It is quite refreshing to hear an honest, spin-free review of BMW's foray into the all electric
car market with the MINI-E. And while I never liked him on the Tonight Show, I certainly respect Jay's opinion when it comes to cars.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=1052621
Within in the last month or so I have seen photos of two out of the 415 U.S. issued GP MINIs crashed on the Internet and a third in real-life (and in real time no less!). Meanwhile, the question of whether the GP MINI, or as it is officially billed, the "Mini Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit" qualifies as a true "collectible" has surfaced not only on a recent episode of White Roof Radio, but just today in an interesting editorial from New York Times writer Richard Chang:
"When carmakers label something as limited edition, it typically means they’ve added leather and slapped on some chrome badging to spark sales in the middle of a model cycle. For example, you don’t see Ford Mustang Bullitt editions going for anywhere near the $31,075 sticker on eBay (and this is a brand new car).Could the Mini Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit (its official name) be different?...
In two years, the GP Kit, according to my friend, had become a collector’s item. “People bought them and stored them in their garage,” he said. Really? An instant collectible? I brought this up to Vincent Kung, a Mini product spokesman, who wrote back, “The GP, yes, has been selling for more than sticker. I saw a used former press car for sale at a local dealer at $36,000...”
Today a friend pointed me to a CNET.com articles that rates the "Best Affordable Tech Cars".
"When a car costs $100,000, you expect a cabin filled with the latest gadgets. The trick is getting good cabin tech in an affordable car, the kind that most people drive. We're very impressed when we see a navigation system in a car that costs less than $30,000. Good stereos make an appearance at many different price ranges. Sure, these cars often won't have all the tech you could want, but a few quality components make them true tech cars."Of the seven cars that made the list (including the Volvo C30 and Nissan Altima Coupe), yeah- the MINI Cooper grabs the #1 spot with a 9.3 out of 10. Or as CNET put it, "Spectacular"! (But we knew that, didn't we!)
"Good-looking and one of the most fun cars on the road, the 2007 Mini Cooper S is well-engineered throughout. While we were impressed by the audio and handling, these can be made even better with an optional premium speaker system and a limited slip differential."This review of "Mini Desktop Racing" for the Nintendo Wii was sent to me by a colleague and fellow MINI owner.* Having never heard of the game until now, how do I discuss the review without giving it away?
"Mini Desktop Racing is a single and multi-player racing game with a top down view, much like "Micro Machines". Every level challenges the player to find the best way of navigating through the obstacles and special interactive items."Or, one of my favorite opening statements of all time:
"[Mini Desktop Racing] is brought to Wii by Conspiracy Entertainment and Dada Design Interactive, the same people that also released such budget titles as Ninja Bread Man and the aforementioned Offroad Extreme."
I've had my TomTom Go300 for a little over a year now, and as I am finally starting to use it more and more, I'm discovering many things it doesn't do, that I really wish it did.
I was messing with my friend's $2000 on-board Navigation system in her shiny new 2007 Lexxus recently, and it wasn't that much better than my $300 device. Add the random 5- minutes on various, crippled in-store demo models, thus sums up my personal hands-on experience with navigation devices. If the one in the Lexxus doesn't do it, then I assume no GPS devices have these features. I'd love to get my hands on an upscale portable GPS system for comparison purposes (hint hint!).
For now, I've decided to start my "Top 10 things my GPS device doesn't do!", a work in progress, and in no special order:
1. Remember my Search! When I look up "Claim Jumper" and it shows me the wrong location, to look up another location, I should be able to go back to "Find > POIs..." type a C and it brings up recent searches. I shouldn't have to start all over. Alas, I get to fumble with spelling C-L-I-A.. delete, delete... you get the picture...
2. More U.S. POIs please! While the TomTom comes in $100 less than it's Garmin counterparts, has a cooler name and funnier commercials, the only real differences I've seen in the two brands is that Garmin is quite U.S.-centric while the UK/EU-oriented TomTom brand is a late comer to good ol' USA, and it shows. I was with a friend and he was looking for his bank, the second largest bank in the U.S. My bank is *the* largest U.S. bank. Yet, when I'm looking for an ATM, neither of them show up on the list of 40 banks I've never heard of. Isa this what I get for opting for the TomTom over the Garmin?
3. (Semi) Automatic POI updates. When I look up a POI ("point of interest")- namely an establishment with multiple locations (i.e. a chain store) like, say, "Claim Jumper"; The magic POI genie should notice I like Claim Jumper, and when I connect my device to my computer, it should check the non-existent POI database and download all the Claim Jumpers in the U.S. to my device. Asking first of course...
4. "Current Direction" option. When looking up a POI it defaults to "closest" location; You can change it, but for instance, the other day, the closest location was in the opposite direction I was headed. If the device were smart enough to notice, that'd be awesome. If it were dumb, but knew to ask "... in the direction you're going right now?" that would be nice too (of course, we never mess with our devices while the car is moving, right?)
5. Wifi/integration/access. After I gave up on finding my friend's bank on the TomTom, I pulled out my entry-level cellphone, accessed Yahoo, and found the address in about two minutes. Then I entered in the address in the GPS and was on my way. Wouldn't it be awesome to not have to use my cellphone for that? The TomTom GO300 does allow Bluetooth integration, but having read the manual a dozen times, I already know this is not a feature!
