Regarding Mini 269
My name is Kristine and I drive a 2004 Honda Accord with Florida License plates. This tells you my car is not "snow worthy" After the 20inches of snow we received in the past 2 days my little black car stayed in the drive way. Knowing I had to work on Sat I asked my sister if I should worry about shoveling around it or just wait until the morning. We agreed that the morning would be fine. Well I was awoken with a message that I needed to go talk to my Brother-In-Law (Micheal Graham). I went outside and to my surprise, my car was iced over and stuck in the little spot it had been. Knowing I needed to go to work Mike suggested that I drive his Electric Mini-Cooper. Mike advised me it has 4 wheel traction and brand new snow tires. I only needed to drive from South Orange to East Brunswick so the 100 mile charge would be ok. We took it for a quick test drive around the block to get used to the "non braking" stopping the Cooper has. So off I went to East Brunswick. I was an awesome ride on the G.S.P and the NJ Turnpike. It drove VERY solid and had a very fast "get up and go". I found myself letting off the gas several times when the cops were insight. However I did notice quickly before I got to East Brunswick that the charge gauge had dropped very quickly. I did turn the heat off remembering that Mike had told me it used electricity and I may or may not be able to have it on the whole time. But by the time I got to work it was at 50%. So I was thinking no problem, I will make it back with no problems safe and sound. I left work and was back on the NJ Turnpike and G.S.P. About 10 min into my 40min ride home I noticed the charge gauge was at 25%. So at this time I turned off the radio (thinking it would make a difference) I and started to get nervous about making it all the way home. However as I was driving it home I did say to myself "Kristine if you had this car you would get so many speeding tickets"! Because a few times I did look at the speedometer and didn't even realize I was going 90. So after going through the last toll plaza I saw the electricity lite come on and tell me I had 10 miles left. I panicked!! So I called home and asked what I should do? I was told just to keep driving and if it dies it dies. So I made it to my exit of the G.S.P. My nerves at this point we extremely high and tears we about to appear. As I continued through the streets I began to notice that the "10 miles left" indicator stayed the same. So the nerves started to settle. Then I see brake lights ahead. It was an accident and we were moving at a snails pace. Ok, here come the nerves and tears again. So I continued in the stop and go traffic and continued to watch the gauge go from 5 miles to 4 miles. At this point I'm ready to pick up my phone and say come and get me. But continuing in the stop and go traffic the gauge remained at 4 miles for 10 minutes or so. Knowing I had about 3 miles left I just figured I was close enough to walk home if I needed. As I made the last turn I was at 1 mile on the gauge and was a ball of nerves. I made it in the driveway. Thanking god I made it. I easily handed Mike the keys back and said "it's very stressful driving it". After talking with Mike we figured driving without stopping was a big difference than the stop and go local driving. It wasn't able to "recharge". So it's a great car to drive just a little stressful for a female from Florida :)
