At the end of spring break, we went on a roadtrip, our first really long one in awhile to Las Vegas.  The purpose was to visit relatives and attend AMVIV.

I had a great time (other than the pellet gun incident). Met lots of people, took a bunch of pictures, got some mods (very minor and inexpensive) done, and went on some drives.  Overall, about 420 MINIs were in attendance.

Our route took us from Vancouver to Redding California via I-5. On the way, a group of Japanese young folk in an Eclipse came over and checked out our MINI at a rest stop in Oregon. We met them again at the Motel in Redding and they came over and chatted with me. We also saw one car on I-5 weaving extremely dangerously near Tacoma. I just backed away and stayed out of his way. But eventually, he rammed a car onto the concrete barrier separating them from oncoming traffic, then tried to pull a hit n run. The victim chased them down. As we witnessed it, we were slightly delayed. Grants Pass in Oregon was lots of fun to drive, but other than that, I-5 is a pretty boring highway. We did get a picture of a flock of seagulls on a field, though.

The next day, we drove down I-5. A rock hit my windshield and cracked it, but we kept going until I got bored, then cut over to highway 99, which was just as bumpy by we passed more towns. The rest of the drive to Las Vegas was uneventful. The Mojave desert sure was windy. No wonder the windmills were all there. I and my wife had this sudden fascination with windmills so my wife went crazy with the camera. Our MINIs are so aerodynamically sound that I didn't even notice the wind until we stopped to get out and take a picture. I could barely push my door open against the wind.

As we arrived on Monday night and AMVIV didn't start until Thursday, we stayed with my brother-in-law. They have a dog named Gracie. Gracie exhibits the personality of our MINIs, playful, fast and agile. We went up to meet with a few of the Sin City MINI Club to see if they needed any help setting up. They seemed to have everything under control.

On Thursday morning, we joined up for the drive to Route 66 from Oatman to Kingman. That was a lot of fun. If you watched the movie Cars, it was all there in real life. Route66 is as twisty as advertised and we had to be careful not to step on the Mule droppings.  We had lunch at a diner and returned to LV with a crossing of the Hoover Dam. It was spectacular (and crowded). The bypass highway they are building was also an engineering marvel (or nightmare if you're an engineer). Then we got back to attend the mixer. That night I was outside and met up with others and we discussed picture taking, cars, and just met with different people. I just marvelled at all the different personalities that make up the MINI community and finally was able to put faces and personalities to people on the various forums. I met Patricia and Monty too (from Alberta).

The next day, we went to the Shelby Museum and Las Vegas Speedway. While others went on a day long cruise to Death Valley. Since we came through there on the way in, I decided to pass on that drive. Besides, I was beginning to get tired. I also had an Alta 22mm rear swaybar installed and a brake light pulsar installed. That night was the cruise down the Las Vegas strip. I was told 250 cars went. Again, great organization by Sin City MINI Club to get this together. Somewhere in there, the NCAA basketball game ended and the drunks came out. My MINI and two others were shot at by somebody with a high powered pellet gun. Thankfully, my wife and daughter were not in the car, the light had just turned green. That pellet would have gone through the open window if I had not just stepped on the gas pedal and the results would have been quite different. Kevin from Desert MINI saw my car get hit and he told me to drop by Desert MINI the next morning and they would see what they could do to help. My wife called just about then and asked were we were as they were waiting a few blocks up, watching the MINI turn the corner. It gave me to opportunity to tell her we had a problem and just doing that probably removed the sense of panic and fear that was being built up in my psychy at that moment.

On Saturday, we needed to head home so my daughter could get back to school on Monday (spring break ends!) but were delayed in our departure as I visited Desert MINI. It turned out they didn't have any replacement glass in stock so they just cleaned up the broken glass and taped plastic over my window for me. As it turned out, the plastic came off about 4 miles up the freeway so I stopped at my brother-in-law's place and borrowed a box. We cut out a makeshift window and used two different types of masking tape (to avoid paint damage) and tape a "window" in place. Then were on our way. The drive through Arizona (northwest corner), Utah and Idaho were spectacular. We stopped in Ogden for dinner. Looks like we stopped in a bad part of town. My wife wasn't feeling well so she stayed in the car. A Van from Oregon parked next to us and also went into the restaurant. While having dinner, some young kids went over to our cars. Seeing as we had cardboard on our window, they must have assumed my car had already been broken into so they proceeded to break into the van. My wife called 911 and honked the horn to disperse them but when we left to continue on our journey, it was obvious, this was a very dangerous area for tourists.

