I wouldn't worry about the pedants Rick.  They're the same as poeple who refuse to believe that a Morris 850 (or 60's Austin Se7en) isn't a "Mini"....  Everyone else (even the period BL dealer) will tell you that you drive a Clubbie.

Cheers, Ian

I just mailed an Honorary NACMB Certificate to John & Lynne in Australia who drove the 22,000 kilometre/13,200 miles 'One Lap' of Australia with us in 2011.

Looking back on our 1st meeting in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland in early August (we had a fair bit of ocean crossing emails before), when I said, "Some days we will just have to drive 700, 750, 800 kilometres." (up to 500 miles), Lynne's response was "No, no not more than 300 kilometres a day." (180 miles)

Three months later as we overnighted in Norseman before crossing the Eyre Highway in Western Australia towards South Australia, Lynne & John came into our trailer and said, "Tomorrow we need to drive 746 kilometres to Eucla." and started to laugh...because they knew we needed to and had done so as we toured around Australia in 2011.

Prepare your Mini and go for a drive!  There is no reason it will not make it!!

 

[take some spares & some tools because you must be able to keep your Mini going - in 2013 we replaced a water pump on a Mini when we headed south to Melbourne and Tasmania...a job done at morning tea break, a carb float needle needed some fettling and a minor wiring issue got resolved...not bad considering 4 Classic Minis did almost 20,000 total miles on the trip...and some gas if you might run out on the Stuart Hwy. in the Northern Territory of Australia]

Heheheh - I did a smidge over 500 miles in a day to get to MMEMW this year in a borrowed car.
Mind you, the pay-off was rebuilding the gearbox to refresh the tired synchros and upgrading the cam when we got back to Dayton.

I think we've done upwards of 9,000 miles round Europe in the last few years.  Three trips to Italy and a tour of France soon rack up the miles.
Cumulatively, I reckon I've done about 6,000 miles in Minis to get to assorted shows Stateside, and many more than that in the old Minimal-Motoring pickup.

I am reading this post in AWE! Literally AWE with my jaw open! I drove my mini from mid Michigan up to Traverse City area which is about 500 round trip at MOST. I loved it but had a few issues here and there. I am blown away that someone drove 5,000 plus in a classic. GOOD FOR YOU GUYS!

I'm rebuilding my engine (correctly this time) and hope to make it a long hauler. I'd love to see some of these epic drivers at a meet some day!

I love it when people post their triumphs and journeys. It makes me that much more confident I can do the same.

Oakland, CA up the coast to Portland, when I moved to OR. The first summer, discovering back roads of Oregon from Portland to Boise and back. Next year Portland to Penticton and back. Next year Portland to Tahoe and back. Next year Portland to MMW Prescott, AZ and back (2800 miles, 100 degrees plus). Next year the easy one to Bend and back. 2014 was the drive Portland to Calgary (from there mostly in Mur's woodie to Mid-Ohio, then to Milwaukee) then back to my car in Calgary and back home. Now looking forward to MMW in Abbotsford. btw, all those trips save Tahoe were solo. Nothing like a good road trip in a Mini - a classic Mini!

http://www.oregonminisociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014.08_mc2_roadside-distraction.pdf

BIG AL,

When I bought the Window Van in Australia for our travels there, I thought I had bought a Clubman...BUT...one month before the Van left the factory in April 1973, Leyland Australia dropped the name Clubman, hence, my square nose Van was simply a Mini Window Van.

Still, looks like a Clubman to me!

Rick

PHOTOs: 1) New wheel bearings and CV on the right front, Day 68 of 70 on the road, Gore Highway enroute to Toowoomba, Queensland.  The only failure I had on the One Lap drive.  2) ROO (the Van) with 4 of 6 new Falken tires installed just before our 3,000 mile test drive via NSW highlands to Sydney and return up the coast...to see what more the Van needed before the long trip.

Chuck- And just to be clear , that was a clubman estate right ??

BIG AL/ P A C E -

Member, many times over, of North American Classic Mini Brigade. Done so in saloons, an estate, a pickup and a Moke.

1600 miles to Belgrade Serbia and back. I mostly enjoy the Mini on the highway so thats my thread

Not to worry - as you develop your car and work out the bugs, it should go, very happily 70mph... and more.

I am a proud owner of the said badge. In 1979 I drove from Niagara falls Ontario to Huntington beach California, for a mini meet. Now days my mini is more of a hotrod, so I dont think a long trip would be that much fun.I am collecting parts to build a wagon that will take me on long trips and will be able to climb  mountainous areas.

Thousands of miles to and from Italy, countless more trundling round the USA to get to shows.

Doing the same in a Bini just isn't in the same ballpark - it's basically going for a drive in a new car.

Drive a Classic Mini on a minimum 5,000 mile continuous trip and you qualify for the North American Classic Mini Brigade (Grill Badge, Cetificate, ooh).....

We towed the race mini 1100 miles, raced it for 980 miles and then towed it back... Technically the mini travelled 3000 miles in 72 hours....

Used to daily drive my mini in college, and to work and back every day after I got out. About 30 miles a day of highway driving. I used to drive it to shows and events all the time. Never went on a "road trip" but that was mostly the wife's decision. 

 

My mini would easily cruise around confortably at 55-65mph without excess noise and vibration. I could hold a conversation without yelling, and the revs weren't through the roof. It wasn't much for low end power with that gearing though. I also took it for a few sprints back in the day. Fastest I ever got it was 90 mph on an old runway at a track event. Radar and GPS verified. She was screaming. Haha Didn't feel like blowing a head gasket before the drive back home, so that's the fastest she has ever gone. Don't really have a desire to get her going that fast again either. Farthest I've ever gone was about 120 miles. 

 

 

 

 

Now with all that said, it seems clear that you're talking about a new BMW MINI. Not a Mini. So considering that, you could feasibly drive that all over the nation every day for years and not worry. Road trips? Yes. I have friends that take their stock and modified MINI's on roadtrips annually. Daily drive? Yes. Most MINI owners bought the cars solely for daily driving. 

the farthest i drove my car is going to work, 32miles roundtrip.. i put $5 gas, and when i get back home, the gas gauge barely moved and i still was able to drive the car around town for 2 more days. really economical.

the only problem is i only ran 40mph and all other cars run 55mph... i push it to 50mph but the vibration and noise is notorious, but it can,  everything in my car is stock.

I guess the question is whether you mean a classic MINI 59-01 or a new MINI (BINI) 2001 >

I drove my classic 69 PUP 2,800 round trip to MMW 2010.  Others, like Hunter, drive much farther.  Not many MINI meets in my neck of the woods.

If you're talking about a BINI....well, who cares...lol

Rick Higgs has driven his Mini around Austrailia, Tasmania etc. and now has brought it home to BC where he's tacking various parts of North America.

But our hats go off to this chap:

Diddy Dave  (Mini hero!)

 

It's no big deal to drive a MINI anywhere for a show, they are mostly new cars

There are a lot of us who drive 50+ year old minis all over North America all the time. This is no big deal. if you look hard enough on the web you will find stories of people on epic road trips from the earliest days of mini production.