Hi All! Just found this thread on WhiteRoofRadio.com, just started listening to the podcasts on my 16 mile commute of mountain twisties to work. No traffic to deal with, just dodging elk, deer, and the occasional mountain lion or bear. I bought my 2006 Royal Grey Mini Cooper a few weeks ago, picked it up in Kansas City. Got it for a GREAT price, only had 18k miles on it and the owner JUST had a brand new transmission installed, because the MT Bearing went out on it at 17k. Has panther black leather seats, park lane interior, premium package and roof rack (that's been removed for better fuel efficiency). Bought the car over a Yaris or Fit to get better gas mileage than my Xterra gets (17mpg) at 9,000ft where I live and work, having a 16 mile commute to work, and same distance to the grocery store or town. Currently am averaging about 38mpg which is excellent! The only thing I've done to it is tint the windows with Llumar 20% and install the OEM Auxiliary audio kit. Last Saturday I replaced the thermostat, thermostat gasket and thermostat because I had a leaky thermostat gasket, currently trying to figure out if I have a leak elsewhere or if the coolant system is just bleeding itself of air (which is what I'm starting to think is happening since I'm not seeing signs of leaking anywhere and it's not a blown headgasket). Next mods are a set of Hella 500ff fog lights, and Hella 500 driving lights both wired into the factory toggle switch bank (spots for rear fog and DSC/ASC). Need to find a used set of toggles though so I can modify mine to work, so if you know of anyone with a set lying around, let me know! No pics at the moment, but I'll try to get a picture uploaded tonight.
Okay, okay, okay. End of the work day and there's nothing going on here, so I've found a few pictures. First is the MINI in my driveway after tinting the window (a quick snapshot, nothing to be proud of as a photographer), second is of a black bear I encountered on my way to work one day (not the greatest). I've got tons of pics of elk if you'd prefer those... I know, the black bear picture isn't the greatest either. My girlfriend stole my camera and I had to use my cell phone, plus it wasn't that bright outside yet.
Oh I'm not worried about colliding with him, I'm more worried about colliding with the stupid elk that are around here. Granted theres a chance the MINI is low enough to the ground that I just take out the legs from any elk and his belly slides across the roof (really hoping the sunroof is closed at that point):crazy:
:cornut: Be advised that after taking out the legs(at highway speed), the body(with dangling legs) comes through(NOT OVER) the wind shield kissing the driver on the lips/chest and reseating him in the back seat. From experience working Emergency Room off and on x30yrs. Jason
Oh I've had the mod bug since I first bought my Xterra (done lots of mods to it, tons of offroading too). Don't plan to do all that much to the MINI though, most of the mods I'm planning are more than for just cool-factor. Doing my first MINI rally with the local club on July 30th, they're all coming out to Sunspot, NM (from El Paso, TX) to tour the National Solar Observatory and since I work at Apache Point Observatory (right next door to NSO), I'm going to give them all a VIP tour of our observatory (which is a science facility and we don't give organized tours).