Good morning all! Hope last night was restful for you.

Mini2na - Frodo is an Awesome name. You tell the family all the estrogen in my house loves that name! My daughter is a huge LOTR fan! Also...there is NOTHING wrong with 3-Buck Chuck...I love that wine. I try to pick some up whenever I go to Trader Joe's. Try the BV Coastal Estates Merlot if you get a chance ... pretty tasty too and not too much $.

Kimberly - didn't mean to offend with the "high squeaky voice" if I did. I actually figured it out this a.m. You type like an old friend of mine talked and she had a high squeaky voice...

Well my MA didn't call me back yesterday so I decided against showing up at the dealer with blanket and books in hand last night. I definitely plan on going for a visit today though. The suspense is killing me! I need to see my car!!

Scoopmama - You better take your camera with you to the dealer today! I really want to see a pic of Scoop!! Good luck with that...and DONT forget your checklist...

 

Good morning all!

Boy, you were all up early (again!) The cabernet I had last night was trusty old TWO-buck Chuck~ purchased when it was $1.99. I never think to open wine before I want it, so usually it doesn't breathe. Well, last night I got distracted, and finally when I got to my glass. . . delicious! Mellow! Yum!

Lil A ~ Got the checklist! Thanks for the link!

Checklist -

Camera -

Hubby who used to be #1 salesman at Saturn
and KNOWS the nasty finance procedure AKA
blood - sucking (wait, I guess that's not
too PC- PROFIT Making. Yeah, that's it!)

Gray magically gone from hair yesterday -

Outfit ready -

Nails polished -

Yep! Think I'm all ready!

Notice we didn't hear from Fugitive? What do you bet he got his car and that was it for him!?
I need to buy champagne for Scoop today!! Oh, and the kids school supplies. Probably should do that as well. . . ( I haven't been the most attentive parent lately!!!!)

 

Have a magical day! Congratulations!!!

 

I am very nearly unoffendable (unless you say something horrible about my pugs!) I am just giving you $#@!

BV Coastal does put out a nice inexpensive good wine, also look for Turning Leaf wines, they are always of reliable quality. I am kind of a wine freak - but I love great deals.

 

I don't know anyone who could say anything horrible about pugs!
Kimberely, have you seen the movie "The Great Race" with Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, Peter Falk and Jack Lemon? There is a wonderful scene towards the end in the castle with about 5 of the cutest pugs!
Someday when I retire and can be home, I'll have one! or two. . .
One of my friends ran a housecleaning service, and her workers didn't speak much English. One of the homes they cleaned had 2 or 3 pugs, and my friend would let the workers know where they were going by snuffling and snorting in the car.
Another friend had her pug before hubby's vascectomy proved flawed, and the unexpected human baby came on the scene. For about 2 years, the "baby" would put his bowl of cereal on the floor and eat next to the dog!
Maybe it's a California thing. . .

 

I adore "The Great Race"; we have it on DVD. And yes I like the pug part also, but I don't know that I could handle being licked by quite that many. 2 is enough (right now). They are lucky that are so adorable (and snorkly) because they have had a destructive puppydom. Only drawbacks that I have noted are: they snore (and they do like to sleep on the heads of Mom/Dad whilst snoring) and they cannot tolerate temps over 85 degree or too cold either. But their personalities are beautiful and they are the epitome of 'lap dog'.

 

I have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that sounds just like your pugs. He sleeps right on top of my head and will take as much pillow as he possibly can get away with and he snores very loudly. Then, in the middle of the night whilst he snores and dreams of chasing big dogs, I quietly sneak out of the room to go post a message on NAM, and right behind me is the dog. Can't let daddy out of his sight for one minute!

 

After being out at a concert Friday night until 2:30am, I woke up at 7:30am yesterday full of anxiety and excitement, knowing that I would be meeting Icarus in just a few short hours. A few Tokyo Teas and a lot of dancing insured I was not 100% the next morning but none of that mattered. I pulled up to the dealership and scanned the lot. A dark silver MINI stands out, but then I noticed the 17" wheels I didn't order and kept looking. In the showroom, the centerstage car was covered and I walked past it looking for my MA. While I waited for him I spotted the right wheels and dark silver protruding from under the covered car. There he is! I guess it would have been like a baptism but my MA was lacking the enthusiasm and no-one else was around. As he worked his way around the car removing the cover I snapped the first few shots.