I just drove until i got tired, though our goal was to make Boise Idaho, we didn't. We stayed overnight in a Motel8 in Burley. Again, the drive over the 6150ft elevation was a lot of fun. Even in the dark. This is where xenon headlights and foglights came in extremely handy.

Then the next day we drove into Oregon, north to Yakima (Washington), then on I-90 to Seattle and home. We find snow in the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington and had to stop a number of times to apply more masking tape for waterproofing purposes as we drove through a thunder and wind storm in Oregon.

The border officer just asked where we lived and what happened to the car and then waved us through. I guess he felt sorry for me.

All in all a great time. I can say it was an adventure.  Well worth doing for gearheads at least once in a lifetime. 

A few pictures with more to come can be found on Flickr.

I took my 05 MINI Cooper S in for Inspection 1 today.   It snowed overnight (only because I took my snowtires off last week) but the roads had melted sufficiently to drive into town by the time I decided to drive in.   My usual 40 minute drive to the Yaletown MINI in Vancouver took 2 hours this morning.  Lots of accidents from earlier and traffic was horrendous.

 

When I checked in my car, I asked Graham if they had a NEW MINI for me and said only if I was willing to take a Cooper with the new 6-speed automatic.   So of course I said yes.  For those of you not into cars, the 2007 MINI is a redesigned car with a brand new engine.  Outside, it looks the same, but actually, all the body panels are different.

 

So I got a red Cooper.   My initial impressions are, you have to look pretty hard to spot the new one from the old one from outside.  They are very similar.  They had two Red MCa’s parked one in front of the other and they looked very much alike.  One was a new one and one was a 2006 model.  A well done evolution by MINI/BMW designers.  Once inside, the interior design is very different but the ambience of the car remains the same.  The A, B, and C pillars are in familiar places and vision outside is the same.  Even the headliner materials have the same look and feel to them.  Again, a good evolution in design to retain the ambience of driving the MINI. 

 

So I adjusted the seating position and fired ‘er up.  The engine sounded the same, but was different.  I’m not sure what the difference was.  Maybe that the sound sounded manufactured as opposed to being the natural sound of the engine.  The engine definitely idled with less vibration than the old Tritec motor.  Somehow the sound and the engine vibration at idle didn’t sync up.  I guess I should mention the key(disk), the key slot and starter button.  They are different.   The key is a disk that you slide into a slot.  The starter button does not work unless you foot is on the brake pedal and the pedal is depressed.  Safety feature, I guess.  You push the button once and let go.  The starter motor cranks as long as it needs to start the engine by itself, not that it needed to crank very long, but it stopped cranking as soon as the motor kicked into life.   Seat adjustments are the same as the previous year’s car.  But the steering wheel height adjustment is now done by first pulling a lever on the side of the steering column.  I think my car has it under the steering column.  Then I noted the tachometer is now oval as opposed to round.  The oval shape allowed me to see the entire tachometer, whereas, in my car, the top part of it was cut of by the steering wheel.  Speaking of steering wheel, I suspect, the covering is leatherette now as opposed to leather.  It feels much harder than the material on my steering wheel.  However, it could be because this car only had 100 kilometers on it.  The interior materials is noticeably of higher quality and fit n finish than the previous generation.  Not that the previous generation was really low quality either, but some of the charm was lost in design.  The signal and wiper levers are now flat black.  I thought the silver of the previous car was more charming and interesting.  However, I noted a fairly wide gap between the tow differing surface materials along the width of the dash.  The displays on the tach and the speedo now show a lot more information about what’s happening whereas in my car, you had to toggle through the various display modes to see speed, and outdoor temperature before.   This car had both, as well as which gear you’re in, displayed all the time.  It has more display area. 

