No, I am not crazy. I am driving to Monterey Car Week in a brand-new 2025 MINI Cooper S. I was offered the opportunity, and since I have driven to Monterey more than ten times over the years, I figured why not?
I am sure this will be the easiest road trip to Monterey, because every other car I have driven to the event has been at least 25 years old. Some of those include a 1973 Ferrari Daytona, a 1966 Volvo 1800S, a 1968 Fiat 124 Spider, a 1986 Alfa Romeo GTV6, a Bentley Turbo, an Aston Martin DB7, and most recently, a 1984 Porsche 944.
Given that list of cars, you can understand why I am not sweating the drive this year. I am really looking forward to things such as good A/C, comfortable seats, incredible fuel mileage, and most of all, not worring about getting stuck in the middle of Nevada with a broken car.
The new 2025 MINI Cooper S is a car I first saw in a closed-room showing at the 2023 BMW Test Fest, and I was immediately taken with the new design. In many ways it reminds of my first R53 MINI that I bought new in 2003. It has that sense of whimsy about it again and the styling just looks fun.
The interior is new with a large circular display in the center of the dash. This is backed up by a very useful and interesting head-up display. All the materials used in the interior are sustainable, and the only gripe I have at this point is that I am not a fan of the cloth covering the interior door panels.
I am headed off to Scranton, Pennsylvania, for the beginning leg of the journey at 1:00 pm today, and the car is fully loaded with all my Monterey luggage, cookies from my wife Ann, and two boxes of books I am taking to the automobilia show. Yes, as you can see, the car is stuffed. It is not likely that the cookies will make it to Monterey.
Wish me luck. If you see a Sunny Side Yellow 2025 MINI Cooper S on interstate 80 that looks a lot like a Minion on wheels, you can bet it is likely me.
The plan for day two is South Bend, Indiana. Day three is Lincoln, Nebraska. The longest day is the fourth, when I will be going from Lincoln to Park City, Utah. After that, it is a short drive to Reno and then Monterey, where I should be by Saturday afternoon.
I will be documenting each leg of my journey so stay tuned for my driving impressions.
