Wife has broke her promise to learn stick. My night job as a musician means I need to use the Rogue to haul leaving her with the SX4 Sportback which is a stick.
Taking a trip out to Jersey Thursday or Friday and plan on leaving Suzuki there. . .
Wife has broke her promise to learn stick. My night job as a musician means I need to use the Rogue to haul leaving her with the SX4 Sportback which is a stick.
Taking a trip out to Jersey Thursday or Friday and plan on leaving Suzuki there. . .
Actually, my wife has a 2011 Cooper S with an automatic and I like it. It's probably the first automatic I've driven that I wouldn't mind as a DD. Granted, it's not what I'd buy, but the shifts are fairly positive/quick, it has reasonable shift points in sport mode, and gets almost the same gas mileage as the manual. Then there are paddles if you want to choose when to shift. She just can't hack a stick, so it's a good compromise.
Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear.
rent a minivan before you buy a new car! it'll give you some time to really think about it, and if you do end up buying something new i bet a salesman would dig your story and knock an extra $200 off to kind of counter you having to rent a van for a weekend...
www.learnstickshift.com
Buy the stick shift MINI for you and a pair of nice walking shoes for the wife.
I just picked up a 2010 Mini S a few weeks ago and it is almost as fun as my old Miata. We have not had a manual trans car for two years and I really missed driving.
Great cars, I am going to get killed for this but. The automatic is a better city car anyway and just a more relaxing place to be.
DO NOT get the clubman, and try to avoid the sunroof if you can both both make the car terrible in my book. The sunroof squeaks like crazy and the aircon has trouble keeping up with all that glass. The clubman squeaks at the door joints and is just slightly more usable only for having people in the rear seat.
I just bought a Cooper S, and a have friend with a '10 Cooper with the auto box. It's really not that bad, and is suprisingly quick. As quick as mine in fact up to about 30mph or so. The newer autoboxes are much better than the early units.
BLAH. I still consider the autotragic in the r56 to be one of the most devil-designed things of all time.
wearymicrobe wrote: try to avoid the sunroof if you can both both make the car terrible in my book. The sunroof squeaks like crazy and the aircon has trouble keeping up with all that glass.
Hmm. I have no problem with my '11 MINI with it's big ol' sunroof. The A/C keeps up just fine, and there are no squeaks or leaks.
The automatic that was in the MINI Coupe we had recently was the best traditional auto I've driven in a looooong time. Maybe ever.
jg
I've had a 2007 Cooper S with auto since new. I would have preferred a manual, but this was my DD and my commute was a soul-sucking bumper-to-bumper trip in Houston. I just couldn't fathom clutch-bumping a manual car every day.
Yes, the manual is more fun, but I've been pleased with the auto. The flappy-paddle shifters get used a lot and the Sport mode is there for fun drives in the country. The car is very responsive for an auto and I don't often pine for the manual.
The Cooper is for sale, btw. I'm moving back to Houston from North Carolina and just don't want to transport it back.
The 2006 and previous auto MINIs had a CVT, which is to be avoided at all costs.
Thanks, all!
Anybody recommend a dealer salesman in the tri-state area (PA/NJ/NY)?
Already working with a guy from Morristown, but I guess he already has met his quota for April. . .
There's a really good place in Hartford CT if you're willing to make the drive. New Country MINI.
divorce her. all wives owe it to their husbands to learn to drive stick 
Now, that's not nice. I think this is a situation that calls for mediation and a trial separation not divorce!
phaze1todd wrote: Thanks, all! Anybody recommend a dealer salesman in the tri-state area (PA/NJ/NY)? Already working with a guy from Morristown, but I guess he already has met his quota for April. . .
Given that you're in Scranton, I'd probably go to MINI of Allentown (or Bethlehem?) first. They are probably closest dealer to you for warranty/maintenence work.
I've dealt with the Morristown parts dept quite a bit as I can just barely make it there and back from work during my lunch hour, but we bought our cars from Princeton and Prestige (Mahwah). A friend of ours had a less than pleasurable experience dealing with Morristown when he bought his last MINI.
After (or before) you get the car, join one of the local forums: NEMINI.org is the one I'm loosely involved with. We (g/f and I) run a fun little run around the Jim Thorpe area on the first Sat of June.
I had a 2010 Cooper S. It was awesome in the twistys, but sucked in LA traffic. Granted, I ordered it with the sport suspension, mechanical LSD, and no other options. Anyway, the auto vs. stick is kind of like masturbation vs. sex. Sure, masturbation will get the job done and has the potential to be somewhat amusing, but it is NOT a substitute for the real thing.
Geekspeed wrote: I had a 2010 Cooper S. It was awesome in the twistys, but sucked in LA traffic. Granted, I ordered it with the sport suspension, mechanical LSD, and no other options. Anyway, the auto vs. stick is kind of like masturbation vs. sex. Sure, masturbation will get the job done and has the potential to be somewhat amusing, but it is NOT a substitute for the real thing.
To continue the sex analogy, the sport suspension makes you The Gimp.
Geekspeed wrote: I had a 2010 Cooper S. It was awesome in the twistys, but sucked in LA traffic. Granted, I ordered it with the sport suspension, mechanical LSD, and no other options. Anyway, the auto vs. stick is kind of like masturbation vs. sex. Sure, masturbation will get the job done and has the potential to be somewhat amusing, but it is NOT a substitute for the real thing.
To continue the sex analogy, the sport suspension makes you The Gimp.
JG Pasterjak wrote: The automatic that was in the MINI Coupe we had recently was the best traditional auto I've driven in a looooong time. Maybe ever. jg
Yeah, what he said. The Cooper S Coupe that we recently sampled had a nice automatic. Of course I'd go with a stick, personally, but as far as traditional autos go the MINI's was nice.
I hate to witness the death of the stick (never bought a car without one), but at least BMW is very serious about making sure their automatics don't ruin the car if buyers continue to insist on purchasing them.
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