The other day I received a press release in my email concerning the Mini Cooper, which happened to come on the same day that I also received an email from Carol Kittson, the owner of the Morris Minor automobiles and which I had the pleasure of interviewing for this website a few weeks ago.  The irony of receiving these two emails on the same day – which was after I wrote about BMW’s plan to take the Mini Cooper to an all electric model  – was odd, but most awesome, especially since the press release took me to a website called Carfun Footprint, which allowed me to calculate my car’s ”fun factor,” based on the make and model of the car (in my case, I used my Nissan Altima) as compared to other cars.  While this is just a marketing ploy to get drivers to hopefully consider purchasing a Mini Cooper, it was still fun to see how my car compared to 197 other makes and models.  Not only that, but I also received a “green score” (based on the EPA Green Vehicle Guide), which informed me of just how well my car stands up in comparison to the environment.  In total, my “Carfun Footprint” ranked in a total score of 69 whereby I was told by a friendly, yet somewhat humorous computer voice, that although my car may be ”comfortable” to drive, it falls dismally short in the “fun” area – and just when I thought I was having a blast, too.

The website does allow consumers to sign up for email updates and tips for green motoring and lowering environmental impact and also offers recommendations for ”doing more with less.”

What does all this have to do with Carol Kittson, you ask?  Well, has it turns out, those Morris automobiles we were discussing in the interview are the front runner to today’s Mini Cooper.  According to Carol (who really knows her stuff when it comes to these automobiles), the Morris 8 and Morris 10 came first, followed by the Morris Minors, Morris Mini’s and then, the Mini Cooper.

The awesome thing about writing for Cars for Girls is that just like readers who stop by this website, or who subscribe to the email newsletter, I also learn new things.  Thanks to people who send me email, links to the latest industry and market news and who send press releases my way, I’m almost guaranteed to learn at least one new thing every day – and to me, that’s a pretty nice ”fun factor” in itself!

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