Rocketboy's MINI Blog - Archives

In case you don't know about the MINI's bestest fan, Sarah Trafford, take a look.

Back yet?

Well, although Sarah can't fit her 5'11" frame in a MINI without being hunched over, down in Texarkana, they found their MINI to be quite spacious:

This six-foot writer could have easily worn a Stetson - if he were of such mind - while driving the car.

Damn Sarah, how high IS your hair?

Erik...

Well, the Saga of my break problems, that is. It's finally fixed, and it's finally squeak free. Shockingly enough, the problem was that all of the heat that built up from the earlier error (with the brake pad not seated properly), and well, the constant rubbing, caused more damage and warpage than previously estimated. Today's list of parts includes 31-21-6-762-871 Repair Set and 2 34-21-1-503-070 Brake Disc(s).

On the 'plus' side, my parts had come in, 51-21-7-147-503 & 4, the new winter resistant door handle design, and a new E-Brake Boot 34-42-1-171-195. The new handles are not as 'nice' as the old ones, the design looks less integrated, and more like a normal door handle, but I'd rather have a less fancy looking black plastic part behind the chrome handle than climb thru the passenger's side (or the boot) to get in.

Erik...

This is the second time I've heard that the Cooper will be turbocharged. Personally, I don't see it happening. Why make the Cooper a de-tuned Cooper S? It makes more sense to keep the One a de-tuned Cooper.

The One will produce 115hp and 164Nm of torque (up from 89 and 103), the Cooper 143hp and 247Nm of torque (up from 113 and 110), and the Cooper S 168hp (the same as today's offering). No torque figure is available yet for the S.
The One's 1.6-litre unit will be naturally aspirated, while both Cooper and Cooper S will get turbochargers

Nor does it make sense that the base Cooper engine will be turbocharged, with just a small bump in power, unless, the new engine isn't as nice as we had hoped it would be.

I'm not buying this either...

But also under consideration is a plan to add a second, lower-powered Cooper model, powered by the non-turbo One engine. Fitting between the One and Cooper, it could allow Mini to increase prices for the high-output Cooper and S and fill the gap with a more affordable second Cooper model.

A turbo and a NA Cooper? A lower powered Cooper when it's not getting much of a power boost in the first place?

Key features of the new engines are much better fuel economy and emissions, which will help Mini parent BMW hit the car industry's tough voluntary target of reducing average C02 emissions for all its cars to 140g/km by 2008. The new engines are said to be 10% more efficient.

Not really a 'key feature' for me, and I'm guessing that this could be the 'feature' that's causing all the problems.

Read the full article here, from the Bangkok Post.


Erik...

In case you didn't feel like leaving a comment because you didn't want to deal with the hassle of either signing up for a Blogger account, or being anon, now you don't have to. Another update is that you don't have to click thru 3 full web pages to leave a comment. The comments are on their own page like before, but when you go to leave one now, it's in a pop up window.

I know it's not that exciting, but hey, Blogger is easy to use, and well, that's what matter most to me right now...

This month's WNY MINI Club dinner is at the Old Toad Pub in Rochester NY. So, if you're more Central NY, and less Western NY, you have no excuse not to go (unless it's snowing, again).

For more info, stop on over to the MINI Club of WNY messageboard.


Erik...

Me, I'm salivating at the mere thought of this dish:

Hunters Chicken
A succulent grilled chicken breast topped with ham, smothered in barbeque sauce and topped with melted cheddar cheese. Served with a generous portion of British chips.

Well, last Monday, guess what started squeaking again?

At least this time, it was not the high pitched drone, more of a chirping. Either way, I have to wonder, exactly how many times does one need to take their car into the shop to get a proper brake job done? You don't need a wise old owl for this one, but so far, the answer appears to be three (so far at least).

So, today's options are CVT (nicer than a slush box, but still not as fun as a stick shift), cloth seats (ugh...), auto sensing wipers (couldn't be more pointless if you ask me), and auto dimming rear view mirror (now that's something I'd shell out money for. Really handy).

But no snow tires this time. Odd.

Erik...

"I spoke too soon"
I posted this a few days ago on the WNY MINI Club Message Board:

Ok, lt looks like I spoke too soon. After the service was done, I noticed every once and a while there was a squeal from my rear passenger side brakes. I thought it might just be something out of wack and needed to be seated better because I had parts replaced on my brakes, and it was quite cold around the time the work was done. Well, now it's quite bad. (I know, I should have called the dealership earlier, but I had more important things to worry about at work than my car lately, and it wasn't as bad when it was colder out.) I drove my wife to work today, and ended up spending 13 dollars in car washes and quite some time kicking snow into my rims to cool it down, as it seems to be worse when it's warmed up (besides that, all the rubbing was making my rotor into quite an effective snow to steam conversion device). I'll keep you posted as to what Towne does for me on Monday when I call. Basically I'm going to see if I can drop my MINI off that day, drive a loaner home, and pick up my MINI when the work is done (when they can get to it). To me, it's a safety issue, that I don't feel very comfortable driving around with.

Well, I called Towne Monday, and they said to bring it on in when you can. I couldn't bring it in that day, as the service department closes at 5 on Mondays, but on Tuesday they are open until 8. Also, if I needed a loaner, I would be out of luck until Thursday. Not exactly happy, but there was not much I could do. So I took it to Towne today (Tuesday) after work, and I must say, the treated me right. I took one of the service techs out for a drive so he could hear the squeal/drone/banshee cry/song of the harpies that my car was making, and although we've been having a light rain all day, it didn't fail to make it's appearance. They took it into the shop right away, cleaned everything up, re-seat the break (it had un-seated itself and was crooked in the caliper), and I was back on my way in about an hour and a half. Not bad for what was basically 'drive in' service. I also had them order the freezing door handles fix, and a new pleather boot for the e-break, as mine is tore to shreds (I guess MINI didn't expect anyone to use it much).

So, am I wary of Towne? Naaa... it might have been a bad install, or it might have been the 2 feet of snow I had to drive thru to get to my garage one night. Either way, it's fixed, and I am quite happy with the way I was treated. (Now, if I was paying dealer labor rates, I'd be ticked. Of course, I'd do my own brakes anyways if that was the case.)

Erik...

Normally, I don't like linking to a vendor that I've had no experience with. Doubly so when I hear about their site from a "Please link to me" e-mail. No matter where my pump is. I'll have to make an exception on this one though. Because it's just so damned British. How can you not love a site that has Classic Mini Teapots? Check out Andy's Mini Mart at www.athomewithdragonfly.com. It is just way to British not to take a quick look.

Erik...