a... well... "mom" with kids in school that I'd miss from an SUV is most definitely the room. Clutter is just not an option. I could really haul things with my truck, even if it was just simply luggage from fort to fort, or a drive home.

As an enthusiast, I only miss the thrill you get in a RWD vehicle... and from the truck, my HEMI rumble of long tube headers and Flowmaster exhaust. (Don't think most of you moms really care for that much in yer SUV's though.)

As far as the transformation for me, I used to drive a 2-door Cobalt POS for a daily drive to keep the miles down on the truck. So the wheelbase is about the same as the Clubbie, so I didn't get that drastic change of smaller turn radius as I would've from a hatchback. The rest, even from the Cobalt, is night and day. Torque on demand, peppy clutch (in mine), handling like cars 3x the price.

Guess I could go on and on, but I don't liek reading long posts myself, so I'll stop there, lol.

 

My first Mini love story came in 2007, when after oggling every mini I saw, my wife leased one! Justa cooper, all-black, auto. "Slow" as it was, it had a way of feeling fast and jolting you just enough... I knew that some day I wanted my own, and an "S".

Then came a little baby.

Then came realizing that rear-facing seat + mini cooper + winter = ugh.

So we returned it, and my wife got a Volvo S40.

... but I knew the day would come.

And sure enough, after I saw the Clubman get released... as my daughter grew older and was front facing, walking around, etc. I knew I could now think about it.

My ride all this time was a really spacious, sporty sedan -- a Nissan Altima SE-R. Bright red, fast (modified a bit), every amenity you would want, limo-like rear, huge trunk, so shiny and clean that people kept thinking it was new.
Yet I knew something was missing: I felt bad at the excess of driving a 192-inch long car when I was alone 60% of the time! Most of the other times it was just my wife and a car seat!

Then came the end of payments for my car.
Then came watching miniusa.com have finance offers, looking again at the build-my-mini... optioning out my perfect chili-red MCCS...

and finally, a sweet deal on a showroom '09 that the dealer was happy to move, and give me a great 2K under MSRP for.

So here I am today, finally back as a true NAM member, so sad that my mini is under 1K miles (no revvin' over 4500? are you joking?) and that winter is here... but great road trips lie ahead, I know it!

Already enjoying demo'ing it to friends and co-workers, parking (I got the park-distance-control, it's fun!), getting my daughter in and out of the car seat (it gives the club door the perfect purpose for being there!), and just admiring the awesome red/black combo that it is.

And soon, let the mods begin!

 

For years I have been looking into the mini's but never decide to get one (two kids, need space, bla, bla, bla.... all the common excuses) and because parking space and saving gas was not an issue for me (commute is about 15 minutes through back roads and 5 taking the highway) I bought a "practical" car. Then the clubman came out and I started thinking again about swithching my boring car for a fun car. Finally, about 5 months ago I decided to replace my car so I started doing research (joined NAM), check websites, went to visit several dealers, drove both hatchback/clubman, non-S/S; created several configurations and when I was getting ready to order, I found my new BRG clubman S (ok, slighlty used 08) at an unbeatably out of the door price so I brought it home about a week ago and I am finally enjoying again my driving (looking forward for the longer commute as my office is moving downtown Chicago).

I will say for me, buying my clubman has change the way I feel about driving in the city again since I learn how to drive many years ago and it can be define with one word: Fun

And yes, that include the family too! (wife is trying to exchange me her Nissan Murano SE!)