As we were driving along the other day in our primary car, my wife and I started a little game - naming all the features in the car surrounding us that were not present in the 1962 Project Mini. The car actually has more features than our living room in 1962. (Well, actually, we didn't have a living room in 1962. We borrowed one when needed.) The sound system, the heating system, the seats that recline at the touch of a button. (The living room seats didn't recline, really, but we managed.)
When we got home, I logged into the car's web site and pulled up a list of features to compare with the Mini. We'd been so overwhelmed, we'd been unable to recall many of them. The Mini this year will be forty years old. Below, almost one feature per year.
| OnStar® with 1 year Safety and Security Service Plan | Our only call was when my wife adjusted the mirror and hit the OnStar button by mistake. Batman loves it, though. |
| Side and Dual Front Airbags | |
| Front and Rear Fog Lamps | |
| Remote Keyless Entry | |
| Four Channel Anti-Lock Brakes | More channels than our TV in the Mini's birth year |
| PASS-Key® Theft Deterrent System | |
| 4 Wheel Disc Brakes with ABS | No skill required |
| Leather-Trimmed Seats | |
| Leather-Wrapped Shift Knob | Merry Christmas! The Mini has one of these. |
| Real Wood Interior Trim | The Mini's custom dash is real plywood. Does that count? |
| Driver Information System | This used to be called the Driver Information Center, enabling people to go around saying, "Oh yeah? Well, my car has a DIC." |
| Steering Wheel Touch Controls | Next, hands-off steering. |
| AM/FM CD Cassette with 6 speakers | The standard radio. 6 speakers in a Mini? 1 speaker is a sacrilege. |
| Automatic Climate Control | A Mini has climate, but no control. |
| Aluminum Wheels (16" on V6/17" on V8) | |
| CHROME EXHAUST TIPS | Oh, wow! Make sure we get this option! |
| TRUNK ENTRAPMENT LEVER | People crammed into a Mini trunk would be in no shape to find, let alone use, a lever. |
| REAR CHILD SEAT ATTACHMENTS | |
| UPPER AND LOWER ELECTROCHROMIC MIRROR | Use the lower one to see if your shoes are tied. |
| MEMORY SEAT & OUTSIDE MIRROR CONTROLS | Heaven forbid putting your hand outside into the uncontrolled climate to adjust your mirror! |
| UNIVERSAL GARAGE DOOR OPENER | Great, if you have a universal garage. |
| AUTO MOISTURE- SENSITIVE WINDSHIELD WIPERS | No need now to move that hand from the wheel to flip a wiper switch. |
| ELECTROCHROMIC MIRROR WITH COMPASS | If just upper and lower mirrors aren't enough, now you can know which direction you're headed. |
| AM/FM RADIO WITH SEEK/SCAN, with: | Actually, we had this in a 1953 Olds. |
| COMPACT DISC | |
| AUTO REVERSE CASSETTE | |
| EIGHT SPEAKERS. | Passengers? Forget them. No room. |
| NAVIGATIONAL RADIO WITH LCD SCREEN THAT DISPLAYS MAP | No folding required. |
| DRIVER/PASS HEATED FRONT SEATS | |
| EIGHT-WAY POWER PASS SEAT WITH POWER LUMBAR ADJUST | Up, down, back, forth - that's four. Four more? |
| REAR STORAGE ARMREST | Less space than Mini's bins. |
| DUAL-ZONE HVAC SYSTEM | Minis had a partial zone HV system, anyway. |
| 12-DISC, COMPACT DISC CHANGER, TRUNK-MOUNTED | If you have the trunk space, why not use it? |
| ELECTRIC SLIDING GLASS SUNROOF WITH SUNSHADE | These actually seal tightly, if you remember to close them. |
Imagine a car today with the feature set of a Mini in 1962. How could we have lived that way? How many little motors are there in our car today? How many more things are there to break and stop working? Still, as a percentage of income, cars are not that much more expensive today than in 1962. Service costs, though - another story.