PogueMoHone

Drive the VW R32 before you pull the trigger, it's a mini killer!

OCBen

Thanks Rodney, I appreciate that. But out here in the OC, million dollar homes are a dime a dozen, as I had noted in another thread. It's really nothing special, but that's just the housing market here.

You mean it can top the Mini's 36 mpg highway???

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well congratulations buddy!
no wonder your wife said you could take a vacation!
is that a longer commute?
moving in june, huh?
dang! i'm busy the whole month or i'd be right out to help!
let me know when you get the guest house ready!

drbf

Ben, I get around 45 MPG on my Road King

texas911

That 300ZX is in great shape for being old enough to drink.

I loved the ZX at that time, but I couldn't drive yet. Brings back memories though. It'll be tought to get rid of it I bet.

OCBen

Thanks Tex. Wow, you must be a young whippersnapper to not have been old enough to drive in '85.

Yeah, it'll be tough to get rid of, that's for sure. A lot of memories with that car. It was my first car after graduating from college and adjusting to the new level of buying power of a college grad - "you mean I can afford that!" ... I was planning on keeping it for about 5 yrs max, and 21 yrs later ol' Betsy is still hauling my *** to work to this day.

I used to beat Mustangs, Camaros and other small time game with it. One time I challenged this funny looking bug-eyed froggie car with a whaletail and it smoked me real bad. I scratched my head thinking, "Damn, those cars are fast!" ... Oh, did I mention I gained the notoriety of the DMV when they issued me a license suspension warning after racking up about 4 speeding tickets in a year with that car?

Oh, and I can't count the number of girlfriends I've had during that time either. (Don't tell the wife! ... Nah, I saved the best for last and for keeps.) Must have been close to 20 - I used to go through g/fs more often than tire rotations.

Yes indeed, lots of memories. I'll hate to get rid of it, but the time has come. Ol' Betsy has served me well.

PogueMoHone

Better than that, the R32 makes you forget all about gas mileage!

IMO it is the automotive deal of the "century", and I've own a Porsche or two.

I encourage you to drive it before you buy the Mini. The Mini is cute but gets boring very quickly, and without the the S or the JCW package, it's boring by the time you get to fourth gear (IMO again).

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four tickets inside of a year???
must have been before detailing became your passion?

twenty girlfriends? what percentage were male?

"ole, betsy" huh?
what the name of your 997?

OCBen

Well, I'm using the term girlfriends loosely. Girls I dated more than once is more like it (and some of them were quite loose, btw, not that I complained.)

Well, I don't really call my Z Betsy. It's just a general affectionate term for an old horse that is about to be put out to pasture. And, no, I haven't named my 997, although the wife likes to call it The Porsh.

Carbon_Ted

Ben, a Mini parts web forum I would recommend--good info especially reading through thread history - http://forums1.roadfly.com/mini/forums/partscounter/ I do not have a Mini but I have used the sister site for BMW parts. Car arriving?

gravedgr

If you're going to browse MINI forums, http://www.northamericanmotoring.com is also a must. I traded out my 2005 Cooper S for my first 911 and as for the R32, I smoked them on a regular basis with about $2k in parts.

OCBen

Thanks for that tip, Ted.

Thanks, Doug, but that's where I spend a lot of time lately.

gravedgr

No problem. NAM is a nice place, but like all forums has its idiosyncrasies and quirky forum residents.

OCBen

I go to NAM all the time to dig for information. They have the same forum software as Rennlist and the same search engine, making it very easy for me to find the information I need right at my fingertips.

I seldom post there and I'm still stuck in first gear, which is fine by me. I haven't done the obligatory, "Hi, my name is so-and-so, and this is what I have on order." I don't go there to socialize - just to do research - and I really don't know the regulars there, though I see posters all the time with 7k, 10k, 12k posts to their credit. I did, however, post in this thread there called something like "We know your Mini is your first car, but show us your second car." Well....I mean....how could I resist, right? (Utter silence....not a peep or a comment from those showing off their Hondas, SUVs, Fords, Chevys.)


They seem to be for the most part a mixed younger crowd, though I suspect the long time denizens to be middle aged, or even grumpy old men for that matter. From what I've seen, there seems to be little intellectual discussion going on that would pique my interest, even in the OT forum, which I've only peeked inside once and found it boring.

Most of my time thus far has been spent in the Marketplace, where I bought a brand new set of wheels (S-Lites) with Pirelli Run Flats off some local guy's freshly delivered MCS for $800. I turned around and sold the Pirellis for $550 and bought some performance non-runflats for $387 from TireRack, which came to $439, mounted and balanced. (The base Cooper has a spare as you know, and the non-runflats are a softer ride, which suits my commuter purposes just fine.)

The only thread I started (in the Wheels & Tires forum) was to ask which is the most popular 15" wheel, so I could order my car with it and then of course turn around and sell them. Turns out the "Holies" are the most popular, and I already have two guys interested in buying them when I mentioned I would order my car with them. (These wheels are very light and are a favorite for tracking.) I'd like to sell the wheels & tires together without having to go through the trouble of unmounting and selling separately. I need to do some research to see what I should be asking for them when I write my ad, which I should do any day now since the car will be here in a few weeks.

gravedgr

Well, your observations are 100% on the money. NAM is more social - if you need a more technical site, I can put you on to a couple. Many times there are local forums with both more local group info as well as local tech experts (being in Cali, you might want to check out M7's site).

Oddly enough the default wheels on both the base Cooper and S are some of the lightest wheels offered OEM from BMW. The "Holies" as you mentioned and the "X-lites" on the S; the S-lites are notoriously heavy, but fit the MINI personality well. A lot of folks have S-lites and one of the other two in a 13-14" size for auto-x.

I went the other direction and got 19" wheels and dropped the car. I got the "it looks too aggressive" comment from more than a few folks, as the MINI attracts a lot of outgoing, but complete type-B personalities. Anyhow, good luck with customizing it - there are a ton of options for the MINI (OEM and aftermarket), and it is a super fun car to run around in.

Here's what mine looked like at the 2005 Children's Hospital of Atlanta Christmas parade (we were mice this year):