MINI Cooper S Clubman

After being MINI-less for the last 4 weeks, my driveway is once again comforted by the sweet blanket of go-karted-ness. As it turns out, MINI's hold their value extremely well (not really a surprise to most motorers) so my insurance covered the losses on my flooded MCS nicely.

I wanted a 2009 year model, in order to take advantage of the low financing right now. So, after an extensive search covering dealers in 4 states, I narrowed the choice of options down to 22, then 4, then 2. When the dust settled, the family set out for a short 2.5 hour road trip to Greenville, South Carolina (also known as Spartanburg to BMW aficionados). The dealership was professional and after a short stay I left with a '09 Clubman S.



I've always carefully broken in new engines—this is my seventh—and been rewarded with better gas mileage, smoother torque curves, and so on. So the route back had to fall within the constraints, including varying speeds, no fast acceleration or braking, and no revs above 4000.

I carefully, and at times whimsically, plotted a route back that avoids freeways and multi-lane highways. Mostly I pointed the car toward the national parks and headed off toward the back country, stopping frequently for leg stretching and enjoying the scenery.









Because the Clubman does not have a rear hinge, the Saris Bones rack won't hang on the car reliably. (The rubber lip is the only thing that would feasibly provide grip, but it's too flimsy and juts out past the window too fat to hold the weight, or bounce, of the loaded Bones rack.) And because I have to move my bike(s) with this car, I elected for the factory rack and fork-mounted tray. I haven't noticed louder noise levels from the rack, but I don't think I cleared 60mph the whole way back, so the story is still unfolding.

And anyway, I'm just happy to be motoring again.

Quick Pic 1

'06 MCS in Chattanooga, happy on vacation.

More Weekend

In my recap of 2008 I noted Vampire Weekend as a group to watch. They've got my back.



Although their new album won't be out until January 2010, the single 'Horchata' is available on their website for free. To kick off the new-car weekend (update forthcoming) I'm going to make Horchata the official Weekend track.

Saris Bones Wrap, with a Twist

I've been keeping notes about the Saris Bones rack on my MINI Cooper S on and off in anticipation of a thorough post following up my original note from July 2008, which to date drives most of traffic to this blog. The story took a bit of a twist while I drafted it.

The good news is that the Saris Bones (I've got the 2-bike variety) is really a phenomenal rack. It's my favorite trunk rack of all time, although I admit I've only had 3 or 4 over the years. Still, it's the only one that I've loved using. It really is simple to put on and off the MINI once you've done it a few times because the rear is so vertical. I just hook the top two clips and cinch them to take out the slack (but not tight). The sides go on and then the bottom. I opened the hatch a few inches, hooked the bottom, took out the slack in those and then evenly shut the tail. The result is that the hatch would shut, the bottom straps become tight, but as long as I didn't make the straps too tight before closing the hatch, the rack wouldn't jar.



I personally used the Bones only to move my mountain bike around. For my road bike, I really do prefer the front-wheel-off-handle-bars-hooked-sideways-over-the-passenger-seat maneuver I discovered in a MINI forum long ago. The fit was perfect, the effort to get it in and out of the car was minimal (keep in mind I'm referring to an 18-lb. road bike), and I never had to worry about my Cannondale falling off the back of the car.

A trade-off I noticed is that with my road bike inside the car, once I pulled the bike out I had access to all my gear (helmet, gloves, shoes, water bottle, and pump). This was a really convenient way to transport everything and still have access to it at the appropriate times. With the Bones on the back, the hatch stays closed at the trailhead. So access to my gear had to come via the driver's door. After a couple of outings, I found I'd leave the back seats folded flat and put the main items (helmet, gloves, shoes) on the floor behind the driver's seat. This way I didn't have to lean back into the car in order to gear up.

Trade offs aside, I've gotten used to how easy the Bones is to move around, how I loved not worrying out how wet it got, and how great it looked. Alas, it was not to last. On the morning of Sep. 21, it started raining.



By the time the parking lot flooded with a few inches of rain, the street—my only exit—had filled enough that I had no chance of getting a MINI through the waters. So my red, '06 MCS took its chances with the rising water.



I moved the MINI to higher ground; you can see it poking out from behind the trees in the upper corner. It wasn't enough.



The MINI completely succumbed to the muddy, rushing water before dusk. Before I get comments asking why I didn't move the car even further up the parking lot, I'll point out that at this point the water was already three-feet higher than my parking spot next to my building. I had no idea how fast or high the flood waters would reach. In the end, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. After nightfall the water level continued to rise. The entire parking lot was affected as water rose for several hours after I took this picture. Eventually the fire department rescued me via boat.

In the end, the MINI is only a car. (And anyway, we said our goodbyes and exchanged cards and loving glances as the water was rising.) I'm shopping for a replacement right now, with a diminishing chance that the Bones will fit on the newcomer. In any event, I hope that the Bones notes I was able to write help as many motorers as possible; after all, that's the best part about the MINI: sharing the good stuff.