these are some pics i got the other night, i dont have it yet but i got these to hold you guys over for now untill then.

 

Gorgeous looking Mini Peter!

 

i figured i should show you one of the photos i took with my blackberry the day i picked up the car. i'll take better ones with my canon s500 later, although i might get one of my friends to take some shots of my car with his canon eos 40d.

anyways.... here it is:



the rundown (since i'm guessing a few of you wanted to know):
MY/B MCS with the convenience, cold, & premium packages. plus leatherette, anthracite, DSC, LSD, alarm, chrome interior, MY color line, xenons, and rear fogs.

i've been waiting for a mini cooper since 1999...so i went a little overboard.

and yes...my real name is dominique. but i go by 'nick'.

 

peter314's car is looking pretty rad! and i like that it kinda looks like in the 1st pic it desperately wants to drive off the lot and rip the sold sign and plastic covering off the seat by driving 70 on the freeway with the windows down with pete in it.

 

EAST coasters Group A // INTEGRITY // DEPARTED 04/19/08 // ARRIVED 04/27/08:
-cutters68
-filet0fish
-jkling17
-majorbill11
-MBX5
-peter314
-rockhouse
-ShaggyMike
-subdude

EAST coasters Group B // ELEKTRA // DEPARTED 04/23/08 // ARRIVED 05/02/08:
-fenwayscout (Honorary 16'er)
-sottili

EAST coasters Group C // WESTERN HIGHWAY // DEPARTED 04/21/08 // ARRIVED 05/01/08:
-JLL319

MIDWESTERN & SOUTH CENTRAL coasters // INDEPENDENCE II // DEPARTED 04/26/08 // ARRIVED 05/11/08:
-badzboy11
-chaoticx6
-danhen
-Doogs
-kevnallen
-lenhart05
-MiniBella

WEST coasters Group A // ABOARD TURANDOT // DEPARTED 04/28/08 // ARRIVED 05/19/08:
-Altruego
-bd_stance
-dlaw255
-eron
-hcubed (Honorary 16'er)
-Magpie
-paradigm_crash
-Satsloader
-SeattleMini
-sfomini
-steaming79
-SteveJ
-wendybryn

WEST coasters Group B // ABOARD FALSTAFF // DEPARTED 05/09/08 // ETA 05/28/08:
-booyun

 

Thank you guys, i cant wait, Steaming79 Congrats on your Mini! it looks awesome standing still, everybody will be drooling at the yellow flash as you fly by in it no doubt

 

Glad to see others experiencing what I have being enjoying for the past 12 days. How many of you that have taken delivery purchased the 6yr 100,000 bumper to bumper warranty? If you did what kind of deal did you get? I went for it for $1503. Dealer said that was his cost. I figured if one thing went bad it would probably pay for itself.

 

thought about extended the warranty.... i figured i should ask my dad since he knows more about that kind of stuff since he's got a bmw & 4 mercedes under his belt. so for now, i declined. but i know i can add it on later.

 

I declined it. I seem to have inherited my parents' habit of not keeping cars long enough to make use of the extended warranty...

 

Picked up Calli (short for Calliope) today and was pleasantly surprised that the finance manager dropped about .7% on the APR when I was leaning towards getting it financed through my bank.

Driving a manual after so long is a bit tough and rough right now, but I think I'll pick it back up quickly enough. Have to do some work this weekend, so I won't be able to drive it as much as I'd like, but I'm planning a trip down to San Diego next weekend to visit my brother, so that should be a fun trip.

Calli: 2008 MC OB/B, Convenience, Premium, 15" Rotator Spokes, Xenons

 

congrats on picking up calli, paradigm! nice bonus with the finance thing. of course they still make money anyways, so you both win.
we can't wait to see the MINI.

i'm sure you'll be shifting smooth in no time. hell, i drove from 11pm last nite til 5am this morning and i'm still having trouble getting moving onto first gear. bleh.... it was so easy for me years ago...............................



EAST coasters Group A // INTEGRITY // DEPARTED 04/19/08 // ARRIVED 04/27/08:
-cutters68
-filet0fish
-jkling17
-majorbill11
-MBX5
-peter314
-rockhouse
-ShaggyMike
-subdude

EAST coasters Group B // ELEKTRA // DEPARTED 04/23/08 // ARRIVED 05/02/08:
-fenwayscout (Honorary 16'er)
-sottili

EAST coasters Group C // WESTERN HIGHWAY // DEPARTED 04/21/08 // ARRIVED 05/01/08:
-JLL319

MIDWESTERN & SOUTH CENTRAL coasters // INDEPENDENCE II // DEPARTED 04/26/08 // ARRIVED 05/11/08:
-badzboy11
-chaoticx6
-danhen
-Doogs
-kevnallen
-lenhart05
-MiniBella

WEST coasters Group A // ABOARD TURANDOT // DEPARTED 04/28/08 // ARRIVED 05/19/08:
-Altruego
-bd_stance
-dlaw255
-eron
-hcubed (Honorary 16'er)
-Magpie
-paradigm_crash
-Satsloader
-SeattleMini
-sfomini
-steaming79
-SteveJ
-wendybryn

WEST coasters Group B // ABOARD FALSTAFF // DEPARTED 05/09/08 // ETA 05/28/08:
-booyun

 

Hey there s79,
We finally got the call from our MA last night around 9pm. He confirmed that our car was there, but because we needed the roof decal put on that we would have to wait until Wednesday for pick up. Damn these long weekends.

