Rocketboy's MINI Blog - Archives

You might have heard about Oprah 'giving away' the new Pontiac G-6 a week or so ago. This 'story' really bugged me. Big time. Why? Oprah did NOT give away any cars. Not a single dime came out of her pocket. Pontiac gave the cars away. It's called advertising. It's an advertising stunt that got covered nationwide. Nothing more, nothing less. It makes Oprah look good, and hypes up yet another look-alike Pontiac.

So needless to say, I was rather quite amused to read this news, posted on CNN Money.

Whoops, looks like this wasn't that well thought out of a giveaway after all.

And anyways, who's the genius who didn't realize that the 'winners' would have to pay income tax when they are given a $28,000 car.

So what we have is an advertising stunt, and 270 people that basically had the wool pulled over their eyes.

But hey, it helps to move product.

Erik...

Normally, people determine how well an investment works out by percentages. Take resale value for example. A high resale value car (re: MINI) is usually considered a better buy than a low resale value care (re: Malibu). Not so says someone who likes to juggle numbers.

Do the math: Lower resale saves you more

BY JEFF BROWN

The dreaded moment is inevitable: Old Reliable just isn't so reliable anymore, so you banish it to the netherworld of the used-car market.

Having discovered your old vehicle was worth next to nothing, you vow to do better. This time you should look for a new car that will hold its value.

Or should you? Maybe the best deal is a car WITH lousy resale value.

The long and the sort of it is that:

Buy a $50,000 car with high resale value and after five years you'll have lost $25,000. Buy a $25,000 car that loses 65 percent of its value, and you'll lose just $16,250.

If that's the way you want to look at it, yes, a cheaper car with a bad resale value is desirable. But you've still lost a greater PERCENTAGE of your money, therefore, lost more in the grand scheme of things, which is really the point of the resale value number.

Of course, why would you expect anything other than short term thinking from someone who would write something like this:

The Mini Cooper is the cheapest, at about $25,000. But that's a lot for a car so teensy you'd need two to get the groceries home.

Am I sensing a reverse elitist attitude there?

Erik...

In my Inbox today, hidden amongst all of the other spam was

please consider adding a link to:

http://stores.ebay.com/[edit]

Factory service manuals and CD's for BMW, VW, Porsche, Audi, Rover, Jaguar, others at 30-40% off list. New, still in shrink wrap, direct from the publisher!


Thanks,

Greg

Sure! I'll put a link up to your ebay storefront mr. random guy.

Erik...

MINI has always been quite crafty in it's advertisements. Whether it's the 'Batboy Steals a MINI' article in the Weeky World News, the recent 'Men of Metal', or even the classic 'What are you doing for fun this weekend?' 'What are you doing for fun this weekend?'. It came out pretty quick that the Men of Metal campaign was a MINI advertisement, and the Batboy article eventually came out as a paid advertisement, but one thing that I was always wondering was the How to motor in a MINI full page cartoon that was in an issue of Playboy a while back. It really seems like an advertisement, but is Crash Test Dummy sex to risque of a topic for an advert?
Well, it looks like it wasn't by MINI after all:

The Mini, though, got its own free plug recently in Playboy. The magazine published a feature on "The best way to make love in a Mini," with Kama Sutra-style diagrams involving crash-test dummies. "People saw that and said, 'You guys are geniuses'," says Mini's U.S. chief Jack Pitney. "I said, 'No, we're just lucky'."

Hidden in the bottom of an article posted on MSNBC, but I wouldn't click on it if I were you. It's about the Oprah car give-away.

See how much I suffer for my blog? :)


Erik...

You might have read over on Motoringfile, BMW/William gave the Ferrari F1 Team a MINI Cooper S, in honor of them winning the F1 Championship.

Well, Ferrari wasn't amused.

Ferrari was unimpressed when F1 carmaker rival BMW presented a yellow 'Mini Cooper' to the champion team at Monza.

The keys to the BMW-built car, with a Ferrari logo painted on the roof, were handed to Luca di Montezemolo by Burkhard Goeschel.

Ferrari president, Montezemolo, was later heard to suggest that the gesture had been 'rude' and just a 'cheeky' marketing ploy.

