blinder's Journal: On Order

i must admit, occassionally our "to-do" lists can be, well, lets just say, odd, from time to time. yesterday's list had things like "start laundry," "clean kitchen," "go to grocery" but it also had "buy car."

so, having that in mind, we trecked over to brookline (just across the river [yes trmj and buffer, we waved]) and hit the cooper-mini dealership (which also happens to be a porsche dealership). we talked to the porsche guy, who then was gracious (because we let him know we'd be back in about a year's time to pay him a visit -- also showed solemn the 911 up-close -- it met with her approval) and then we went down to the mini showroom (which was on the 2nd floor, porsche is on the 3rd). let me say how strikingly different the environments are. the porsche showroom is quiet, barely a soul up there... while the mini showroom, well we step off the elevator and are greeted with excited children running about and much louder music playing. yowza.

well, it quieted down once we were ushered into the manager's office (who was about our age, female and broke the typical "car salesman" mold which was also nice). after some discussion over features and options, solemn and ordered a 2006 mini with some nice options (cold weather package, the premium package) and got the black (of course).

in 6 or so weeks, we will take delivery of our fresh new '06 mini. yay.

its not a porsche. this much is true. and i am trying to tell myself that the next car will be a porsche again (*sigh*), but i have to say that if i can't have a porsche then this little car will be a suitable substitute. its pretty, we got it in the 5-speed manual (have to learn to do that again, but i learned in my dad's 1984 porsche 944 [that was a beautiful car]). but its a lot like riding bike, you never really forgot.

besides, it'll be good training so when we do get the next porsche (911 btw -- a new one) we'll be fully trained up.

so, yeah production # 6614171 we'll be ours :)

I went without driving a stick for about 9 years.

[RevMike]

I was pretty decent with a stick too. Once I drove about 15 miles - combo city and highway - after a brake line was severed in an otherwise minor car accident. At another point, I also had a 1974 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 with a three speed manual that didn't have any syncros. I got pretty smooth at shifting that too.

Anyway, it was 9+ years without driving a stick, but I needed to rent a large UHaul truck. Got the big diesel van with air brakes and everything. The only one they had was a stick. Getti

Two words

[Red Warrior]

ROAD TRIP!

'cuz I wanna read the JE about the drive across the country in a mini. :->

Yay Mini!

[BWJones]

Well, as a fellow Porsche-phile, I do have to both understand *and* congratulate you on the Mini. You will love it. It's like a go-kart in its handling and they are just sooooo cute.

Re:

[blinder]

the porsche dealer has a carrera gt in the show room. of course it had the "please do not touch car" signs on the window, but it sure is cool seeing one in the flesh.

but yeah... the next car we get *will* be a new 911... so my porsche driving days are on temporary hiatus.

Re:

[BWJones]

the porsche dealer has a carrera gt in the show room. ............. um.......... ahhhh......... really?

Wow. I'd love to see one of those in the flesh.

but yeah... the next car we get *will* be a new 911... so my porsche driving days are on temporary hiatus.

I've looked at the Caymans as well, but the new 911 is something special. I've also entertained the idea of building a custom 911 widebody.......

Re:

[blinder]

yeah really. let me say, that the car looks as hand made and rare as it actually is. it doesn't look quite "real" if you know what i mean. oh and we got a huge laugh out of the sticker. 10 mpg/city 16 mpg/highway. yeah, not exactly what i'd call a daily driver :)

oh yeah, here's the deal. when we do order a 911, we are going all out. we will custom order it, and well, solemn **really** wants to do the european delivery thing. heh, that would be amazing.

Re:

[BWJones]

Euro delivery would be awesome! Zuffenhausen to Berlin to Vienna to Milan to Bern to Paris to Brussels to the boat in Amsterdam or back to Stuttgart where you would ship it home. Think of the photos, think of the fun, think of the Porsche...... :-)

Ummm... uh....

[Engineer-Poet]

16 MPG highway? 10 city? Are you expecting to be living on planet Earth at that time?

I have no idea what a 911 costs (well, I just Googled it... somewhere north of $68000, over $120k for one of the turbos) but don't you think that something like a Tesla roadster might be both more responsible and more fun?

Re:

[blinder]

first, the mpg rating is for the carrera gt, which runs around $400k, and they only made about 400 of them.

second, a 911 carrera (different car all together) - which is the next car we'll be getting, gets considerably better milage then that (in that its a 6 cylinder engine versus the 10 of the gt, well that and the gt is basically a street-legal race car).

third, the 911 is not typically a "daily driver" even though many do use it for one, we wouldn't.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

argh...

[(H)elix1]

Crackberry looked at the number and thought it was a link to a phone number. Not a hyperlink, at least from how it looks. Anyhow, s or not? Too bad you won't have it later this week. those mini's are just a hoot to drive.

Sweetness

[Oculus Habent]

I think you'll love it.
I hope you do.

I'm 6491222.

Woot

[OctaneZ]

Sounds like fine! And 5-speed was the way to go!

moo

[bryanthompson]

road trip!! You can stay at your slashdot friends' houses as you cross the country!

You'll have another Porsche... no doubt. After I bastardize my 944 by putting in an LT1, hope to someday be able to afford an old 911 Targa.

I kept meaning to ask

[buffer-overflowed]

if that was the dealership you guys were going to. It's 2 blocks from teh apartment. I could probably spit on it from the roof of the building if the wind was just right. You guys should've called... we could've gone and grabbed a bite to eat at one of Allston/Brookline's many sort-of-fine eating establishments or something(actually there's a really good indian but not entirely indian place on brighton, which probably has sol safe food, and definately has blinder-safe food).

Yay for Mini Cooper! It was r

Re:

[SolemnDragon]

we were discussing dropping by but we had to clean house :(

so after buying a car, we did laundry

We miss you. Come over for dinner.

Now we have a car that will fit solemnblinder AND buffer and trmj

so we can ALL go to museums

YAY!!!!

s

Congratulations

[SiliconJesus]

I hope that you are satisfied with your purchace. Let me know when you're ready to rice it out ;)

If you hadn't found it yet, check out http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/index. php [northameri...toring.com]