Since we are local, we decided to drop in on them to see if we could "move things along" or at least take a look at our new baby. They were busy, and our car had not been processed yet, so delivery for the weekend was out. Oh well, maybe that will help in our price/incentives negotiations. Our MA did let it slip in the phone call that they were under pressure to get all these arrivals off the lot before the end of the month. (2nd quarter close)

We ~did~ get Matt to give us a ride over to the back lot so we could see our new Clubman. I was sad to see the amount of recycled content being used in the door panels, but at least they threw in some floormats and seat covers.

 

Great... now I have Celine Dion's "I Drove All Night" going through my head. Thanks s79.

Seriously though it'll come back to you. It's like riding a bicycle.

Hope you enjoyed the drive. How many miles did you put on your new baby?

 

oooooh....nice tease shot there, stevej. i love the clubman exclusive 'woody' interior options you picked out.
definately that quarter close info is gonna help ya.
wednesday, eh? could be sooner. i bet they'll ring you up on tuesday (or monday). i know they are open on monday..... hang in there!

minibella...you brought up something i was meaning to mention. when i picked the car up, it had it had 6 miles on the odometer.

anyways....now it has about 240. i'm about to head out again. to "practice" some more....
you'll be doing the same thing very soon...........

 

s79,
We spoke with Paul Fox and told him he got a thumbs up from you. We ordered our car on the same day with Jesse, probably saw each other there at East Bay.

How did your deal go? MSRP? Any mark ups or discounts? Any freebies? We're just curious as we have to go through this next week at the same dealer.

BTW: that yellow looks so smooth.
BTBTW: I routinely stall at least one car at every car control clinic I teach with the BMWCCA. So many different cars, so many different clutch feels. It will become second nature for you.

 

Well, I don't know if that image is showing up (not here) so maybe I just don't know how to add images to messages.

Anyway, I did upload three images to my gallery so if you want to see my new baby, go to my gallery.

I'm just back from spending the day in San Francisco showing off the car to friends (these particular friends encouraged me to go for the mini, so it's appropriate they get to see it first). I've put over 200 miles on the car - not as much as I thought I would, but it was overcast today, not the best driving weather for me. I did drive over the golden gate bridge into Marin; I haven't made it up route 1 to Stinson Beach yet - that may not happen before next weekend - but it *will* happen soon.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, my first impressions:

I absolutely love it. This is THE car for me. Wow, I have never enjoyed driving - ahem, motoring - so much. I love to punch the accelerator, especially going around corners (fast). It responds instantly - no lag - and it is so much fun, it really makes me want to track the car. I have managed to avoid tickets so far, but I don't think that can last too long.

I have not noticed a huge difference with the sport button pressed. I love driving it with it on or off; Maybe if I'm on more of a twisty road I will notice it - definitely will try it both ways on route 1.

I like the layout of the car, reaching the cup holders, place to store my cell phone (under the hand brake) the little tray behind the cup holders for my mints, etc. There is no coin drawer (which I did have in my Accord) and I will miss that. I don't like the glove compartment, the way everything in it rotates forward when it opens. The "hidden" extra compartment (above the glove compartment) is nice to have but opening the door is a little slow - you have to really push it to open and close it. The cup holders are not deep enough and the rubber flaps inside the rim (to hold the cups snugly) seem flimsy, and I suspect they will break off soon. I hope I'm wrong about that. The sirius radio has an odd thing: you really have to know what station number to go to, it doesn't show the station name until it loads the station, which means about five seconds to go from station to station. But I have programmed the six or seven stations to which I will probably listen most (classic rock and NPR stations). I can't really tell if the HD radio really makes a difference - I thought it would have additional stations, but so far it only seems like the same stations but in "HD quality", whatever that is. But I haven't had enough time to really scope it out. The steering wheel is always in the way of the tach, no matter what position it is in. But I love having the speedometer on the center stack.

I love, love, love the anthracite headliner. And I didn't realize it was a kind of "felt" material. It is great. And everyone (ok, that's only three people so far!) comments on the carbon black lounge leather seats, they really do look incredible. I seem to be used to the turn signals, no problems there. The chrome line interior does not apply to the speakers in the door, as others have mentioned. I could have gone without that, but I don't mind having it. That is, if I was doing it all over again I would skip it, but I don't mind having it. Maybe if I get the sun reflecting off it into my eyes I will feel differently.

