I picked up my MINI Cooper exactly two weeks ago. Not a Mac mini; I’ve had that for months now.

What are my impressions, thoughts, and feelings on it? Generally speaking, I’m impressed and on many levels.

First thing that’s interesting to me is that I’m still on my first tank of gas. I’ve put just over 300 miles on the thing – about 120 miles of which were highway – and I still have nearly a 1/4 tank of gas. I know it’s not a 1/4 tank, though, because the “fill me up light” is on. I don’t think it’s a “warning you’re in your reserve” light – I just think that it’s telling you that you’re getting lower on gas. At least I think so – I don’t even know how big the tank is but I don’t see the tank size on any of the auto sites…

Oh yeah, the owners manual is online… 13.2 gallons with a 2.1 gallon reserve. Still pretty damned good.

So odds are it’s not the reserve light, but just a gentle reminder to get gas. Welcome to the world of MINI. There’s lots of stuff like this running around with this car: lots of little nice features that pop up on you unexpectedly and are really useful.

Over all the car feels peppy. The car has 115 horse power but I don’t find it sluggish or slow. Considering my old Jetta had over 200hp, I don’t understand that, but it’s what it feels like. And I haven’t taken the car over 4000 rpm. Can’t until the 400 mile burn in is over. Yet it still feels like it moves; the biggest adjustment is the over all top speed. With my Jetta whatever speed I was travelling at if I stomped on the gas, it instantly jumped forward. Wasn’t ever a slow build up – it was a *bam* here we go type of power. The MINI has gets to a point and sorta plateaus. Not a bad thing, considering that that number is not at the recommended speed limit of our highways.

Handling? Beats the Jetta. Maybe it’s the size or the weight or the wheel base or that I’m going slower, I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s good. I point the car in a direction and it simply goes. No roll feeling. No yaw. No drifting. No wheels squealing. You say “turn here” and it simply does. Like a go-cart or remote control car would. That’s impressed me. Same thing with the suspension: it’s a little more forgiving to yer ass than the Jetta was – can’t even compare it to my Wrangler… it wouldn’t be fair to the Jeep.

Gadgets are abound. The dash is a Geek’s dream and the fact that I can lower my windows and open my sunroof by holding the unlock on the remote is just awesome. I was a little concerned by the cup holders… there’s three: one that wasn’t supposed to be there but the dealer added it on anyway, and the two in the front of the dash. The added on one keeps your drink at an angle: that’s a mixed adventure to say the least. The two in the dah block the aux audio port and the place where I keep sunglasses… but then I noticed the lone cup holder that’s for the rear passengers. Given the size of the MINI it’s no surprise that I can read it; it’s deep and stable and out of the way, too, so that’s where I’ve been putting my drinks in the morning. The toggle switches for the majority of the dash are a nice design too.

Regrets? The biggest issue with the MINI is that you are basically custom ordering a car. That’s a good and a bad thing. It’s very much like when you have your own house built but on a 1/1000th the scale of price, frustration and stress. Color? Easy. Trim? Easy, too since the S trim was more expensive and I didn’t need a second convertible. Other stuff? No regrets per se, but there are a couple of things I would have and would not have done. The front fog lights? No brainer. The rear fog light? I expected that to be white b/c I had seen other MINI’s with that, but it’s not. At least not by default: it’s red. And truth be told I don’t even think it’s needed, now that I have it.

The Convenience Package? HomeLink doesn’t work with my garage opener and the rear mirror and rain sensor is a nice to have, but I don’t know that I would bother in the future, yet, for $300, it’s not that bad. If I owned – instead of leased – then Sirius would have been a very, very easy decision. Another thing I passed on was the “advanced” dash option… as a default, the speedometer is in the center of the dash, but there’s an upgrade that moves it to the steering column and puts this huge multi-gauge thing in it’s place. While I like the enormous speedometer the multi-gauge thingy has a detailed gas gauge and some other information, which is sorta funky too… that’s a coin toss, whether I’d want it or not – I just didn’t research it enough to consider it at the time.

Alarm? The thing has a motion sense for the inside of the car! Very nice thing to have. Leatherette over leather? I dunno what they’re using for leatherette over at BMW, but whatever is in my car is good. I don’t even notice the difference. Sunroof? Awesome thing in the MINI: it’s huge. Bonnet stripes? I would have gotten them if I wasn’t leasing. Six speed? I don’t miss it. Arm rest? Don’t miss that either. It’s just a danger having that many choices – you should really do some research on all of the options before ordering… not something that most cars have as a requirement!

Overall I’m still charmed. In fact, it’s nearly 90 degrees today: a perfect day for driving the topped down Jeep – and possibly the last for the summer – yet I was in the MINI all day. True, I’m trying to drive it more than not, just to get the burn in over with, but I think it’s just that much fun to drive…

Will it be fun after three years? I honestly think so… time will tell.