Proud Owner Takes Delivery at Prestige MINI in Mahwah, NJWoodcliff Lake, NJ – August 30, 2007… MINI USA delivered the 200,000th MINI sold in the U.S. to proud owner, Scott L. Kleeman, marking a major sales milestone for the iconic auto brand since its arrival in the U.S. five years ago. Impressively, MINI USA has achieved this sales goal a full two years earlier than initially projected.

Scott Kleeman purchased his Chili Red 2007 MINI Cooper Convertible at the end of July from Prestige MINI in Mahwah, NJ and in a ceremony to recognize this milestone, Scott was invited to the dealer to celebrate his status as the lucky owner of the 200,000th MINI.

Scott’s MINI Cooper Convertible, with its black soft-top, is customized with options including MINI’s Premium package, Cold Weather Package and a Chili Red body-color interior trim package. In addition to fun-in-the-sun, the MINI Convertible also offers Scott (and other MINI Convertible owners) its razor-sharp reflexes and nimble handling, a hallmark of the MINI motoring experience.

“MINI has been on a roll since we first launched in the U.S. and we are happy to welcome Scott as the newest member of the rapidly expanding family of MINI owners,” said Jim McDowell, Vice President, MINI USA. “There is such a sense of fun, irreverence and adventure that permeates all aspects of the MINI brand and its products. A small car with a big spirit and a lot of character, these cars inspire people like Scott to choose MINI and enjoy the ride.”

Prestige MINI in Mahwah, NJ, opened its doors in May 2002 as a stand-alone facility including sales and service. Prestige MINI was recognized in 2006 as the top dealer in national sales and is on track for a successful 2007. Featuring a MINI-in-a-Cube display along with a colorful line of MINIs out front, Prestige MINI invites drivers-by to stop in and enjoy the spirit of MINI.

“We’re proud that the 200,000th MINI purchase was made at Prestige and we want to thank Scott for giving us a reason to celebrate – 200,000 reasons to celebrate, to be exact,” said Chris Turner, General Manager, Prestige MINI. “MINIs may be small, but they’re making it big in the U.S. – and we’re glad to be a part of the MINI success story.”

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – August 30, 2007…

MINI USA announces the availability of the John Cooper Works Tuning Kit for the all-new MINI Cooper S introduced this year. The new kit, designed specifically for the Cooper S with a manual transmission and its twin-scroll turbocharged engine, offers increased horsepower and torque over that of the standard model.

The tuning kit is just the latest addition to the successful line of MINI’s high performance John Cooper Works accessories which include suspension upgrades, performance wheels and tires, body kits as well as exterior and interior appearance accessories. A John Cooper Works Tuning kit calibrated for the MINI Cooper S with an Automatic transmission will be made available later in the year.

The John Cooper Works Tuning Kit boosts the output of the twin scroll turbocharged engine from 172 to 189 horsepower. Maximum torque is also boosted from 177 foot-pounds between 1,000 and 5,000 rpm to 185 foot-pounds between 1,750 and 5,000 rpm. With MINI’s overboost function, peak torque for the kit reaches a temporary level of 200 foot-pounds between 1,750 to 4,500 rpm.
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StarLord scouts out the MINI Motorby interactive billboard off California highway 101, and sees custom messages appear as he drives by.

(PS: There’s a long thread about the Motorby signs over at WRR/Gabe’s MotoringFile website here.)

Then we get a peek at the special edition cabrio MINI Sidewalk, the Hearts of San Francisco theme MINI, view style comparisons of the 2006 and 2007 model Cooper, and some other random bits of motoring fun! 16×9 FLV, about 5 mins.

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IIHS Bestows highest rating of “Good” for Frontal Offset Crash Performance

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – August 24, 2007… The all-new 2007 MINI Cooper’s crashworthiness received the top rating of ‘Good’ in the evaluation of offset frontal crash testing by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s rating reflects performance in a 40 mph frontal offset crash test into a deformable barrier. Based on the results of testing, the Institute evaluates the crashworthiness of passenger vehicles, assigning each vehicle a rating of good, acceptable, marginal, or poor.

MINI’s strong performance comes only four months after the 2007 MINI Cooper earned a 5 star Euro NCAP rating – the highest level – for crash test performance in both frontal and side impact performance.

