So is it totally crazy of Ashley and I to hold onto the Mini Cooper until the spring of 2009, when we can purchase a 2010 Chevy Camaro? This car looks so completely bad-ass, and since I never achieved my dream of buying a Mustang at age 25 (it just didn’t quite work out), this car looks like it might fit the bill of a “fun car”. It’s so bizarre for me to be seriously considering a car that I’ve never driven, but daaaaamn does it look hot!
Two words: Dodge Challenger 😉
Well if you’re taking opinions and asking to be slapped around, then yes. Unless that Mini is one without an “S” after its name, you should be keeping it AND getting whatever else rocks your world. There’s room for a Mini in just about any garage and you can return to it again and again for some jollies when that Camaro starts to loosen and rattle its plastic naughty bits. Hey, there’s no substitute for cubic inches, but maybe you should watch “Italian Job” a little more often. There are ways to make that Mini look and be pretty badass on its own. All that said, you do have good taste.
Matt,
I looked at the Dodge Challenger, and for my tastes it’s a wee bit too retro. It looks cool, but from a pure visual standpoint the 2010 Camaro get my blood going more. 🙂
Word-Smith,
The Mini Cooper we purchased a few years ago wasn’t the “S” – it’s just the regular Mini Cooper, costing about $30K. Getting the “S” was just a bit too expensive for us at the time, and frankly the regular mini had more than enough power for my wife (it’s her car). We also have a Mazda Protégé 5, so in our two-car garage there’s no more room. 😉 Since the Mini Cooper was the “fun” car we bought for my wife after she watched The Italian Job, it’s my turn for a “fun car”…though I think she wants the Camaro even more than I do. 😉
And regarding the Camaro’s “plastic bits”, I hear what you’re saying – when I test drive it, if it doesn’t feel solid and tight, I won’t be buying it. I *love* the way the Mitsubishi Eclipse looks for instance, but I didn’t like the way it drove all that much – too noisy, poor visibility; a bit too “sports car” for me. For all I know, the Camaro might be exactly the same – I’m definitely not going to be one of those people that will pre-order it without driving it first.
Since the MINI was my car and I’m a self professed car snob, I feel I should put my two cents in here too. 🙂 I’ve been driving the MINI for about four and a half years now, and while it’s been fun, lately it’s started falling apart – literally. I’ve had my gas tank cover fall off, my antenna break off, my gear shift chrome start peeling and a few other little bits that should never come off, remove themselves mysteriously. Between this and the knowledge that we only ever intended to keep the MINI for the four year lease we originally purchased it under, we’re both itching for a change. Then came Transformers. And the new Camaro. When we heard it wasn’t out until 2009 or maybe even 2010, we wrote it off as an option, but since a deer ran into my MINI back in August and I haven’t been able to get it in for the repair work it needs (seems everyone in Calgary needs repairs these days), we’ll now have the MINI well into the fall by default, and so suddenly keeping it around for a few extra months to try the Camaro on for size seems like it might just work!
I think Jason might be right about me potentially wanting the Camaro more than him. 🙂 I nearly fell out of my chair when I first saw it at the theatres…mmmm…pretty car.
I totally understand both of your points of view—and I wouldn’t keep a non-S Mini either, they are night and day different. But look, I’m a car snob, an auto detailer, very obsessive, and as you can tell, opinionated. I bought my ’04 “S” after my lease expired because I didn’t care for a lot of the changes they made to the newer ones, and I like the supercharger better than a turbo. There are lots of things out there that are faster, I’m not really a front-wheel-drive fan, and after a while “looks” can grow old, but to this day it’s almost as tossable as my old BMW 2002 when I get the urge. All that said, I am well aware that we all make our car choices based on TOTALLY irrational reasons. I figure this way: I’m going to be in this thing everyday (whatever it is I’m considering), I’m going to be paying for it, I’m going to have to take care of it, and so I better like it—and everything about it—or it’s going to be a long sad ride. The other truth is, GM has proven again that they CAN do excellent work (just look at recent Cadillacs, of all things! Whoda thunk it?)–they just had brain-farts for a couple decades–so it’s very possible that they know what’s at stake here and they will do what’s necessary to make this a winner. At least that’s always the hope of us hopeless carboys (and girls). My Dad, who was in the car business all his life, always said, “David, NEVER fall in love with a car–it’s just a car.” And I always said: “But Dad, you don’t understand……..”
So, go for it.