Destiny
Guess who's a Mini Cooper owner? That's right--ME!

Although it was a bit of a winding road to get there.

The very first car I looked at once I heard officially from the insurance company that the Cavalier was being totaled was a Mini. The Sherrons & I went ALLLLLLL the way down to South County to take a look at a used Mini the Saturn dealer had down there. This is when I learned my first lesson in the lies of the internet. Got down there and it was a stick. The internet said it was an automatic. It was not. Dang. All that driving for absolutely nothing.

But I persisted. I checked out the website for the MINI dealership in Clayton and they had two '06 automatics listed. I went by on Wednesday and only one of the listed cars was actually still on the lot! So I talked to one of the "motoring advisors" and took a test drive around.

I'd promised Mom that I'd take a look around at some more modestly priced alternatives, so we headed over to Toyota. The Yaris is WEIRD! The insides are all stretched out and rearranged so they're not where you think they should be. Too bizarre. The salesman, excuse me, "product specialist," had me sit in a Scion--the little one, not the SUV. Apparently the Yaris is based on the Scion. And it's less crazy on the inside, but just not anything special. What's interesting is that its kind of like a kit car. You can custom build one on the internet with exactly what you want it to have, no more no less, for the same as if you'd found that car on the lot. When I told him I'd also looked at Minis, his eyebrows jumped right up into his hair.

As a final alternative, we went by Enterprise on Friday night to see what they had on their lot. After much looking and not much luck, the salesman (no fancy pants titles at the Enterprise) suggested checking out their website. Then I could see every car in the Metro area. Even though mom had said we'd go talk dollars with the Mini people if there wasn't anything good at Enterprise, I agreed to look over everything on the website before I committed.

The website was a disappointment. Just a greater variety of the same cars I'd already seen. So on Saturday afternoon we went over to the Mini dealership to negotiate on the new car. When I asked after the car, I was told it had been sold the day before. I got this sick feeling in my stomach thinking my car was being sold while I was up the street looking at cars on the Enterprise lot. Although cold comfort, it was actually sold first thing in the morning. Found out they had another automatic, but it was currently with the representative at the auto show, but it would be back on Monday. They also had a 2004 that had been a lease, traded in to lease a 2006. So I took that one for a ride. AND I LOVED IT! What's kind of funny in the end--is that it's more or less the car I was deceived by in South County--only with lower mileage and more features. UPGRADE!

I'm picking it up after work on Monday. XD

Okay, here's something crazy: Vincent D'Onofrio was in Full Metal Jacket AND Adventures in Babysitting. He couldn't look more different--and they BOTH came out in 1987.