“This top IIHS rating is further evidence that MINI continues to offer excellent occupant protection.” said Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA. “These results demonstrate that small cars can be engineered with the highest level of safety and we are delighted that all MINIs come equipped with some of the very best technology the industry has to offer.”
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Original post from CooperGirl (Elena) at Redwood Empire Mini’s, August 17th, 2007:

Recently I came up with this idea of “Coopers for Cancer Research” when I came upon the LiveSTRONG Challenge in Portland, OR. You see, I’m moving to Portland for a while to start Chiropractic school. The LiveSTRONG Challenge is a Walk/Run/Bike event to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation to go towards cancer research. My plan is to ride in the 40 mile bike event. Leading up to the event, participants do fundraising using a web page given to them by the LAF web site. The event is September 29th and 30th.

When thinking about how to raise money, I realized I just joined a MINI motoring club with over 250 members. And after being on my first run and meeting members, that I found to be such great people, I feel like there would be members interested in being involved in this event. The full idea of Coopers for Cancer Research is that I will ride representing the money that we, as a club, raise. The way that members can donate to our total is by going to my web page:

http://portland07.livestrong.org/elenaschmidt

..and submitting their desired amount. Currently, I have set a goal of $2,500 which I think we can definitely do, even with there being 6 weeks until the event.

I believe this is annually held in Portland and depending on how it goes this year with our club, I would like to do this again the next year. And I would also like to expand to other MINI clubs like our friends in Sierra Nevada MINIs or PDX, and others. Just think of how this can grow on our success this year with multiple clubs and even more MINI enthusiasts joining in. Hence the name, Coopers for Cancer Research.

So please join me and let’s show our support for cancer research.

Thank you, Elena.

[ Note from Califzeph: Elena is a lovely girl, you can see her in the video posted here on Miniology that is about the event “A Mini Weekend In The Motherlode.” She is also in the latest edition of MC2 Magazine in the article about the MiniMania Open House. ]

Rob (Califzeph) threw together this little slideshow/music video showing some pics and, well, video of the Redwood Empire Mini Enthusiasts’ “Mini Weekend in the Motherlode” tour. I guess it was pretty hot there, he chose that 80′s Kenny Loggins hit “The Heat is On” for the background music. Here is the video, embedded from YouTube:

(legal note: Rob has that ASCAP/BMI license deal so he can use artist’s music in his YouTube videos, note that although he bumpers the video with Miniology logos front and back, it isn’t really one of our official podcasts per se, blah blah blah.)

Rob (Califzeph) and Christopher (StarLord) highlight some of the upcoming MINI events nationwide for August and September 2007. At just over 20 minutes this is one of our longest events calendar audio podcasts to date, and for good reason, it wasn’t edited down very much! Cut in the style of CarTalk with a bit of White Roof Radio and TWiT thrown in, these guys bravely work their way through a short script and even shorter attention span! Hope you enjoy it. Background music provided by Apple’s iLife and edited (well, somewhat) in GarageBand. Woot! Let’s Motor.

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Here’s another episode of the Miniology podcast for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Google Video! Enjoy!

We start with a spirited drive up Sharp Park Road, then StarLord talks about the MOASF Banzai Beach Blanket Bash happening that day. We see footage from the run, then a pan around of all the MINIs that took part in Mini of San Francisco’s annual Poker Run 2007, ending up at Cameron’s Pub in Half Moon Bay. After that, StarLord and DJ DAV (David Villarreal) shows off the latest updates to the project 62 Morris Mini. Then, of course, we go for a drive, Woo hoo!

As you may have read in an earlier post, REME is starting some plans to have a summer MINI/Mini Event in San Francisco next summer (September 2008). This would include a midnight MINI/Mini run through the streets of SF. Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world), the Broadway Tunnel, The Presidio, Coit Tower, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island, Ocean Beach, and Fisherman’s Warf. For the midnight run I found a path that can take us to the top of Lombard St. (crooked part) and we can drive down without having to stop & go on the steep hills. You can take Hyde street north and turn down Lombard. It’s slick. Norm (aka MINI Pooper) thinks he can work out a route that will avoid steep hills with starts & stops.

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