Yes- congratulations on your Spyder, Tharkun!
That should keep you busy for quite awhile... especially since you don't have to endure the rainy NW winter weather (anymore)...

And many MANY MANY thanks Tharkun for all of your help through this crazy journey for all of us new Mini-owners-to-be...

 

Hey nicknbecka and corgwn, have fun picking up your cars tomorrow! I still haven't heard anything about my car being at the dealership or not, despite the OL saying 11/1/07. So I'll just live vicariously through you two.

Kathy

 

corgwn and nicknbecka:

Is one of yours a Pepper White Mini?

If so, I saw it today while I was at Rasmussen picking up my wife's PW MCS.

My MA said he has a customer coming in from Seattle to pick up a PW one tomorrow.

The car is 'going' to be a blast to drive. We are trying to follow the break-in recommendation of <4500 rpm, etc. so I can't open it up yet. I will tell you that it will be hard to stay under the speed limit if you don't pay attention!

 

I forgot, vicportland, that you were picking up your wife's car today. That's great! Like you, I'm not looking forward to trying to keep the car under 4500 rpm, especially when driving back north from Portland.

I found out my car is at Rasmussen so I can relax now and just wait for the week to go by.

 

I'm not sure if I have the URL address correct. If so, then here are photos of 'Peppa' The Pepper White MCS. If not, then here are two red x's.

Today is a beautiful day in Portland. Should be a perfect day to get 100 more break-in miles in.

 

OK, let's try again

 

Peppa looks great Vic!

I don't have any pictures yet, but I picked up Tachikoma on Saturday afternoon- We're already well over 300 miles! Sadly our work drive means that we'll be seeing our mileage up ridiculously quickly, but at least the break-in is going quickly!

Kathy, I don't think that keeping the RPM's down is the hardest part- I'm not usually a fast driver, but it just seems like I'm always going too slow. Just getting on the freeway the first time, I wasn't even merged into the right lane and I was already 15 over!

I hope to have some presentable pics by Saturday- he's already a bit dirty and I want to find a nice place for some pictures!

Somebody at my wife's office asked what my favorite thing about the car was, and I said: The Nav is really neat... Well, the convenience access is going to be really nice... and the size is perfect for parking on the street downtown... actually, having almost 200HP is going to be really fun... but then I really like the interior... Oh, and the sunroofs! And...

Also, I've already had four people in the car! I actually had a six foot three inch person sitting behind me while I drove. Thank goodness my MA reminded me that it helps to raise the seat a bit- it was definitely crowded, but for the half hour drive it wasn't too bad.

 

Congrats on taking delivery, but no pics until Saturday is not acceptable.

 

Well, I'm hoping to catch a good sunset or something, but it's been dark when I leave and dark when I get home! Somehow, the dirty car in the work parking lot doesn't do it justice

Actually, with a long lunch break... Hmmmm.

 

Congrats on getting the car!!!! I can't wait to see the pictures. I had to laugh about your "already 15 over" comment. I fear that's gonna be my problem. When I rented a Mini for 3 days to see if I really wanted one, I was constantly catching myself driving way too fast and zipping around in traffic. Hopefully that tendency will wear off after time or else I'm gonna be a target for some tickets!! I'm glad to hear you like the Nav. I waffled on that one but hubby convinced me and now I can't wait to use it around Portland this coming weekend while visiting friends.

We went to the Auto Show this weekend in Seattle and there wasn't a Clubman to see, but a nice shiny laser blue S with wheels like I got. Woooo-eeee, that thing was PURTY! Gad, I'm never gonna make it 'til Saturday!!!!!

 

Where were you able to rent one? We tried to do the same thing, and looked all over, but wasn't able to find anybody that had one.

I really do like the Nav, and it's fun to fiddle with all the different settings. Don't know if you drive during the commute, but if so, the traffic advisories are really nice. It's a bit eager to re-route us down side streets (I'd guess because the GPS/Map data isn't accurate enough to say that we're in the HOV lane, so it assumes that traffic is worse for us that it is) but it still estimated our ETA to within two minutes. I don't know that I expect that in the future, but it was a nice surprise.

I was told that if I got a ticket, that we'll go back to the Durango for a couple weeks while I cool my jets, so I'm trying to be good! One thing that might be an issue with the speed is that one of our car's speedos are off. At 40mph, somewhere between the Mini and the Durango, Tachikoma's 4-5mph slower.

I have to be safe just in case, until we know for sure that we're slow I have to be good :( Also, I actually do like the large speedometer, but it makes it very easy for everybody in the car to check how fast your going. So I really do have to be good!

