When considering the visibility of cigarette ash from the driver's side, without leaning over while driving or getting out the other side of the car ( which no one usually does), are the measurements which matter most the front leg room and passenger capacity ?
A few measurements are missing such as passenger hip room, so I'd think these two might be the two to compare to other vehicles. I'll try to get my car's specs up for comparison as I cannot reach MANY things in the passenger side floorboard unless I get out and go around and pick the item up, but I USUALLY can see most things which fall out of my purse, tote, mouth, ( mostly j/k there, lol.)
Mini Cooper 2004:
Interior Dimensions ( I only selected these 2 from the list of measurements):
Front Leg Room (in)41.3
Passenger Volume (ft³)77.0
Edited to add: My car, which is a large model BMW of 2 years' age, has these pertinent measurements for the interior:
Front Leg Room (in) 41.4 ( AND THIS IS THE FLAGSHIP BMW automobile!)
Here's the link to all the specs for my car which is a large car by 2017- 2018 standards, IMO.
2017 BMW 7-Series Specs: 740i Sedan Specifications
The curb weight and length are going to vary tremendously, but look what BMW put into the Mini Cooper 14 years ago as far as roominess for front passenger and driver! It's amazing and I wouldn't have believed it matched the BMW 7 series 740i in 2017 minus 1/10th an inch unless I'd read it for myself. I knew the Mini was spectacularly roomy in the front leg room and all from my test drive around that year but wow!
I didn't want to clutter up Ray's thread with my car's doodads, hence the link, but Bavarian Motor Works made the Mini Cooper with an excellent passenger cage for the overall size and price of the car. I do not know how a 2017 or 2018 would compare, but we don't need to know that, do we?
Regarding the " throwing the laptop off the bridge and tying up traffic" question, maybe we need to think of this in terms of daylight vs. darkness or near- darkness and amount of traffic at different times that college parents' weekend.
I do not live anywhere near the area, but would still love to see where he probably disappeared, so I can't give any guesstimate as to traffic patterns.
However, I think I've driven long enough and well enough to determine how I'd personally " rig" a necessary laptop's dunk into the deep...
First, I would assume that someone WAS watching or able to see my car. Maybe not me, personally, but the car. I'd do the following, probably, and expect that Ray would also employ a law- abiding subterfuge of very short duration ( time it takes to open a door and toss, and make sure the thing hit the water).
Slow down, put emergency flashers on.
Stop the car.
Pop trunk lid and hood latch up. ( Don't scoff. A lot of people mix them up which is a valid excuse, and besides, 2 up are better than 1 up).
The driver is signaling that they likely have a car malfunction, right? Maybe there is a car or two behind him, but maybe not depending on time of day or evening or night.
Get out of the car on the passenger side for safety and have the laptop either within arm's reach or already in hand.
Open the door nearest the water, the passenger's side unless PA has British driving rules.
With 3 protective " lids" of sorts up and open, toss the laptop while sitting inside the Mini Cooper or standing just outside the car, as a person fiddling with a part might do, still on passenger's side for personal safety and throwing accuracy.
Who's going to be looking OVER the bridge's side to see it go in? Remember, door is open on passenger side, as is trunk and hood, providing great cover for the throw.
Fiddle around a bit with a cloth or whatever it is that men do when their cars stop instead of calling AAA, and close all lids and doors, and drive slowly away, more slowly than usual, flashers off, just being cautious with that troublesome "whatever" that caused a light to come on.
Also, another thing that might be interesting to know. I've owned cars from Audis to Volvos ( back when they were owned and made in Sweden by Volvo), and almost all domestic models in between A and V.
The BMW autos have MORE warning lights than any car I've ever dreamed could have. This is my 3rd consecutive BMW, and hubby also has one, and I still have to call him sometimes and ask him " Why is this little mark by the mini image of the car yellow on the rear passenger's side?" or something equally obscure.
It is not out of the question, therefore, that the same company built the Mini Cooper with the same elaborately precise ( maddening and distracting in reality) warning light system for almost all components.
What this means is that if Ray had been questioned by a police officer or anyone else, for that matter about why he stopped, and had turned the engine off, which resets all the yellow " early warning lights" ( not to be confused with the " Do something to FIX me, ASAP" red warning lights which also number about 40 or more) he would have a readily answerable question about needing to check his engine or that the light said the trunk was ajar or a windshield wiper needed replacing ( not really but there are warnings for the windshield blade things).
I hope this is making sense. It totally does to me, as someone who does pull over fairly frequently because a yellow light I've never seen before comes on in the detailed miniature led display of my car, and I have to either know what it's warning me of happening in the future or how to turn it off, or call someone who does know if the light happens to be the very rare red true warning color instead of the yellow worrisome colored light.
Note, there are also outdoor temperature and hazardous driving condition alert warnings in the BMWs. Not sure if the Minis go to this extreme, but by all accounts, he wouldn't have had an outdoor temperature alarm or the like come on in April.
of course, or I couldn't post this! [whack myself on the head]) so was wondering - are those early threads just unacessable because they're older? Is it just a glitch? Or do you Ray Gricar posters have a secret knock?
