
A blue "S." Ahh... OK let's tell my story of last Sunday afternoon. I was late getting over to Flow MINI. I have a busy schedule so I managed to get over there (over an hour away) by 4:00. I knew the event was over at five so I had to work fast. I signed up for a ride and in no time I was sitting in this blue beauty. Honestly I thought I would not really like this car. I was wrong. I love my 2006 and always will love the retro-styling but this generation is the future of the brand. I really like the new styling and technology. I am such a BMW convert these days.
Here is my comments for what they are worth. This car is new. I am skiddish about first year-model cars of any type. I will say this. This car is better than the early first generation MINIs. It is truly an evolution of the past and the best of the current technology. I really believe I will own one of these as my car ages.
OK I am dying to tell you my story so here goes, enough of that stuff you can read in the car magazines...First Joe
Culp was our lead car, check him out here...
http://www.flowmini.com/Our-People.aspx Joe is a wild man!! A true MINI guy! He had this first generation MINI with a small
number "1" on the back glass. I lined up behind him in my blue 2007 "S"...there were 2 other
MINIs behind me. As I adjusted the mirrors and tried to figure out how the new seats worked I waited for the traffic light to change so I could feel the car out. Finally I got the seat tilted forward to a comfortable position...yes this car is a little different. The light is green!
Woohoo! I press the gas pedal and I feel the new engine for the first time. YES! The turbo is kicking some serious ass! Man... what can I say. The boost is awesome. the torque is obviously very strong. A we merge on to I40 I am on the back of the lead car. I am not going to let Joe get away from me. Suddenly I feel really young and my face is getting that wide smile going. OMG what a car! Can I say that again? Can I hear an AMEN? Woohoo!! We hit the first exit ramp and I try to drift the car in the extreme curve. None of that for this auto. I am way up the speedo and not even sweating the handling. I am all over Joe and by now I am laughing my ass off. This was the best thing I have done to drive over here and try this car out.
We hit the off ramp end and come to a stop sign. I finally see the two MINIs behind me catch up. We eaze though the low sped zones until we see a "Euro-round-a-bout" My new crazy friend Joe holds his hand up and does a circle with it. I smile. I know exactly what he wants to do. We have the right of way. There are several "ons" from connecting roads but we are going to put on a show for the "un-initiated" We made at least four circles at about as fast a speed as you could do through that circle and we were putting on a real show for the people sitting there watching. Everyone just stared! It was so funny! Like a movie or something. Everyone was smiling and I think I was crying it was so much fun. OK people, this was a "MINI moment." As we exited the round about we sped towards the S curve ahead and I knew my test drive was winding down. Damn this car is great. I pulled in next to my car to take a picture or two. What a car. What a car. Life is good baybee.