From Home of F1.

Erik...

It's getting to the point where this isn't even news anymore. It's almost to the point when the MINI does not have one of the highest resale values, it'll be news.

To me, the big news is how low that Jaguar has sunk under the leadership of Ford.

Ford's Jaguar X-Type, was among those expected to hold the least value. This year, sales of the X-Type, which starts at about $30,000, declined 11 percent through July despite heavy incentives.

It looks like you should be able to buy a used Shaguar on the cheap.

And if someone's surprised by this next bit if info, it's really time to take a ride on the Clue Train.

...vehicles like the Chevrolet Aveo, made by General Motors, ... were among the worst, forecast to hold about 20 percent of their value.

The full article is here, from Indystar.com.

Erik...

Ok, so I'm going to get political. But this really is of interest to anyone who drives in lovely New York. State Motto: We Know What's Best For You.
One thing that I really can't stand is people who can't be honest. People who say one thing in the hopes that you won't really see what they are really saying. What has my dander up this time? Speeding Tickets. In theory, a speeding ticket is a fine that someone gets for exceeding the speed limit as punishment for not following the law. A law that is intended to increase safety on the roads.

Ok, I'll buy that. I might not agree with a posted speed limit, and I would argue that there is much greater danger by someone driving 10 miles below the speed limit, than 10 miles above. Of course, it should go without saying that I'm talking about highways and thruways here. I would also argue that if you drive like an ass, you're just as much of a danger at 25 miles per hour, or 60 miles an hour. It's not the speed that's the danger, it's the bad decisions that one makes when driving (including driving at a speed that's not appropriate for the situation) that's dangerous, not the speed itself.

Either way, that's the way it is.

But wait, could it be that speeding tickets are given with the intent of gaining revenue? No, couldn't be. That would be like saying that people are arrested to lower the cost of manufacturing license plates.

But 'shockingly' enough, it's all about the cash.

Specifically, it's about the cash that New York State wants to take from the local municipalities. I (luckily) don't know how it works in the rest of the country, but around here, it's a common thing that if you get a speeding ticket, you can usually plead it down to a non-moving violation, pay a fine, and sometimes go to driving school. Not only don't you get a hit on you insurance (but of course, you still pay fines), but apparently, the local municipality gets to keep the money from the fine. See, for some twisted reason, if you get a moving violation, the state takes the money. Even if it's a local officer who writes you a ticket within a city's/town's limits, the state still takes the money.

Now, Albany wants ALL the money.

So no more pleading down a speeding ticket.

Why?

Does it make the road safer? No.
Does it bring more money into the state government? Yes.

So there you have it. The state of New York is practically admitting that speeding tickets are nothing but another way to get more money into the state government.

My proposal is that for every moving violation, I'll just cut a check to Governor George E. Pataki at the State Capitol in Albany, for whatever funds that they would lose out. I'll pay the local fine, I'll cut the state a check, and carry on my way.

After all, it's all about money, isn't it?

Erik...
(Cutting Off At The Pass Section: Yes, I know. The 'easy' answer is 'Don't Speed'. Just like the easy way to avoid a hangover is 'don't drink'.)

Addendum:
There is a slight ray of hope that this whole thing will blow up in the faces of the state government:

Orchard Park Councilwoman Nan Ackerman, though, had another suggestion to keep the fine money from leaving towns for the state coffers.
"We certainly could boycott it," she said, "by encouraging the entire community to stop their moving violations so the state doesn't get any money, either."

Over on Gizmo Highway, they have a nice, quick history of the car that we all love, the Mini. Including some tidbits of information that I've never seen before, including this one, which brings to mind the factory workers assembling the interior of an upside down MINI...

During the painting of the shell, a rod would be inserted straight through the car. This allowed the shell to be spun round so both the top and bottom could be easily painted. The speedometer was originally put is in the middle of the dashboard, covering the hole where the pole went.

Also, hiding out on the side bar is this bit of information:

Did You Know?

BMW's first car was a 1927 Austin 7 built in Germany under license. When the mini was released in 1959 it was also sold as an Austin 7.

How's that for irony?

Erik...