My cousin just recently bought one, and we were talking about this. Would love to hear from you guys.
I can't edit. I tried adding a poll with the following options: Yes No Depends If someone can edit my post and a poll that would be cool.
I've owned 2 (both S's) and I'm not a woman at all. I use to take them out and run them at trackdays. The MINI Cooper S is a performance car that will hang with cars that cost much more than it does. That said I had major problems with both of them with BMW trying to screw me out of a blown engine with the second one. Had to get BMW NA involved and almost sue them before everything got fixed. I won't be buying another one.
You are going to get "both" probably. In Texas I've found that a lot of guys (and girls) think the only true "man" cars are pickup trucks or muscle cars. Period. Anything sporty and small is a chick car. You are allowed a "neutral" car (i.e. Honda Accord, Camry, etc...) if you are a father or poor. Even BMW 3-series cars can be iffy for some guys. Having said that I own a BMW Z4 and a Dodge pickup truck. Some people think the Z4 is a chick car (despite that fact that it's fast and handles really well) but I really, really enjoy driving it so "f" them. As a matter of fact, I got the Z4 with the idea that I would split my driving between it and the truck, however, I find that I drive the Z4 about 99 percent of the time despite the fact that it's not as comfortable as the truck. It's that much fun to drive. So, if your friend is not a redneck and is confident in himself than the Mini is just fine. If it's good enough for Austin Powers it's good enough for him, right? BTW, my personal opinion is that an SUV is the consummate "chick" car. Those are just glorified station wagons these days and any man driving one is just too insecure in his masculinity to get a mini-van.
If a male is driving..it's a man's car. If a female is driving, it's a woman's car. What are you guys? 10?
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I drive a CR-V and I love it. Handles like a car but has the room of an SUV, very dependable, fits all my gear, and since it's a Honda, it won't break down until about 300K miles. But the thing is, EVERY time I see another one on the road, a woman is driving it. What gives?
Adam Carolla made a good point. If he got a turbo charged Mini in a solid, manly color, it's a man's car. If he didn't? If there's a Union Jack or something on top? MAKE FUN OF HIM.
In Europe they drive the mini male/female because of the small crowded road, don't know why it's an issue here in the states... Don't matter what kind of car you have it beats riding public transportation... How funny it would be to get your ass kicked by a guy driving a mini while you hauling in a full size truck with a V8 diesel engine, 365 horsepower vehicle...
Let's see here... ima_drummer2K drives a CR-V ima_drummer2k sees only women driving other CR-V's Therefore, ima_drummer is a woman.
I'm sorry but its a chicks car. Unless you live in a densely congested inner city place where parking is almost non existent and you want a small car to get around in, but you want quality too, you have issues buying a Mini. Mini's are in the same categorize as a convertible these days. You picture a convertible right now, and your imagining the driver being a balding middle aged man with a Hawaiian shirt, or a bunch of attention seeking girls. When it comes to a Mini, the old man won't even subject himself to that.
A friend of mine (and Pope's) still has one and races it on an amateur race team. Here's their logo. Not sure if they ever got magnets or not. Not so girly. <a href="http://s391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Schmelkus/?action=view¤t=Bigtop1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Schmelkus/Bigtop1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="BigTop2"></a>
