Completed: 02/27/08 This past Sunday, my friend Rizwan (pictured above) and I stopped by MINI of Universal City to test drive some Minis. Rizwan’s car shopping, so it was the perfect excuse. We were met by Timothy Carr, who did an amazing job of answering our questions. It’s hard to find a car salesman who actually knows his stuff, but Tim gave us a thorough background on the cars. When I told him I’d be blogging the test drives, he gave me the blog URL of another Mini aficionado who runs an all-girl Mini rally club (theminiskirts.com). Cool! I tried out the Mini Cooper S Clubman model, which just became available about a week ago. It’s a little bit larger than the standard Mini Cooper, but the performance doesn’t suffer for it. Bottom line: I waaaannnt it! Rizwan drove the Mini Cooper with an automatic shifter. Even with the automatic transmission, that car flew. Of course, on his test drive, I got a chance to see just how teeny tiny the backseat of the car is. I don’t recommend it. I’m not in the market for a new car now, but when I do buy my next one, I’ll definitely stop by MINI of Universal City. It can’t hurt to go for another spin…