Wednesday 21 September 2011

Which brings me nicely to....

The MINI One.


Test drive day, yes it did rain a lot!

I'm now two weeks in to ownership. I have a silly grin on my face. Only once in the last two weeks have I not driven the MINI, as I decided to bring the work van home instead, and that night I had the van, I missed the MINI!!!

A little bit about the car I didn't want to buy, but I bought it, and I am enjoying it!

It's a lightning blue, 2007 1.4 MINI One. It has most of the options you can throw at a MINI fitted, still with a full years TLC pack to go and has only done 26k miles! Cloth interior, panoramic sunroof, air con, multifunction steering wheel, alloy wheels, bluetooth and usb connectivity, heated screen, heated mirrors, heated washer jets, cruise control and a six speed gearbox (which is a novelty for me in a car!). There is a few more things, but I can't remember them!


Union Jack scuttles installed, and for a change when the instructions say two minute job, they were correct!


Union Jack interior mirror cover fitted, just a one minute job for that!


And finally Dangermouse on the boot. That should help me find the car more easily!

Apart from the car is very nippy for the little box it is, and handles well, even as well or not better than my old MX5. Ok, the drive is wrong (FWD instead of RWD), but the little blue car is fun!! MPG running at the moment around the mid 40s, which is slightly better than the best MPG I could get from the Jag!

One thing I have noticed, the original Mini has a whine, just a certain engine or gearbox noise that tells you it's a Mini! You know the noise, you've heard it as a Mini goes past you whilst you are walking somewhere, you know, that little whirring, whining noise, well I've noticed a little whirring, whining noise in the new MINI, it is there, I can hear it and yes it just makes me think of the smaller one. Maybe the BMW MINI has eaten a BMC Mini!

Apart from the addition of Dangermouse on the boot, a Union Jack initerior mirror cover and just some new chrome surrounds for the keys, I'm not going to change anything else on the car (at the moment!). I looked at a fully Union Jack clad red MINI One tonight at Berrys of Heathrow, and yes it does look a bit too OTT and tacky. I don't think I will go with the Union Jack vinyl sunroof decals! Well, not yet!

Other than the little whine and whir, the car is fun! The ICE system is ok, not ground breaking, but it's fine. My iPod works ok through the AUX cable and next week I will found out if it works better with the official BMW Y cable (which I didn't pay the BMW Dealer price for!). I've done nearly 500 miles in the car in just over two weeks and they've been fun! I have no idea where I have been, well apart from the long way to work, the long way home from work and Bluewater, and at just over £40 to fill up and do 300 miles plus from a tank of fuel, it's quite economical.

So, for another three and a bit years I am stuck with Dinky. Long may Dinky continue to give me stupid grins and fun twisty roads to play on!

Down sizing is all in the mind....


The old Jaaaaaaaaaaaaag. Well, not so old, a 2004 X Type diesel. A Transit engined beasty. The Ark Royal of all the cars I've owned in the past 14 years. The biggy, posh and comfy bus! I like this car, I did when I bought and still do now, but it was just BIG. The purpose of the car was full filled, to transport my mum around in comfort, backwards and forwards to the hospital whilst awaiting for her hip operation. The operation was done a few months ago, the car was still comfy, but seemed to be getting bigger. Less walking sticks to carry around, less clutter (not that I have much in my cars), just less.

I wasn't even planning on doing what I did. This is all the fault of my mother! I was thinking about changing the car, but next year. The Jag was due it's yearly medical, and after spending over £300 on tyres and another £70 on an intercooler hose in nine months, I thought that car would easily sail through, which it did!

