I guess I'd best just take a breath and jump in or I'll be lurking forever. I'm Marie (MoBluz = old nick from my days doing a Blues show on internet radio) and I bought an '05 MINI Cooper S late in Dec 2011. They say that it's British Racing Green, but it's not the same green by that name that I remember from back in my days as an MGB owner, which is not to say I don't like the MINI green. It came to me with checkered exterior mirror covers but I think otherwise it's pretty much stock. I don't know a whole lot about MINIs so don't quote me on that. Reading the owner's manual doesn't clarify what's standard vs optional (other than a non-helpful asterisk, which of course doesn't tell you if your car has that option). So, I am in research and learning mode. I came to the MINI by way of a 2004 Nissan 350Z Track. I decided it was time for something different but still fun. Before the Z I had a 1997 Ford Cobra Mustang. Had to give that up because of its serious (gas) drinking problem, but it sure was fun. I inherited the car guy gene from my Dad (even though I'm not a guy; he did what he could when faced with having no sons) and I apparently passed it on to my nearly 25-yr-old son who can't wait to get his hands on the MINI. I've never named a car in my life, but apparently it's a MINI owner thang. The kid thought its name should be Winston, but I'm opting for Sprout cuz it's little and green, like the Jolly Green Giant's offspring.
Welcome, thanks for joining Motoring Alliance. You can find out what your little Sprout came from the factory with by calling 866-ASK-MINI. Provide them with the last 7 characters of the VIN. Let them know you bought the car used and would like to find out what options it was built with. You might even get the date it was built, what dealer delivered the car and possible even the date of delivery.
:cornut: Welcome Aboard!!!! From your post I can tell that you'll fit right in around here. As you can see from Nathan's post,no question will be looked down on and the only dumb question is the one that's not asked. Jason
Hey thanks Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm liking this place a lot already. I posted a question about rear windshield washer issues and immediately got lots of helpful suggestions (which I haven't had daylight time to follow up on yet).
I really need to find my camera. I moved 6 months ago and haven't seen it since (I confess, I still have 4 boxes to unpack). I have a non-smart phone and a non-bluetooth laptop so I can't go the easy phone-to-laptop route. I guess "find the camera" goes onto this weekend's to-do list, along with "figure out how to remove the stock shift-knob shift-pattern thingie so that I can install the cool checkered one I bought." Or maybe I'll just buy a second checkered one and turn them into earrings ....