Josh Wardell’s MINI Cooper S

I’ve been long overdue for an update to my old PDA-based navigation system, and with my new traffic-sensitive commute I finally bought and installed one. In addition to the usual navigation features, I wanted handsfree BlueTooth capability to take calls on the road as well as live traffic data to assist in my commute. The cheapest system with these features was the Garmin Nuvi 370.

It is neatly mounted in place of my old nav, using the Kuda mount and an adaptor from ProClip. Shown here is a live traffic map, which I often use when driving to and from work. Of course the regular view is 3-dimensional, and I get to enjoy new-to-me features like displayed street names and full voice pronunciation. The available MINI graphics are certainly a nice extra as well.

My old Navigation Page was once a popular source as a guide to making and custom installing a nav system, so I’ve taken the opportunity to update it.

This week I started a new job, taking the opportunity to get back into engineering and embedded software. Mine makes the third MINI in the small parking lot. Though it might miss the confines of a parking garage, my MINI now happily spends its day hanging out with GBMINI. The new commute is much longer but a lot more fun with all the fast curves of Storrow Drive through Boston and northward on Rt. 1; like and urban Dragon. Perhaps I’ll post a video of it soon. This is just one of the many things I’ve had going on this month that’s kept my life very busy lately, hopefully it will calm down soon and I will be able to make it to more MINI events.

Today was the annual MAMA’s Blueberries and BBQ where we meet in Keene, NH to pick blueberries and hang out with all our MINI friends. Sadly we had drenching rain in the morning on the way there and more rain throughout the afternoon. However that didn’t seem to deter anyone as we still had a large turnout. We also had a few dry hours to pick plenty of blueberries, and like last year I look forward to the excellent desserts that will come from them.

My MINI also turned 50,000 miles right in the Monadnock Berries parking lot. Now begins its post-warranty “middle aged” life–hopefully just as reliable and fun as the first three years!

I need your help to find a good roadside assistance program! I’m only a few hundred miles away from 50,000. Not only will my MINI’s warranty expire, but so will coverage by MINI’s excellent roadside assistance program. I’ve called them and begged to extend the roadside benefits but they have no way to do so.

With MINI dealerships being sparsely located, it is very important to have long-distance towing coverage. I only proved this a year ago when I had to ride all the way home from MINIsOnTop in a tow truck–about 350 mi round trip. AAA only covers three miles of towing, charging you $3 per additional mile–that would cost over $1000!

I’ve found a few options but not sure how trustworthy each are, especially since they do not have their fine print on their website, and probably not until you sign up do you find out they won’t tow to the dealer of your choosing etc. AAA has a “plus” membership for $75/year that includes 100mi of towing, but they will not allow you to join that program until you’ve been a member of their three-mile program for a year. GM Motor Club seems to be a good deal at $59 and unlimited towing. And The Auto Club has unlimited towing too at $69, but for $89 they also include tire and wheel road hazard coverage–something I’ve been considering as I’m about to buy new tires as well.

Please let me know in the comments below what experiences you’ve had with third party roadside assistance programs, and feel free to recommend some more. Meanwhile I can only hope MINI smartens up and offers extended roadside assistance coverage.