MINI Connected

Here's a good walkthrough of MINI Connected with typical Brian Cooley commentary. Enjoy.

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Fiat Vs. MINI

I dare you to count the number of times MINI is mentioned in this Fiat review. I must say, the Fiat does have a lot going for it. Take a look at the Cnet review of the Fiat 500C.

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MINI Countryman Dies while they Check the Tech

I'm a big fan of Cnet's car reviews, mainly for its honesty. But what do you do when the car you are reviewing dies during your video review. Well, again, I like their reviews for their honesty. Take a look.

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Countryman Rear Bench Option

For those of you wondering what the rear bench option on the Countryman looks like, a video posted on Motoringfile had a quick glimpse. This is the first good look I have seen but there might have been others somewhere that I had not noticed. I think I would opt for the bench instead of the rail but that's just me. As far as I know, the rear bench is not available yet but will be soon.

Here is the video, bench shown at about the 5:15 mark.

The Smart still not so smart

Here is a video review from Cnet for the 2011 Smart ForTwo. What was interesting was the inclusion of an automated manual transmission. What was expected was that it is still is quite bad. Perhaps that is why MINI has not gone the route of including an automated tranny.

Mini on MINI Action

Snapped this photo over the weekend of the new MINI Countryman with a classic Mini on the roof. It was parked in front of Patrick MINI in Schaumburg. I think the recent travels on a flatbed tow truck were to get it from the east coast to Chicagoland. Keep you eyes open as I think it might be making the rounds to a city near you.

FYI, it seems to just be a steel frame on posts that are welded to the roof structure that support this classic Mini.

And That's Why I Just Don't Bother

Sometimes internet commenters are just plain mean on Motoringfile. Some just take it too far thinking they can hide from being responsible and just lash out at other people. I used to love reading comments on Motoringfile four or five years ago because they were actually useful, entertaining, and/or smart. Now, just as on the forums over at NAM, it just is not fun anymore.

I will say that for some, comments/forums are still entertaining and useful at times. NAM is a great resource as is Motoringfile if you don't mind the occasional irrelevant comment. I just don't like wasting my time with this baby stuff by participating in comments or forum posts. That's why I reinforce Motoringfile's position and say, we ARE better than this.

Keep it positive people. Happy motoring!

MINI tattoo where? Ouch.

I don't remember seeing this headline on Motoringfile. Those crazy Germans. Enjoy.
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[UPDATE]
Well, I guess Motoringfile did report on this a last week. Don't know how I missed this article.

Don't Worry, I'm Still Around

It's crazy to think it's been almost a year since my last post here on dcMINI. But it has and it not that there has been a lack of MINI related things going on. In fact there are plenty.

I will say that I have not been driving the MINI all that much, being winter in Chicago. I don't think I even dove the MINI for all of December and a good portion of November. I know, I really wanted to but I have a really good excuse. I was recently married and much of my focus was on that. We had a Parisian wedding! And it was fantastic. We ended up doing it a bit differently by combining the honeymoon with our wedding but I really had a great time. We traveled to Madrid, Barcelona and then Paris, where we were married in a really cool old church. We dont have the pictures yet of the wedding day but here are some photos of the rest of the trip. Anyways.... that happened. I am still under 50K miles and the car has been doing ok. And by "ok" I mean there has been some issues I have dealt with. Nothing major but still worth mentioning.


Some of you who listen to the WWR podcast know that they remind us, almost weekly, to check the oil level on our cars. Fellow MINI owner Taylor was one of the first I had heard about having a problem with this. Apparently there was a slow oil leak from the oil pan gasket that eventually caused the engine to seize up. Not fun! Fortunately, he talked his way into getting the dealer to help out with replacing his engine but still, knowing that could happen to a very knowledgable guy scared me a little. I have since had my oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket replaced since they were starting to fail as well. It was just a precaution but worth doing as opposed to replacing an engine. This was back in September of 2010

Now, I have a little leak from the coolant line, probably a hose seal somewhere, but I have to have that checked out. Since the MINI is not my daily driver, it is not a priority to get this fixed asap, but I plan on getting it in in the next couple weeks.

Now to address the fact that I have not been posting as much as I would like. When I first started this blog, it seemed that everyone that wanted a voice could just start up a blog. Now I have noticed that that is not the case. There are a few of you still out there doing their thing but most are hitting up facebook. I am no exception. Although not all MINI related, my facebook handle is www.facebook.com/dcmini if you are ever interested in that. Friend me up and let me know you are a dcMINI reader.

Thanks for reading, and I'll try to post up here on more significant MINI stuff as they happen. :-)