After proofreading a few times, I guess I wish the TomTom Go300 worked more like an iPhone. Then again, I didn't spend $600 on it. Then again, if I had an iPhone, would I need a GPS device? (I mean, once you hack it and install the 3rd party app).
This on-going list (and I promise I'll stop when I get to ten) brings up a few related questions I'll have to search the InterTube for answers:
- How does an establishment get their location in the POI database anyway?
- Can a user recommend POIs to the manufacturer? If so, how?
- Just how much can I hack my GPS device before it stops working?
What are your peeves of your GPS device?
I know no one cares, but I gotta tell someone!
Mr. Bigglesworth went in for his 12-month checkup yesterday at ASSAEL MINI. He's got ~11,500 miles on him so far. A couple interesting snippets I thought I'd share:
- I pull up @ 0745, the super-hot greeter girl says hello to me- by my first name!? She talks up the "cool little 'Spy Car'"...
- My file now has "NO WASH PLEASE" on it permanently! :)
- Mr. Service Writer and I do "the walk" (you know- where they note current dings, etc). He sees my Limited Edition Tow Hook License Plate Holder: "Heeeey-- That's pretty nice! In fact... [goes in for a closer look] that's the nicest one i've seen- where'd you pick it up? (I pimp Blair's machining skills!) He spends 5 minutes talking about how his FELL OFF ON THE FREEWAY and inquires how he might get his hands on one (go Blair!)...
- We walk around the back and he says, "Wow your car is really clean!" I smile...
- Waiting for my rental (grr!) I tried to get the skinny on the rumor of the dealership getting bought out. Mum's the word over there! The two folks I talked to acted like they didn't know what I was talking about but I could see in their eyes that they know something. Brecht, here I come, maybe?
- I went to the parts counter and inquired about a few OEM, interior shiny bits. Man, OEM parts from the dealer are ludicriously priced! ($78 for one door sill?)
- As requested, they didn't wash the car. They did however, put on an unknown (probably BMW/MINI branded) tire treatment though. It only splashed up a little bit onto my paint and arches. *shrug*
- I picked up my car and before I headed onto the HMS Gridlock, I went over to MINI Sales to say hello to my MA. (Ed. note: I picked up my MINI exactly 370 days prior and haven't seen him since. ) I walk in and before I could even say hello he calls me by name too! We chat for a moment and he says, "Oh by the way, thank you for the letter you wrote about me. I can use it if I ever need another job." Sheesh! Even *I* don't remember writing a letter! Damn, he's good. (MA="Nick Armstrong" by the way if you ever have to send anyone to ASSAEL)
- The "12-month checkup" included the 10k mile oil change. I also had an intermittent SES light. The SES light was caused by the 02 sensor (I lost a bet with my friend). I don't know what they did to it, but my MINI is noticeably faster now than when I handed the keys over! Did they reset the ECU and it adjusted itself for my pulley and cold air intake? (That's just me guessing- I have no understanding of the technology!).
Since my first MINI in 2003, I've had both very good and very bad days dealing with the service folks at Assael. Today, was definately a good day! Yeah, a short, boring recap with no pictures. But true!
For those playing along... We got back from "A MINI Vacation in Vegas" on Sunday afternoon, with minimal traffic. That's what you get when you're already on the road by 8am!
I took about 400 photos this time around as well as about 2 hours of video. I hope to have everything edited and posted in the next couple days but in the meantime, here's a brief recap of AMVIV from my perspective!
For the record, this year's event was totally awesome. Last I heard there were about 450 and
The North American MINI Cooper Challenge race was fun to watch despite a pretty significant fender-bender in the first race. Even more fun to watch were the Bikini All Stars from MAV TV! (raaar...)
I didn't do any of the runs this year. One reason involved the installation of an ALTA 15% Pulley! (Yeah baby!). Other reasons involved me not getting up at 8am every day while on "vacation". The Boot-n-Bonnet Show was spectacular this year as well. Many of my favorite MINIs were back, along with a lot of really really nice ones I'd never seen before. I didn't win anything but I wasn't trying. It was great meeting new people and people I "know" from NAM but never met in real life. Ironically, many of the folks I know "IRL" ("in real life" that is)- I didn't get to spend much time with.
The Strip Cruise had about 260 cars involved this year. An awesome sight to behold. So much so someone felt a couple rounds from a BB gun into some cars was warranted.
This year marked the first time DB, Todd, and Gabe from WhiteRoofRadio were all in the same 
Overall, not a bad extended weekend, and worth every penny. I'll have more detailed recounts of particular events as the days and editing of photos and video progresses!
twistybitz.com Blog and Store
No- not an avant garde public storage service with a propensity for broadband, twistybitz.com is a blog *and* a store for the MINI fan. A quirky personal blog about all things MINI, and neat little shop to pick up some cool t-shirts, clock and more! twistybitz.com
yellowminipages.com
What a great concept! I've been checking out "yellowminipages.com" (a.k.a the "MotoringUnderground.com Directory"*) for a couple days now and feel like I've barely made a dent in it's extensive listing, yet at the same time, see all these sites I've been to in one place to and think, "wow- I guess I *am* a "MINIac"!" "yellowminipages.com"
*(as you say "'Scuse me- What is "MotoringUnderground.com"?)
