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This is my first week of commuting in my MINI. Well, also the first week of owning him. His name is Fenimore, and he is a base-model Cooper Hardtop with a manual transmission.

I could wish for top gear to be taller (he runs about 2400 RPM at 60 MPH) but he should be able to do pretty reasonably for me on FE once I start working it in earnest. For now, I'm having fun--going around corners too fast, accelerating just because I can, doing engine braking likewise, and running up to 4000 RPM to make sure the engine gets broken in properly.

Fenimore only has 55 miles TOTAL on him; he had six miles when I picked him up on Friday evening. (Had other plans for the weekend so he actually was parked the whole time.)

He's a good car, fun to drive and responsive. I think I'll be airing up his tires at my first fill, but that will be another week and a half at least.

I'm still figuring out how everything works, but I'm pretty happy with him so far.

-soD

Good luck with it. The mini was on my short list but the nearest dealer is over two hundred miles away. It was also at the top of my 12 year old daughter's very short list.

where are the pictures man! :D

:D

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-iKMzNy7DvyI/TpJiRx2r3jI/AAAAAAAAAjE/P0M_TFdBjcQ/s640/DSCF6207.jpg


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0Xa-N1pyU0M/TpYQSXz2OCI/AAAAAAAAAjU/vmNKr9urB5c/s640/DSCF6277.jpg


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nWPD6XdmXWY/TpYQSacq4MI/AAAAAAAAAjg/tP3FgjvHp7k/s640/DSCF6272.jpg

-soD

Congratulations :) He has funny looks. I never saw such a car but I live in Hungary (and I'm quite blind if it's about cars, I'm into bikes, but I would notice one like him I guess).
I wish you two a long, good relationship, safe trips and nice FE :)

NICE!!!!:bananapowerslide:

I like the color as well :D

Looks like on the Thrid photo another Mini parked on the other side of you. (will have to scan in a pic from my 1971 Austin Mini Clubman (Mint green) - sweet first car.;)

Jason, good eye! There's someone with an earlier-generation BRG ("British Racing Green") MINI with a white roof, and I've started parking next to him when there's an open spot. There was that day... :D

shiNIN, these are relatively popular cars here in my area. They're "inspired by" the old BMC Mini (which was sold under a number of brand names) which was built for decades in England, and was pretty popular in Western Europe. BMW bought the name about 10 years back, and built this car. It's a nice car, if a bit more expensive than most others in this segment.

-soD

One week of ownership: About 130 miles so far.

Driving impressions: It's a fun little car! Handles quite nicely, has reasonable power (below 4000 RPM, I won't be exploring the upper ranges of the tach for a while!) and just plain works well. Since the most modern car I've ever owned was my 1990 CRX, there sure are a lot of bells and whistles on this thing! Some of which are useful--I'm particularly liking the bluetooth integration. If only my phone got better reception in my pocket.

The on-board FCD is showing 31 MPG. And that is driving stupidly--no coasting in neutral, frequently getting up between 2000 and 4000 RPM, coasting in gear, and a few other things that are in theory good for breaking in an engine and in practice are really bad for FE. I think that after break-in, this thing will start turning in fairly laudable numbers for a "sporty" car. And once I start really working it, I'm betting 50 MPG is pretty well in my grasp.

Here's hoping, at least!

-soD

Cruise control works. It's not very constant, though--it seems to modulate the throttle a good bit, even on relatively level roads. I never used it for very long (again, the break-in thing) but the first try at 60 MPH CC showed between 50 and 55 MPG on the iFCD.

I then merged onto another highway, and tried CC again. This time it was showing me low 60s, and when I tried it a little later it was reading right around 70 MPG! And that's at 60 MPH, on an engine with just over 100 miles on it.

This thing is going to love the freeway when it's broken in!

-soD

How long do you plan to break it in for?, 10k miles?

You gotta let it rev up occasionally.

What , 4000 rpm isn't high enough ? Admittedly, as a part of the break-in routine , I would progressively use more and more of the powerband. After 4-5K miles , I was redlining my Civic Si , and it lasted for 233,000 miles (until the rest of the car died from rust). Of course , in those days I was focused on getting to the next redlight before anyone else. But I believe that break-in (and maybe Slick 50) helped that car to get as much as 44 mpg after I started driving in an adult fashion.

It is recommended to stay below 4000 RPM for the first 1,500 miles. I may gradually go higher than that at some point during that period.

With a colder engine today, CC at 60 MPH was reading in the low- to mid-50s.

I plugged my SG II in for the first time, and it tracks reasonably well with the iFCD on the car. I have to figure out a permanent spot for it now.

-soD

Dave, that's a beautiful car! I think you'll find it considerably easier to tweak higher mileage from than your old CRX, too. :D:thumbs_up:

As anticipated, really poor results from the first tank; 32 MPG. The onboard average FCD was still showing 35 MPG when I filled, so we know that's off. Too bad, it would have been nice to beat the EPA while still doing almost everything wrong!!

The SG2 was not plugged in for the first half of this tank, so I decided not try adjusting the calibration.

The tires were at the dealer-set figure of ~32 PSI. I aired them up to 50, just like I used to with Mango Bango. It took a minute to find the MAX rating on the new tires' sidewall.

The next tank should be over EPA, if probably not much. I'm going to start exploring a little higher on the tach near the end of the tank, and I'm still going to be driving to break-in the engine.

I definitely don't feel up to FAS'ing in this car like in MB! There is so much electronic stuff that I'm afraid not to have everything on. And there is a push-button to start the car (and shut it off), which leave me quite unsure what systems shut down when you turn the car off.

Lots and lots to learn about this car.

-soD

Sounds like mod time :)