 

So I put the car into gear and signaled.  The signal flashed three times and stopped.  Huh? I did it again this time with more force and it clicked and the lever went down further then returned to its original position.  But the signal stayed on.  The signal lever is now an electronic switch relay, as opposed to a mechanical switch.  Also, the signal is silent.  So MINI dials in a clicking sound heard through a speaker hidden somewhere in the dash.  Maybe we can get ringtones for this one day.  I actually like the overall dash design.  It was quite attractive.  However, it was rather busy and I still haven’t figured out how to turn off the radio.   Whoever designed the ergonomics of the dash needs to see a psychiatrist.  The volume knob is nowhere near the stereo controls.  Also, the outside mirror adjust button was not as intuitive to use as before.  It is now situated on top of the door speaker of the driver side door.   I guess it keeps your passenger from fiddling with it.  After awhile, I did manage to find the volume knob (right there in the middle of the console) and to turn off the audio system (right there in the middle of the giant speedometer), you push the volume know in.

 

Getting back to the seats.  The seating position for the driver is improved.  In my car, I noted that the dead pedal for my left foot is further away than the gas pedal for my right foot.  This leaves a bit of an awkward sensation that I had to learn to live with in my car.  However, MINI has fixed that and the gas pedal and dead pedal are now lined up correctly leaving driver with a better driving position.  Also, the center console is thinner leaving driver and passenger with a bit more space.  Not that I cared, but the cup holders in the console are bigger and negates the need for that giant big-Gulp sized holder hanging off the side of the console rails.  The console rails are there strictly for visual continuity with the old car now.  There is not particular reason for them to be there anymore other than looks.

 

Driving the new car feels the same but a bit muffled.  It didn’t have the same raw mechanical feel of my car.  I haven’t found the sport button yet.  Now where is it?  Oh...it's an option.  MINI also pulled a Microsoft in the car in that, to turn off the car, you push the start button.  To pull the key out, you need to push it in. 

 

Getting back to the boot, the boot is now lined with the cloth material, as opposed with plastic panels on the sides.  This would banish some of the rattles when the little rubber balls hanging from the hatch cover swing into the sides during spirited driving.  The boot also looks to be a bit deeper (depth of the floor) than the previous but shorter (distance from the hatch to the back of the seat). 

 

What I didn’t like about the new car?  I didn’t like the feel of some of the things MINI did to retain the previous car’s charm.  Like the fake clicking sound for the turn signals, the manufactured engine sounds (exhaust tuning?).  I worry a bit about the increased electronics that depend on the ECU such as the turn signals, the start button and sport mode (as soon as I find it). 

 

I particularly liked the new seat coverings.  I also liked the refinements made to the driving position such as the placement of the pedals.

 

Ergonomics is never really an issue because you get used to it and it’s only usually an issue initially.  Many complained about the ergonomics of the previous car, but I found this one takes more time to learn.  It’s also busier.

 

So my initial opinion of the car?  It should appeal to more people.  It pleases the current MINI owner in that it retains or substitutes all the things we like about the car, as well as addresses a few of the issues some of us had with the previous generation.  Those who have the previous generation of MINIs (02-06) won’t feel abandoned by MINI as our cars are still desirable and MINI did not go a totally different direction with the car.  As well, it addressed some of the issues that would stop others from looking at a MINI even though the styling appeals to them.  If I were looking for a small car mainly for commuting purposes with a good dose of fun, I would still check out a MINI.  But I can’t help but think a VW GTI, Honda Civic Si, Volvo C30 and others are right up there now and MINI may no longer define the class.  But then again.... 

 

I’ll have to get some seat time in the other cars to find out.  Anyways, these are only my initial impressions.  Would I trade my car in for a new MINI?  Ummm no.  The new car is not leaps and bounds better and I’m still having way too much fun with my current car.

 

I'll have to get off work early and take the car out for its paces before I return it and pick up my car later this afternoon.  BTW, Inspection 1 takes at least 3 hours to do and costs an arm.....given what they do, I suppose it's decent value for money.

 

Thanks for reading.