Obligatory… MINI Openometer. Huh?
Published: December 4th, 2008
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BMW’s second generation MINI convertible will offer an optional ‘Openometer.’ It records the time spent by the car driving around with the top down. Kind of an interior conversation piece, I guess, providing the same service a Dada coffee table book might in your swank bachelor – or bachelorette – pad. Number of G’s pulled. [ED: Number of birds pulled?] Top speed, and time spent there-– these interest me. Though they should be password protected. Instantly purgeable. Anything but open, really. Does anyone think an openometer is useful in anyway?
More by Michael Martineck
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Openometer is just as useful as an MPG gauge (you can measure efficiency better using odometer and gas receipts), an oil pressure gauge (all you care about is that it's above the "Min" mark), or a tach on an automatic car (do you really care about RPM's?). In other words, OF COURSE it's not necessary. Heck, if not for speed limits, all you'd ever need to drive would be 10 or so idiot lights, just in case something goes wrong. I'd say, for a modern car, it's a more useful piece than an oil pressure gauge or a voltmeter. It actually provides you with a real statistical measurement of you using the main feature of the car (DUH). Prius drivers get an MPG gauge, so why should convertible drivers not get an openometer? The next thing would be to dispense with some gauges and instead rely on other senses (sound and touch, mostly) to convey information. The rev limit beeper on the rotor-motor cars is a great example of that - no need to even look at the tach.
Hmm, did BMW just jump the shark?
Girlfriends, my wife, my *mom* -- all have talked me out of buying a convertible using the argument "you'll almost never put the top down anyway", the kind of argument that also works for convincing someone not to buy optional four-wheel-drive. So at least this meter can provide ammunition against -- or confirmation of -- that sentiment. But is that useful? Er, no, because the convertible would have had to be purchased in the first place. Perhaps it would help convince people to not buy a convertible next time after they see how rarely they drop the top.