While we were gone, I wound up buying a new (to me) car. It's a 2006 MINI Cooper S, with a proper 6 speed manual gearbox. The sucker is fast as hell, as you would expect for anything this size and weight packing a supercharged and intercooled engine (see below).
Apparently MINI wasn't content with its success at hitting the mark on what a proper sports compact should be. So they come along with this hideous contraption:
Meet the Countryman, folks. And there's nothing "mini" about it. Now, on it's own, this wouldn't be a terrible vehicle. For an SUV, it's small, has good interior space and gets decent gas mileage. About the only thing lacking is that it only seats four, as it has a gimmicky full length center console. The big issue with this vehicle is its name. MINI. Why bother getting a vehicle like this if it completely misses the whole point of buying from a particular marque? Anyway, I rest my case. There's no point in being long winded about things when I know that I'm right. While picking up some parts, I made certain to voice my opinion of this vehicle to the fine folks at Princeton MINI. "It creeps me out."
So while some Americans are thinking they're cool because they figured out a way to own a MINI and an SUV at the same time, enthusiasts like me know better. Time to book passage for my original Cooper S to Germany so I can hit the Nürburgring and eat some Porsche 911s for lunch in the corners. Like this:
No comments:
Post a Comment