The Integrity is the one that was supposed to leave on the 9th, but is now apparently leaving on the 8th. I have only looked at those coming into Charleston. I wasn't even aware that they delivered MINIs to Brunswick. Hopefully I will get on the Boheme or Integrity...

 

Yeah, and I think your mini is more likely to go to GA as that is closer to FL than SC. I'm guessing nothing is showing up when you put your VIN on the WW tracking site?

 

Nothing other than "No tracking information is available for the Number you entered"!

ASK-MINI keeps telling me that my MA will have more information, but he doesn't know anything either. I don't understand how the salesman can have more info than MINI. Shouldn't MINI be keeping track of where my car is all the way from order to delivery?

 

It's probably on a K-line then. Did you find any other folks in your week that have MINIs coming to an area close to yours?

 

Apparently, I have chosen this as my rant of the day. If your MINI has been loaded onto a ship, your MA should be able to know that. Folks at both ASK-MINI and my dealership have told me that owners (especially those like us who LIVE on NAM!) know a lot more about tracking vehicles than they do. My response to that is that, if I were an MA for MINI, I would know every single thing I could about serving my customer. When you are talking about MINIs, the time between placing an order and receiving the car is the time when I would impress my customer all to pieces with my ability to relate to him; I would send emails with tips and tidbits about MINI ownership, little "gifties" such as stickers or a keychain, etc., and I would DEFINITELY pace with him on NAM while he waits for each shred of information.

For some of us, MINI MAs have, like doctors, gone from being paid partners with us in a process we're paying for, to being entities that we are afraid to
disturb with questions.

Anyway, sorry for the long speech, but there is no reason I know that, in the course of an ordinary sale, you should be unable to know the status of your order for more than a period of a few hours here and there. So there. I'm done for now...

 

08DSMCS, I talked to a person on NAM who used to be a manger of the MINI dealership and she told me that your MA or his manager need to go into the "dealer speed" system to look up information about your Mini's whereabouts.

 

Not that I know of yet... I guess I'll have to try to find some now, huh? Seems like that's the only way to get any info. That's if my MINI is actually on a ship.

Then again, my MA came highly recommended and has been fantastic throughout the process so far. So, if it was on a ship, I would think he would go through the effort to find out. This makes me think that I really am still sitting on the dock.

 

I've actually been very happy with my MA. I think if there was info to be had, he'd have given it to me. This is a good and a bad thing I guess. Meaning, I have a good MA, but my MINI is actually still on the dock.

To your point - I think that since MINIs are limited production vehicles, it allows MAs to not be as attentive to their customers' needs as they could/should be. Even the dealerships whose customer service isn't that great seem to have no trouble filling their production slots and staying in business. This would never fly with a Chevy, Ford, Dodge or any other dealership. They are nowhere near as limited in their production, and there are waaay more competing dealerships. They actually have to "sell" their cars.

If I didn't already have a career, I would strongly consider becoming an MA. I think I would really enjoy it. I'm in no way a salesman in the typical sense, but when I'm interested in something, I really enjoy learning as much about it as possible. This explains why I'm on NAM for a ridiculous amount of time every day! I haven't even gotten my MINI yet and I've told a couple people things about their MINI (thanks to NAM) that they didn't even know after months of ownership. I would certainly enjoy giving my customers every little piece of info I had on how to track their MINI and would keep them as up-to-date as possible during the production/delivery process. Some MAs just don't have that passion for MINIs, which I think is what we find so frustrating.

 

I emailed my MA this morning and my MINI has been loaded on a ship and is headed this way! He said it would be getting into Charleston on the 14th. This makes me think that it has been loaded for several days and is already a good portion of the way here, since the 14th is only 7 days away. In any case, it's good news for me.

I still can't find my VIN on the WW site, and I don't see a K-Line ship that comes in to Charleston on the 14th, which has me a little confused, but I guess all that really matters is that I'll be getting my MINI soon!

Thanks for everyone's input from this thread. Despite the fact that I'm not a week 2'er, you guys have been very helpful.

