Because of recent events (Susuki go bye bye) and my intended purchase of a Mini in 6 months at the conclusion of my MBA (when I know where I'll be working), I desided to fire off an e-mail to Mini customer support to see if they had any short term lease or rental options so that I could try it out before I buy, the response:

Dear Mr. Ross,

Thank you for your e-mail. MINI has no influence on the cars car rental companies offer. We are unable to inform you whether or not a certain rental company has the MINIin stock. We would like to ask you to contact the local car rental companies.

Yours sincerelly,

MINI Infoservice
80788 München
E-Mail: mailto:infoservice@mini.de
Internet: www.mini.de

Thanks for nothing Mini. I still think trial period leases would be a great thing to promote the confidence you have in your brand and provide a service to a specific customer niche. Oh well.