The car had 7 miles on it. I got a shot of the mileage right after our short test drive. My camera is not so great but the effect of reflections in the odometer looked pretty cool!

I was happy with everything and the whole process of buying the car took a little over two hours. Considering about an hour was eaten up just in the test drive, inspection, and the 'how to think like a brit in order to operate this car' training, this was an unbelievably short and painless process. Everything went wonderfully well. The BMW finance person was this giggly lady that made a joke out of everything. We had a good time together while I signed my soul away. She told me that based on her experience working at other dealerships is that Mercedes buyers usually go out to eat after buying, Lexus buyers just go home, and MINI buyers have a crazy long backroad drive planned out. My only complaint was that due to the exceptional knowledge sharing that happens here at NAM, I had too many questions the MA had never heard before and didn't know the answer to. It wasn't anything that I can't easily figure out on my own though. I took one more shot of the car before driving away.

And of course, I took the long way home.

 

Such a handsome devil - Don't let him fly too close to the sun!!! Congratulations. You are forcing me to live vicariously. I am very happy for you. I am so awaiting my "WOOT WOOT" news. This is what I am now calling it.

 

He sounds adorable. Make sure you get him the proper seatbelt for his co-piloting responsibilities. My girls have them and will definitely use them. That being said, I need to find a dog-proof seatcover for the backseat. Do they make those for MINIs?

 

Congratulations Fugitive! I'm so glad we've started getting our Mini's! We will be looking forward to more pics but not until tonight. Then you can send some shots of Icarus all lit up too!

Kimberly - I was thinking the same thing... I need to find some seat covers as well to protect from all the dog hair. Unfortunately, mine sheds a lot! He probably wont be allowed in the Mini for awhile... that's what wifey's truck is for!

 

Congratulations FugitiveAI. He looks beautiful! I too am living vicariously through your experience. Keep sharing your initial experiences and pass along any questions we MUST ask or things we should check for as we pick ours up. WOOT WOOT! I had an order in for a dark silver and it still is my favorite in the sun. Sometimes in the NW the sun is not out (HA HA!), so I went with my #2, Sparkling Silver.

 

I was originally going to get the sparkling silver. It is such a pretty champagne-ish silver color. But, there is always a but, it was too close to the color of my hubby's truck, and so he said that he would prefer that I got a different color. Some people's children!!!!! I am happy with BRG, though, as a second choice.

 

Why are we all going with our 2nd choices? My first choice was the laser blue but since I only see blue, red and yellow Mini's around Phoenix I wanted to be different so I went with PS, my 2nd choice. Changing colors, changing names, ... whassup wit dat????

 

We are just a gaggle of messed up, generally neurotic, indecisive little s#$@s!!! That and we bow to peer pressure far too easily. So, we are also spineless.

 

I love my color! If you think the color was a hard choice you should have witnessed the multitude of other options that I made. I'm still second guessing myself. The biggy is the sport suspension I ordered to counter the sun/moonroom my family wanted. I hope it doesn't ride like a rock.

Scoopmama... come back! We want to hear about Scoop.

 

Cheers to the long way home!

 

Hi! Fugitive - how exciting!!!!! So happy for you

Well! Left the house and got to the dealer about 12:30. He was finishing with one group, but the girl at the front desk recognized my husband. She graduated a few years ago from where he teaches, and they knew a lot of the same people. She took us out to meet Scoop. Ah, such a beautiful, beautiful car!! I am so thrilled

There was a couple standing awfully close to her (there is a lot just for the ordered cars, so the casual person off the street on a whim can't get near the babies!! We started talking, and my hubby's former student made a sale within the hour - they got the same PW/PW combo!

So there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be put on, and the factory had the flat gas cap- not the chrome that is supposed to come with the S model.

Paperwork went very smoothly, and when we went in to the dreaded finance dept., the guy processing us worked for all the people my hubby did when he sold Saturns. All of a sudden they're laughing about old times, personality quirks, etc. etc. . . So there was no weird push for the garbage, and the whole thing went really well!

