Starting somewhere, predictably

Writing entries is not new, but historically I've been able to wax nostalgic about my kids. Now I'm faced with a forum solely for insight into my mind. And anyway, my kids have their own blog, now authored by their mother.

This leaves me to muse about cars, design, and whatever else pops into my head. Today's insight is toned down; there will be time for the inflammatory stuff later. Here's the S.


Over the past decade, I've owned ten cars; this is the first year I haven't bought one. A little more than half have been new, and while that makes me sound spoiled, I don't feel defensive. Obsessive people like having new things, and those who believe used or new are mutually exclusive paths don't understand the mathematics of auto ownership. I don't have the patience or desire to go into the numbers right now, but it basically boils down to two irrefutable premisses: 1) cost is the purchase price minus the sale price, added to the maintenance price, divided by the number of days and months in between. Arguing cost on any one of those factors alone is shortsighted. 2) The perceived value is related solely to the buyer and unrelated to cost. This, apparently, trumps rule number 1.

Which brings me to the S. It's not the fastest car I've owned, neither the most expensive, least expensive, nor the most utilitarian (obviously). But so far, it's my favorite and it's the one with which I identify most. As a designer, among all my biases, I hold a couple that apply to the MINI. Among them, not all cars are equal; some have soul. The S has an undefinable quality that causes its owners to ponder their cars with respect for much more than just the numbers that appear on a spec sheet. This can be evaluated by taking cars at a much larger sample. A random owner of any car may be attached, in love, or all out obsessed with their car because it's their first, the most modified, paid-in-the-clear, fully loaded, great performer, or any other number of reasons. Every model of car has at least one owner that feels this way, even the Aztek (although that person hasn't yet come forward). But among S owners, who represent a huge demographic range, they all do. This speaks to the transcendent appeal of the MINI in a way that goes much deeper than forced induction and double-centered tailpipes. If all cars have some good, the S simply has more.