My daughter had only one stipulation: it had to be a hatchback because she has trouble seeing out the back of a sedan. I entertained the VW Golf and the New Beetle, used, of course, but they seem to have considerable reliability issues. The Honda Fit, the Toyota Matrix, and the Mazda 3 were also on my list, but I couldn't find any that were in my neighborhood and not salvage titled vehicles. The Scion XA seemed the right size, but I couldn't locate one. The Toyota Yaris seemed too small and stripped down even for me, a person who could pretty much be comfortable driving a 1943 Willis Jeep for short trips.
Then I found a guy selling this car only a few blocks away:
A 2003 Mini Cooper base model hard top with 90,100 miles for $7500. Now that sounds like fun. I did some research and found out the 2003 model was pretty reliable except for the 5 speed manual transmission. The current owner of this Mini bought the car with a blown 5 speed transmission at 63,000 miles and had it replaced by a BMW mechanic a couple years ago and has had happy motoring since then. After a test drive, I was sold; this thing is like driving a go-kart on rails. And, needless to say, my daughter was sold too.
Now that I own a Mini, I guess I have become a member of a huge Mini fan club, one that rivals the club of air-cooled Beetle owners. I had no idea the original Mini was so popular around the world, and that it was made pretty much in its original form clear into the 1990s. Maybe there is a special wave or hand signal I'm supposed to perform when I pass other Mini drivers. Hope I don't screw up.
I know the Mini can be expensive to maintain, especially at the dealer, but I have learned to do a lot of car maint. myself and hope to be able to tackle most jobs. Included with the car I also got three sets of rims (15", 16" and 18") with tires mounted, which should help defray some costs down the road should I choose to sell them.
Tell me what y'all think. Tim