I didn't make it to the auto show, but was it NW Mini there? The laser blue with the black leather interior? 'Cause that was my first test drive- it really was pretty, and totally sold me on the lounge leather interior.

 

Enterprise rent-a-car down in Seattle has Minis for rent. I think they're the only place around that does. They originally promised me a 2007 but gave me a 2006, which was a really nice car, but I was peeved because the car is obviously not a 2007. So I had that for two days, which at least gave me the idea of what it would be like in such a small vehicle. Then on Monday they gave me for free a 2007, which was nice of them to do. Only problem was, the last person who had it smoked like a chimney and between the smoke smell and the perfume smell of them trying to mask it, I thought I was gonna hurl driving it back to Mill Creek from Seattle. Oi! But hey, at least I was able to ride around in a Mini for 3 days before purchasing one.

Fortunately my commute is like 10 minutes both ways, but I drive enough around town that traffic reports will be a good thing.

I don't know if it was NW Mini or not. I didn't recognize any of the people there and the girl we ended up talking to was from Texas and appears to travel to all the shows. I'll post a picture of the blue Mini we saw in a few.

Tharkun (or anyone else who knows!) -- if you're reading this, how do you embed a picture in a post as opposed to making it a thumbnail?

Kathy

 

Well, the picture turned out to be a not so good picture. But it was a laser blue with a laser blue painted top and black leather interior. Had chrome mirror caps.

 

Hey Kathy, not sure if you're back yet, but we'd love to hear about your car! I'd meant to wish you well on your trip down before you left, but completely spaced it until Saturday, sorry!

Have you posted over at PS Mini yet? I'm finally getting my registration and intro post done today during my lunch break... I've been so busy I still haven't taken pictures yet or anything- but I did finish off the break-in period by Monday! All the driving and rain has made for quite the dirty car...

 

Hi Nick --

I am back and just haven't had time to post but thought about it last night. Congrats on finishing your break-in period! I'm about a 1/3rd of the way through myself and ready to be done with it. Picked up the car on Saturday and Rasmussen folks were great. Left with a cute car and a lot of great goodies. I stayed down in Portland and went to visit Al and his son at Clearbra of Oregon, who did a great job. Returned on Monday in the middle of a monsoon and wind storm. Brother! It was a complete white-out on I-5 for miles in the middle of the day. Poor Pigwidgin looks like a drowned rat. :( So I hear you about the dirty car. Mine is absolutely filthy! All I can say is I LOVE LOVE LOVE the NAV and the iPod adapter. And the Bluetooth!! The NAV is awesome the way it sucks in traffic reports and warns me about traffic jams on my path. And having my iPod tunes is awesome. And being able to use my car as a virtual cell phone without touching the phone or an earpiece is fantastic. I would spend the money on that whole system again in a heartbeat. My interior came out looking nice. Black with blue colorline and piano black dash and door parts. I only have one problem with the car. It has a BAD rattle where the trap door for the iPod adapter is. If the door is open the rattle stops 90%. If it's shut it's horrid. And I can hit the dash with my fist and make the rattle sound. So Monday morning I left my friend's house at 6 a.m. to be at Rasmussen by 7 a.m. and they said it would be a "take apart the dash" issue so they couldn't fit it in that day, which I expected. But they called Fife and I later called them and stopped on my way home. The foreman was happy the rattle was isolated and thinks he can fix it in a couple hours. So next Tuesday I get to drive to Fife and have them fix it. They'll give me a car to toodle around in while Pigwidgin gets operated on. So a bummer, but nothing that can't be resolved.

I have posted on the PS forum under the same forum name -- Pigwidgin. I haven't said anything about getting the car yet though. I was going to suggest a coffee run to the north enders when I do. I've been battling a cold so haven't been too quick on taking pictures or posting anything the last few days. (I'm not sure Pigwidgin wants his picture taken with all the road grime on him right now. ) I'll make sure to look for your post tonight.

Kathy

 

Sorry to hear about your rattle! Mine's going back to the Fife service department too- somebody accidentally scuffed the front right plastic fender just before delivery. We're waiting for a replacement to become available, and they'll do it at no charge of course.

I should see you at the coffee meet Saturday, just so long as I wake up in time... I might have to hit a different Starbucks beforehand

 

Bummer about Tachikoma having a scuff! But good they're going to take care of it and hope you don't have to wait for the part too long.

I know what you mean about the earlier hour on Saturday. But I don't have an excuse 'cause I live in Mill Creek and could walk there.