Went back out to actually SIT in Scoop, and started the engine and honked the horn.

Have the "Do List" receipt, and should be able to pick her up with all the baubles and bling she deserves by Tues or Wed night. Just in time for the road trip Thursday!!!!! I'm feeling surprisingly calm right now, but it could just be being tired. We were at the dealers from 12:30-3:30, and that was just paperwork and a little introduction! I figure 1 more hour to be shown all the little features and do the test drive. I got to take home the owner's manual (more like 5 or so little booklets, maps, etc) to peruse before I get my baby!

What a neat thing! Also, my MA looks to be so busy. . .I forgave him lots of the non-communication earlier. While we were there, he was dealing with 3 other groups, and had phone calls coming in non-stop! But he was GREAT, and he and I have the same birthday! What a trip!

I'll take the real pictures when I get her. Right now I just documented what needs to be done, so they show the Proto-Scoop, not the real one!!!!

I think I need a drink or a nap now. Probably a nap since I get to influence the future of the world tomorrow!!!

 

Wow Scoopmama..you sound beat. You're probably really tired from the massive adrenaline dump. These past few months have been long and we're coming down the home stretch! I'm so glad you got to meet Scoop. I decided against going to the dealer to see my Mini...I think I'd be very sad not to be able to take it home with me. It's going to be a tough 2 weeks for me

Time to change the subject... Any Charger fans out there? GO BOLTS!!! We won today

 

Go to the vendor directory and scroll to Pooch Style. I think that's what you want. I didn't look at cost. But it's for a MINI $$$$$!

Scoopmama - glad you are back and survived. Happy you liked ProtoScoop. Just think how you'll love Scoop. Oh, and you are a two educator family also.

That's two of us down now. The rest sound like they'll be ready next week. Lil A, I continue to feel for your plight, but we'll share your joy when you are united.

 

Hubby is a Chargers fan also. I, on the other hand, am a Steelers fan. They destroyed the Browns. I hope for a great year out of them...Chargers too.

Thanks for that - I didn't see them before. I will be ordering some for sure.

 

Couldn't handle not see this thread in New Posts so I figured that I would say "Good Evening" to all of my fellow MINI~Tagus friends. You guys are the only ones that understand what is going on. You'd think spouses would be more sympathetic. That would be a resounding NO. I am going to have a brandy now. Happy eve all!

 

Awww, poor Kimberely! I hope you got a NICE big snifter there!!!

Thought I'd post the one photo of the Proto-Scoop ~ she still needs LOTS of bling! This IS the OC, after all!

 

Thank you!!! I already found a few amazing twisty mountain roads just cruising around this weekend. The car is so much fun! After over 100 miles of driving I still have almost a full tank of gas! Sure beats my other guzzler Subaru

Here's a few thoughts right off the cuff:

1. Parts and service are closed on Saturday. I'll need to go back to get a few things I planned to buy while I was there.
2. Expect free car mats and a full tank of gas and maybe more if you're more persuasive than I.
3. Expect to be offered crazy extended warranty, maintenance, roadside, GAP, etc. packages, but if they're as cool there as they are here they are very unbiased and won't push you into anything you don't want.
4. They seemed surprised when I insisted on a full test drive and inspection before heading into the financing office, but it's the prudent thing to do
5. Take the long way home and be sure to make at least a few wrong turns.
6. I've been experiencing the 'weeping' issue with the front and rear windshield wipers. Wipe it off right away with a wet clean cloth towel. The longer those stains sit the harder they are to get off. In fact, if you have bonnet or trunk stripes, insist they do something about it. I've read in other threads that the stains really eat into the stripes, but the service department can bleed it out. This is another thing I would have done but it was Saturday and service was closed.

 

Hey all -- I haven't been posting much to this thread since we went through the canal but I've been checking it multiple times a day since Tagus sailed from Southampton. Listening to everyone elses expriences has really helped pass the time and kept me from going completely nuts. It's really cool to see people finally getting unitied with their long-awaited MINI's

BTW, Kimberly -- I think we're both on the same truck. OL says that my guy will be in Tacoma on the 12th -- probably just after a quick stop in Portland to drop yours off.

And janeb0nd...props to the color choice. MY rocks!

Here's hoping this will be THE WEEK...