Anyway, before the MOT date, I was window shopping on the Autotrader website. Alfa 147s, 156s, 159s, Mazda RX8s, MX5s, BMW Z3s, I liked them all and was toying with a swap. Nothing to decided, no harm in looking, just window shopping. The Jag done everything I needed it too, it was cheap on the road tax (£130 a year for a Jaaaaag!, petrol V6 one is nearly twice that amount!), insurance was ok (well I thought, but later about that!), the car run smoothly and did need a service soon. Then whilst flicking through pages of BMWs, I came across the MINI. Well, ok, small car, cheap tax, cheap insurance, could be ok. I knew my brother had one and he said no. Unreliable car that spends more time in BMW garages than on the road. Oh well, back to planning trailers and doing the day job.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was still flicking through Autotrader and eBay and decided I need a trip to a dealership and have a look at some cars. I will not make up my mind, but just size the cars up. Try out the boot, driving position ect. Well, first of all the Mazda RX8 disappeared off of the radar. The top band for road tax every year (£460 or something like that), and no I'm not going to pay that! Even though I do like the little 1.3 RX8, and if I did buy one I could say Wankel lots! The MX5 also got knocked off the list as I had already owned one, and the boot is small. It's a fun car to drive though and no roof is good in the summer. Just a shame that in the UK we seem to lack summer! BMWs got knocked off for the same reason, then it was just the Alfas, but who knows what you would get with an Alfa. Yes, I love the Alfa, it's a great looking car, but they do need a lot of looking after and if you do get the wrong car, you are f**ked! Expensive and they do not hold their value due to being Alfas!

In the end, a shopping trip to Epsom was planned with a visit to Cooper Tadworth. Well, everything did not go to plan. I drove my mum over to Tadworth and the plan was, I'll look round the forecourt and see what cars they have, get the attention of the sales person and ask if I can check out the size of the boot (with the seats folded flat) to see if my mums shopping trolley will fit in. Well, parts 1 and 2 went fine, I walked around, found two cars, a Cooper in black and a One in blue. The sales girl came out and I asked if the cars were unlocked, she disappeared and came back with the key to the MINI One and as she popped the locks, my mum decided to get in the passenger side and sit down. That was the end of my careful planning.... "oooo I like this, it's comfy!" said my mum. Well, that was it! I had a look at the boot size, which is too bad with the seats flat, not quite as big as the Jaaaag but enough space for shopping and trolley. Anyway, the sales girl explained that the car was off out on a test drive in five minutes with the possible new owner. My heart sank a bit, but oh well, I only wanted to be nosey. The only thing was, two hours later whilst walking round Epsom, I get a phone call from the salesman at Coopers telling me that the couple who test drove the car had decided to buy a Mini convertible. So, test drives were booked for Sunday!

After test driving two Minis, the little 1.4 One felt as good as the Coooper. Cheaper tax and cheaper insurance as well. Still, I didn't fancy a change of car yet, well for at least 5 minutes. So, after filling in a couple of forms, being told my Jaaaag was a CAT B write off (which it wasn't, due to sales man not being able to read his own writing!), I had managed to nearly buy a new car!

On the Tuesday morning, I get the phone call. All the finance stuff had gone through, the car will be ready to collect on Sunday! And that was it! The Jaaaag was going! I had only had the Jaaaaaaaaaag for nine months, but she was off to be part exd for a MINI. Downsizing in a big way!

Sunday arrived and off I went to Tadworth. The Jaaaaaag had passed it's MOT with flying colours, everything cleared out of the car except the bits that should be in there. Sorted! I got to the dealership, spent forever signing sheets of paper! Finally, the keys were handed over. A little blue dinky toy was now mine. I had a few bits to get out of the Jaaaaaag, which didn't disappoint, it's parting shot was to not open the boot on the boot release button. Nice car!! Everything finally cleared out and put into the new car.


I was out of the car park like a stupid Cheshire cat. Grinning insanely! Farewell comfy leather clad, walnut dashed Jaaaaag, hello mad driving, go kart handling Mini! Now, after two weeks of driving the MINI, do I regret the swap... NO!!!!

Land's End and generally being silly!

The title of this blog sums up the last month! The silliness side has returned with a vengeance! I had to be reminded of my little quote; "life's too short to be sensible!" and yes it is too short, go out, have fun and that's about it really!

