Gone

I sold my 2005 MINI Cooper S today.  Owned it for almost 12 years.  Vaya con dios el MINI.

Waiting in the dealer lot, January, 2005

Ready for the Craigslist ad, July 2016

MINI at 11

My 2005 MINI Cooper S is turning 11 years old this month.  I ordered it on 11/18/2004.

Here's a picture that the salesperson took of it on 1/11/2005, when it arrived at the dealer in Ohio.  Since there were no dealers on the west coast that were taking orders (or had a 9 month wait), I ordered it at a dealer in Ohio and had it shipped out to me in Seattle.  I wonder what happened to the MINI parked next to it.

Polaris Slingshot

Mazda RX-8 with Mazdaspeed stuff slathered on it

Be sure to check out RyanM's RX-8 Buyer's Guide on Daily Turismo.

Gianni's cars Part 13: 2015 Mazda CX-5

After 11 years it was time to part with our 2004 Toyota Sienna "Mini" van.  Our 14 year old Siberian Husky got sick in the back and we and a professional detailer could not get the smell out.  Without going into specifics, here's a recreation:

So we traded it in on a 2015 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring.  It was a local CPO car with 7,800 miles on the clock.  It was interesting to run the CARFAX's on CPO cars.  Some were rentals, Some came from out of state, some came thru auctions.  Although I would not trust a CARFAX to reveal if a car has been in an accident, it does provide a valuable history of where a car has been and how many owners.

We got the Grand Touring since my wife wanted to go back to having leather instead of cloth.  We decided not to get another minivan since we wanted something smaller now that our kids are solidly in their teens.  We wanted AWD as we are skiers (my daughter skis on a team), so we are up on the pass from January 1 thru March.  We did 11 years with the Sienna, which was fine with a set of Blizzaks on it, but the WADOT is getting more and more cautious about throwing the "chains required, except for 4 wheel drive" flag and I hit my limit with chaining up by the side of the road and getting to the ski area soaking wet with aching fingers.  

We looked at a few CUV's and the Mazda was the best choice as far as driving dynamics.  Also, the Honda CRV seems to be grandma's favorite and the RAV4 is for people that don't really like cars and will just automatically default to Toyota (There are 4 RAV's in my wife's family - they were surprised that we didn't just buy one) Plus we could get it in "Soul Red".  There are too many grey cars on the road these days!

NA meets ND

Had a pint with my friend and fellow Bothell resident, Terry at the Hop and Hound.  He just took delivery of a 2016 MX-5 Launch Edition.

Mazdaspeed Miata

OT: 100K's of MINI

My 2005 MINI Cooper S just hit 100,000 miles.

OT: Tales of the nitrile glove - MINI motor mount

The passenger motor mount on the MINI decided to puke out its oil a while back.

I had been keeping an eye on it - watching for signs that the inner rubber was collapsing.  I hadn't seen any evidence, but with the car 500 miles away from 100K, I decided not to tempt fate any longer and ordered a new mount from Pelican Parts.

First step was to get the car off the ground and onto jack stands.  Someday I will have a lift...

Next step was to disconnect the ground strap and a few other hoses and clips.  The bottom of the mount is held on with a TORX E10 torque to yield bolt that is one time use.  I thought I might be able to remove it with just a 10mm socket, but no joy so it was off to McKlendon's then O'rielly's for the special socket.  The second stop had it, but I had to buy a set and expand my tool collection.  Once I was sure I could losen that bolt I removed the top engine mount after supporting the engine with a trolley jack and a 2x4.

Here's the grubby old mount with dried oil running down the side.  Under it is the funky E10 bolt.

Assembly was the reverse of dis-assembly as they say.

The E10 torque to yield TORX bolt was interesting.  You torqued it to 41.5 ft-lbs and then tightened it an additional 90 degrees.

I'd like to say that the car doesn't vibrate as much (it wasn't vibrating to begin with) and shifting feel has improved (no shift issues before either), but I can't.  It wasn't a hard job or time consuming (except for the two store stop to find the TORX socket).  Hopefully it's good for anther 100K miles.

Acura RSX

Gianni's cars part 9: 2005 MINI Cooper S

Towards the end of 2004 I was getting tired of the Mazda Protege5 Econobox.  A week before Thanksgiving 2004 I ordered a 2005 MINI Cooper S.  At the time MINI's were extremely popular on the West Coast.  Unlike today, dealers had no cars on their lot.  You special ordered your car.  The Washington dealer, located in beautiful Fife, WA, was NOT taking orders at all.  They told me to call back in 6 months.  The Portland dealer was taking orders for a build 9 months in the future and it was MSRP + $700.  The Salt Lake City dealer was 6 months and $300 over MSRP.  California was the same as WA.  On the East Coast things were different, so after reading up on the North American Motoring (MINI) forum.  I contacted Julie at Classic MINI in Cleveland, OH.  There was no wait to put an order in, and it was MSRP, which was as good as you were going to do on a new MINI in late 2004.  So I put in an order for a Chili Red Cooper S with minimal options - leather seats, 17" S-Lites and a body colored dash.  I got the build number a week later and was able to track my cars progress in the factory.  They started building it in early December and it landed in the US port on New Years Eve.  I decided not to fly to Cleveland in the dead of winter and drive it back, so I had it shipped out in an enclosed transporter.  It waited a couple of weeks at the dealer in Cleveland as the transporters were busy in Arizona with the auctions.  I got my car in early February.  I still have it almost 10 years and 100,000 miles later.  Here it is with the GTV circa 2007 at my old Seattle home.

 

Gianni's cars part 8: 2004 Toyota Sienna LE

At the end of 2003 we sold the Passat and bought a minivan.   This is our first automatic. We prefer to shift for ourselves, but there was no choice. It may not have much in the way of driving dynamics, but it sure has utility. More than any SUV or personal use pickup - the ones with 4 doors and a short box. I can get 4x8 sheets of plywood and 2x4's  in the van and close the hatch. I've also gotten motorcycles in on their side. It hauls. Here's a bad Craigslist like picture. I had to take this for the post since I didn't have any - who takes pictures of minivans...

Gianni's cars part 7: Mazda Protege5

I sold the 164 in the spring of 2002.  At over 10 years old, it got to be a pain to deal with as a daily driver.  The only place that worked on it was Ferrari of Seattle.  The worst part was that it would often take a week to get parts for it, if they were in the Alfa parts warehouse in FLA.  If they had to come from Italy, longer.  It got old trying to figure out who to bum a ride from while the car waited for parts.  Anyway I sold the car to what I thought was a good home, the buyer showed up to see the car in a  Milano.  I carfaxed the VIN later and found 6 months after I sold it, it was totaled.

Anyway, I replaced it with the Anti-Alfa, a Japanese Mazda.  The Protege5 got good reviews in the buff books, but it was hard going from an Alfa to a Mazda.  I thought the car wasn't particularly fast, the engine was pretty gruff when you rev'd it (so you didn't) and the suspension was firm, but had the jouncy feel that "sporty" Asian cars have.  The magazines raved about the "communicative" steering, I thought it was dead and artificially heavy to give it that feel of heft that people these days seem to confuse for good handling.  Here are the only pictures I have of it (I took when I was selling it).

Dodge Viper

 

Pontiac Aztek

Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Ram Air