Good day! I must confess that I'm not yet a mini owner, but I plan to be in the next year or so. Let's all hope the stock market comes back strong..... I've been lurking on the forums here the past couple weeks and I've been very impressed with all the advice and info available. You folks are certainly loyal and fanatical about your cars.

I took my first test drive in a base Cooper today and I was blown away. What a fun and smartly engineered vehicle. Only took a short drive in the rain, but already I'm formulating questions for the salesman and trying to figure out how to swing a purchase. I've never ordered a car to my own specifications before and I'm looking forward to that - already have a few built on the Mini website.

I'm looking forward to more advice from everyone in planning my new dream car.