So here we are, the first days of autumn. The trees are losing there leaves and branches, as I nearly drove into a branch today, and not one of a bank variety! The evenings are colder and there seems to be a bit more wet weather on the horizon, well a bit more than the summer anyway. Snow has been forecasted, so that is it! The end of riding the Monster for another year! What does a sensible, normal person do, well apart from not owning an Italian bike, they hide in their thermals and just go about their normal work.

As for short, stupid people like me, we go out and have more fun! Bank Holiday weekend, the final one of the year before Christmas (yes, Christmas, the chocolates and wrapping paper is in the shops now, well has been since August!), I decided to say bollocks to the normal hum drum going shopping and looking around the shops stuff and head off on my once every seven year adventure to Land's End. The sign post was calling, and needed my bike to fill the gap between the lens of the camera and the sign post to Walton on Thames. After looking at the Premier Inn and Travelodge websites for a room for the night, and nearly laughing at the top price of £103 for one room, no food in Hayle, I decided to try the Land's End Hotel website and scare myself silly with their price.... £40 for a room and breakfast over Bank Holiday weekend! Result! Room booked on the interweb, which now meant I had to pack my bag, make sure I had oil, petrol and air in the bike parts that mattered and head south west!

The old girl made it to Land's End in just over seven hours! No aches and stiffness from the rider, only one forced stop to change to waterproof gloves and jacket due to the typical Bank Holiday weather outside Sherborne! What the hell, it's an adventure!


Bank Holiday Monday comes with a bang! Well, three false alarms on the fire alarm through the night. I managed to ignore them, which was nice! After a wander around Land's End at 8am, which to be fair, apart from the tourist attraction that does spoil it a bit, at 8am the place is great! No tourists, just the odd person wandering about, loads of rabbits, and just the sea breeze, a few ships and a couple of birds to keep you company! After my morning exploration, I headed back to the hotel for breakfast, and then headed outside to check the oil and tyre pressures on the Monster. A couple of bikers who had stayed the night in the hotel were just leaving for the other end of the country, John O'Groats! Mad fools, and they were doing it for fun! And they had sensible bikes, a Triumph touring bike thing (I think it was the ST) and a Honda Blackbird. Amazingly they wouldn't swap their bikes for a 1993 Ducati Monster. No adventure then! After wishing them good luck, I packed my bags, checked out, got a refund of my money due to the fire alarm problem (dodgy smoke detector in the kitchen), and wheeled the bike round to the patio of the hotel to take the above shot.


Land's End or Bust 2011 completed!

Then it was time to get my picture taking at the sign post. Two tips, if it is sunny and early, remember your sunglasses! Second tip, there isn't a second tip yet. My picture was taken and off I went, sort of south east ish. Down to The Lizard Point and another marker knocked off the list, Ness Point (eastern most point on mainland the UK), The Lizard Point (southern most point on mainland UK) and Land's End (western most point in mainland England). Not bad for an 18 year old Monster! All in all, with stops for food, drink and general sight seeing, it took me 10 hours to get home. No traffic hold ups, well I lie, one traffic hold up, there was a red light in Bodmin and about 10 cars infront of me! I headed home via the A30 and A303, and both roads were quiet! Excellent! To start at the end of the A30 (Land's End) and finish at the start of the A30 (Henleys Corner) in the same day just made me smile (I'm very sad about things like that!).


Down at The Lizard


And the weekend ends near Henleys Corner.....

A good weekend, even better getting the refund for the hotel! That paid for the petrol and food on the way down!! So, here is to seven years time. Maybe I'll have a hover bike by then......


That is where it all started with the Monster, five years ago at Liskeard station! Slightly warmer on the day this picture was taken though!

Back with a vengeance!!!

Mange tout, mange tout, bonmarche.....

Bonjour!

Guten tag!

Hola!

Que?