10K and all I got was...

Wow, only five months.  This past Friday I hit the 10,000 mile mark with my new Mini.  Does it count as a "new" Mini after 10,000 miles?  Whatever, it has been a great initial 10,000 miles with it.  I've found a few twisty roads in Alamance County.  The Mini has been on Hwy. 66 north of Winston-Salem on the Bullfrog Run - awesome road there.  It has been down Old Liberty Highway in Randolph County as part of the THMMC Dine & Dash event (also affectionately referred to as the Liberty City run, kind of GTA-ish). Most recently I completed a modified Tour de Steamplume hitting Wake, Chatham, and Harnett counties.  And of course, the Mac Daddy of the drives so far, the entire Blue Ridge Parkway.  Yes, I am now and End-to-Ender.

Besides the great motoring I've been able to do, I've also enjoyed becoming part of the community that is the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club.  Getting to know other Mini owners and enjoying activities with them has been a blast.  It has certainly enhanced the entire ownership experience.

As far as the Mini itself, it is running great.  I have had the sunroof sticking in hot weather problem this summer, though the slightest push up on the glass solves that.  Lately on my way in to work I'm hearing some kind of thumping or rattling sound.  It is so subtle, I cannot even pin down whether it is coming from inside or outside the car, but I think it may be the trim piece in between the front seats.  Hard to say.  Otherwise, everything has been working great and running great.  Looks like my first service is going to come at around 20k miles.  Not sure how I feel about that.  Never had a car that uses synthetic oil, but I guess I'll trust Mini to know what they are doing.  I am going to work on a sheet with the service items from the manual and do my own "sort of" service.  Probably need to try rotating my tires myself as well, but that will require a jack and some jack stands.

Bottom line - great car!

Kind of funny that the day after I hit 10k, my girls found something at the store for me.  It is a little 1:87 scale Mini from The Italian Job.  Comes in its own little display case. It is even the same Chile Red/White Roof version as mine (they said there was only one other, a yellow Mini).