 

You could either be with several of us in week 3/4 on the K-line's Emden due in charleston on 02/13 or Western Highway due on 2/15. Your MA should be able to provide you the name of the ship and the BL #, although I think it's useless for K-line ships, as we can't look up any info on their website.

 

Hooray! The end of the long mini wait is in sight!

 

YES!!!! We picked up our MINI today and it's a blast! What a fun day!

Pictures soon...

 

Congratulations! Thought I heard a turbo boost kicking in somewhere west of here.

 

Here's the driveway shot...

 

^^^ That's one great looking MINI!!! Very nice, SMS!

 

TK, I went to princeton mini today to pick up my correct rubber floor mats. I was wondering if you had gone also.

Also, can you tell me a little bit more about the chirping noise? I'm trying to see if mine does it, but I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for.

 

Morristown did not give me mats in the first place.

 

Russr, The noise is caused by pressing the accelerator. Though slightly less at higher rpms, it is noticeable (and easily recreated) during the first inch or so of gas pedal travel. After that travel, it seems to disappear. So it is very noticeable as you feather the throttle to maintain any given speed in any given gear at any given rpm. Sport mode does not matter. On the chance I have been babying it too much, I have been varying the speed per the manual, while still lower than 4000 rpm.

The noise is a higher pitched almost spooling sound.

It's not me. My wife and a friend noticed it w/o me saying anything.

I doubt you have anything like it if you haven't noticed anything yet. I've seen nothing on NAM about such a noise.

 

Hey TK, I know they didn't give you floormats, but what I said was in reference to you mentioning earlier that you might be going to Princeton MINI parts counter to pick up stuff for an oil change. I went to pick up mats as they gave me the convertible ones originally.

Re the noise: I have the music on all the time so maybe that is why I didn't notice it. I'll try w/o the music.

 

Russr, I understand now. No. I was in Spotswood, too far from P-ton. I may go to M-town to use the coupon and check out the noise. Seemed less tonight. Have to do a test drive tomorrow.

If you can believe it, I didn't activate the sport button till yesterday. What a total blast.

 

TK, I've turned on the SPORT button several times since I got the car and I just can't tell the difference. When I drove the automatic loaner R56, I could tell the difference right away as the car shifted completely differently. What do you notice when you turn SPORT on?

When do you think you'll be going to Morristown?

 

Russr,

I notice a difference - steering is tighter and it revs quicker. Feels like a more responsive throttle. Bigger grin factor.

Drove a friend's '02 S last night. His has a much better seat of the pants thrill. No sport button. With mine on, it feels closer to his. the R56S feels more substantial, but slightly more cushioned from the road.

M-town will have to wait till I can be sure I have a service tech who can take a ride first thing in the morning to hear the sound. I can recreate it at will as previously described.

How's your motoring going? Are you loving it?

Hey, how's everyone else doing w/ their MINIs?

 

You know to be honest my commute kinda sucks...there's been a lot of traffic and it's very hard to drive the car to the point where the grin starts to happen. Sadly, that's mainly where I've been driving. I occasionally have driven around town and smoked a few folks and that was a lot of fun.

Why does a service tech need to drive your car first thing in the morning? Is that when it is worst? Until the car warms up, mine also makes weird noises.

 

Russr, First thing so I can then go to work and get there at a reasonable time.

Commutes in NJ generally stink. Know how you feel. Perhaps you can take the "back way" home sometime.

 

We've had a bunch of fun with the MCS! (Me like the sport button) Yesterday, we took my 73 yr old dad for a spin. He typically hates small cars and "had" the impression that they are little buzzboxes. He kept pointing at the speedometer asking what that was. He really didn't believe we were doing 70! Very funny stuff. He walked away really liking the car. Still thinks it's a little small for his 6'3" frame though.

Sport On - DSC Off

No, strange noises so far. Everything seems to be running well. The Xenons are really nice to have (Russr).

Notes from the service department: We have 17 inch wheels with sport tires and were told to keep them inflated to 38psi and rotate them every 2000 miles. Also, an annual alignment is suggested. Have any of you had these recommendations?

Keep Motoring