Mini Me

When my husband was shopping for a new car four years ago, I noticed tiny, ugly cars in the lot at the dealership. Michael told me they were Mini Coopers, now made by BMW. I guess I had seen them before in photos, although I didn't remember that. Pronouncing them, "UGLY!" I asked him why anyone would ever want to drive one of those things.

Over the next few weeks, I started seeing Minis on the road in Nashville, and they started to grow on me. Whenever I would see someone getting into the Mini, I would ask him/her how the car handled, what kind of gas mileage it got, how they liked it, etc. Soon, everytime we saw a Mini on the road - and there are a lot of them on the road in Nashville - I would point to it and say to Michael, "There's my car!" I was still joking to a point as I wanted a convertible (mid-life crisis??).

Last year, my nine-year old SUV started to fail. In addition to needing more work than it was worth, it was guzzling more gas than I wanted to buy at $3/gallon. I started to look at cars, and one Saturday went to test drive a Crossfire. Next to the Crossfire on the lot, however, was a red Mini. I drove both, and the die was cast.

By the following Wednesday, I was a member of the "Mini Cult." (The salesman told me that Mini owners have this secret club, and that they wave at each other as they drive by. I thought he was joking. He wasn't. We do. )

And, I now know why Minis are so popular in this area. They handle great. They're well-made. They get great gas mileage. And, they're fun!