Your Gypsy Rover

Tomorrow begins Lake 2009.

I'll be hitting the road with my trusty iPod and the Cutest Little Car in the Whole Wide World to keep me company.

I was gratified to see that my little car is in the top five Most Fun to Drive† While Still Being Fuel-Efficient‡ list from Car and Driver.§

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Guilt-Free Fun
by Jared Holstein





2009 Mini Cooper S

26 mpg city/34 mpg highway¶

It’s a real shame the Mini Cooper ownership experience has been ruined by the population of tattooed art-school dropouts who wear skinny jeans and ironic eyeglasses and have claimed it as their own. Lured into dealerships by espresso, wi-fi, and conformity, they leave in numbers driving a fine machine that in turbocharged S form# is just about the most ace combination of fun and fuel efficient that trust funds can buy.

Fear not, enthusiast: Roll down your windows to prove that your upper lip bears no thin mustache and you aren’t listening to electro, and pour yourself into the nearest set of mountains. A fantastic chassis, a six-speed transmission, and 192 pound-feet of torque will help you dispatch stacked hairpins with confidence; it’s this car’s poise that helped it best such machines as the Mazda Miata and Volkswagen GTI on our Lightning Lap. You can also be confident you won’t need to stop for gas on the way home, that you’ll be able to fit in a parking spot once you get there, and that cops will be too busy busting hipster-helmed Minis for coke possession to notice your imprudent velocity.

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More later, but for now, join me in basking in the reflected glory.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Duh.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): They don't know the half of it. See ¶, below.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): As reported by Comcast.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Mine actually gets 44 mpg on the highway, possibly because...

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): ...mine is not turbocharged, but supercharged. In practical terms, this means the new Mini S can take hills faster, but mine will blow it off a light. And, apparently, I get an extra 130 miles per tank when I take a road trip.