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I’ve put in an order for a 2002 Mini Cooper. It will be velvet red with a white roof, white side-view mirrors and white alloy wheels. I’m getting the base model, with a 1.6-liter in-line four-cylinder engine that develops 115 horsepower at 6,000 revolutions per minute. That’s power enough for a car that weighs 2,315 pounds.

But, alas, there will be no five-speed manual transmission in my Mini — that is, my wife’s Mini, which I intend to drive every chance I get, which probably won’t be many. But that’s another story.

Anyway, my wife, The Woman from Texas (TWT), refuses to learn how to drive a stick shift. “If God wanted us to drive manuals, He wouldn’t have given us the intelligence to develop automatics,” she says.

So, we’ve ordered my — her, our — Mini with an optional six-speed, continuously variable Steptronic transmission, which can be used as either an automatic or a manual. That will cost an extra $1,250. Such is the price of peace.

Something called a “Combo #3/Cold Weather Package” — heated washer jets, heated mirrors, heated windshield and heated front seats — will cost $300 more. Oh, yeah, and that “velvet red” is really “velvet red metallic,” which will add $400.

At this writing there will be no “dual pane panoramic sunroof,” which TWT has mentioned as something she would like. But at an extra $800? I don’t think so. Also, the upholstery will be leatherette instead of leather, and the sound system — a six-speaker AM-FM stereo with compact disc — will be the one that comes with the car.

We’re not getting the optional navigation system ($1,600 extra). Those systems are great gadgets for people willing to spend the money on them. But TWT and I have already spent a heck of a lot of cash on education. We can read maps.

With any luck, we should have our Mini by the end of September. But that seems more wishful thinking than anything else. BMW, which now owns the Mini name and is producing the cars in England, is shipping only 20,000 to the United States this year. That means we’ll probably take possession of our car sometime next year.

There is nothing really rational about our buying decision. There is nothing rational about love. And the truth is, we fell head over heels in love with the Mini Cooper on a recent round-trip drive to New York City.

Heck, before that journey, we were all set to buy a Saturn Vue sport-utility model in September. TWT really liked the Vue. She thought it made more sense than buying a larger sport-utility model or a bigger pickup truck. Like other Texans, she loves trucks, can’t live without them. She currently owns a Chevrolet S10 pickup, which she treats like a pet and intends to keep. The Saturn Vue would have rounded out her truck fleet.

But her passion for the Vue began to wane with each mile traveled in the Mini. First, she was overwhelmed by the the huge amount of interior space in the little three-door hatchback. With its rear seats folded, we were able to put four crushable garment bags in the Mini’s cargo bay. We also put in several other bulky items without compromising front-seat room or disturbing the overall balance of the car.

At highway speeds, the Mini Cooper was beautiful! It virtually glued itself to curves, largely thanks to its BMW-engineered four-wheel independent suspension system.

The Mini Cooper’s wheels are placed at the farthest corners of the car. There is only the tiniest amount of body extending over the car’s 97.1-inch wheelbase. The car, as a result, feels perfectly balanced, perfectly stable at high speeds and in crosswinds.

Parking the Mini Cooper in congested New York City was a cinch. It fit easily into parking spaces that challenged compact cars such as the Honda Civic and Pontiac Grand Prix. On top of it all, we got nearly 41 miles per gallon on the highway and about 25 mpg running round New York.

But none of that is the real reason we’re buying the Mini. The car is cute. It has a magnetic personality. We loved its oversized speedometer and the wacky location of its tachometer atop the steering column. We loved the reaction it drew from onlookers everywhere.

Some of our friends and family members also called the Mini Cooper “cute” but said they would never buy a car “that small.” We don’t care. We drove it. We love it. It can be had at a reasonable price, assuming we control our lust for options. We’re buying it, and that’s that.