Every school morning, it is hard to miss senior Anya Agha driving Bertha to her designated school parking spot.
Bertha, also called “The Spaceship,” is senior Anya Agha’s small, bright red Mini Cooper, which sports singular doors, a navigator-turned console, and a sunroof.
“I think it’s fun to drive because it’s so small, and it feels really zippy to me,” Agha said. “The Mini Cooper is my mom’s car, and then my dad has this big Subaru, and when I drive that, I feel like I’m driving a giant wagon. I’m so disoriented in it, but in the Mini Cooper, I feel like it’s a part of me or something.”
Agha discovered a feature with her navigator that also added to its uniqueness.
“There’s this feature on my car where you can turn the navigator pad into a video game console and use your phone as a controller to play video games on it, which is ridiculous. It’s insane,” Agha said.
Agha also notes that the car only has singular front doors because of its minuscule size, making it a silly challenge for her and her friends.
“When I’m picking up my friends, whoever’s in the front seat has to get out so the other person can come in, and sometimes there’ll be moments where we’re just sitting there, and I’m like, ‘you have to get out,’” Agha said.
Besides driving to school, Agha uses the car to visit her mom, who lives in Philly.
“I drive back and forth a lot, like two or three times a week, so it makes long distances with me,” she said. “It’s nice. I’ve gotten used to the drive, and it’s only 25 minutes, 30 minutes, and I can sit in my car in the morning, drink my coffee, and listen to something.”
Agha hopes to make the most of her senior year commutes with her Mini Cooper, especially because she won’t be able to commute with it in college.
“I’m looking forward to just soaking up my last moments driving around in my red Mini Cooper,” Agha said. “I feel like it’s become my signature thing, so I think I’m going to enjoy just driving that around before I go to college. Where I’m hoping to go [is] all the way to California or somewhere far away, so I’m not going to have it there.”