I got used to the volume **** location pretty quickly, only made the mistake once yesterday of using the other ****. I managed to use my phone (unsupported Blackberry Pearl) with very little effort and without even looking at the manual. The address book didn't sync, which was expected based on forums here. The stereo controls are fine (witht he exception of the sirius comment above). The sirius, by the way, was NOT activated. I called sirius last night and it took me a while but they were able to set me up. It was a bit of a hassle: I had to go back down to the car (underground garage) to get the serial number and then I called them back and only THEN did they tell me the car had to be outdoors so they could get a signal to it in order to activate it. So it took another trip to the car and then I called them. All in all, about an hour to do that but now it's done. One nice surprise: as part of the lifetime subscription to Sirius, I get lifetime access on line to them. That will be great.

The arm rest feels cheesy; I like the height of it, but the storage is pretty lame and the sliding cover seems to have trouble sliding. But mostly it feels like it is not sturdy enough.

I haven't driven a stick since I bought my accord in '97, so I thought maybe it would take some getting used to, but that was not the case. I got back in the swing of it instantly.

About the color: I considered both Laser Blue and Lightning Blue. The laser seems more of a "MINI" color - ie, unique, but I liked the look of the Lightning Blue more so I ordered it. I have wondered since then if I made the right choice. When I got to the dealer yesterday, my car was inside the dealer in the showroom (which surprised me) and next to it was a Laser Blue car. In the interior light the colors seemed *very* similar and I liked the Laser Blue more. But once it got outside in the light the color difference was huge (as I remembered) and I really liked it (Lightning Blue) more. So I made the right choice.

These "complaints" (or "criticisms") may make me seem unhappy with the car, but that is not the case at all. I absolutely love it and am very happy with my decision. I am just trying to be honest about all the details/my initial thoughts. The handling of the car is absolutely incredible, it is a beautiful car, it is incredibly fun to drive. It is definitely the right car for me.

Over the past couple months whenever I have told my friends about the car, they have said something like "you've always wanted a MINI"; my response has been "really?" - I knew I liked them but did not realize how much, I guess. I told one of my friends about that reaction today and she laughed. I guess it took me a few years to do it, but I'm very glad I did.

 

Picked mine up this morning! I'm exhausted from a long day, so will take/post pics in the next day or two. What an amazing car to drive! Got to drive it home across Michigan, and then took it out on some twisty local roads. An absolute delight! Gotta clean the bugs off the windshield tomorrow.

 

Danhen maybe we will have to plan on meeting up sometime to check out each others cars.

 

pickups from BOTH sfomini & danhen! sweet!

nice MINI there, sfo. seats look sweet too. and i had no idea those mineral water bottles would fit in the holder. good to know (since i have a bunch of em in the garage). and damn.....i liked your write-up. now i'm tempted to write one now instead waiting til the honeymoon is over (a month). you pretty much noticed almost the same things i did. i don't want to make a comment about each one, but there are a few things i have to mention (from my point of view):

the lack of a coin tray is resolved by that coin/ashtray cup thing (ASSUMING it came with your car...because it should've). and i don't think the chromeline interior will bother you. i purposely used one of my surefire flashlights (140 lumens) on the rings and it didn't bother me one bit, no matter what direction the light was hitting it at.




EAST coasters Group A // INTEGRITY // DEPARTED 04/19/08 // ARRIVED 04/27/08:
-cutters68
-filet0fish
-jkling17
-majorbill11
-MBX5
-peter314
-rockhouse
-ShaggyMike
-subdude

EAST coasters Group B // ELEKTRA // DEPARTED 04/23/08 // ARRIVED 05/02/08:
-fenwayscout (Honorary 16'er)
-sottili

EAST coasters Group C // WESTERN HIGHWAY // DEPARTED 04/21/08 // ARRIVED 05/01/08:
-JLL319

MIDWESTERN & SOUTH CENTRAL coasters // INDEPENDENCE II // DEPARTED 04/26/08 // ARRIVED 05/11/08:
-badzboy11
-chaoticx6
-danhen
-Doogs
-kevnallen
-lenhart05
-MiniBella

WEST coasters Group A // ABOARD TURANDOT // DEPARTED 04/28/08 // ARRIVED 05/19/08:
-Altruego
-bd_stance
-dlaw255
-eron
-hcubed (Honorary 16'er)
-Magpie
-paradigm_crash
-Satsloader
-SeattleMini
-sfomini
-steaming79
-SteveJ
-wendybryn

WEST coasters Group B // ABOARD FALSTAFF // DEPARTED 05/09/08 // ETA 05/28/08:
-booyun

 

.

 

Pictures of "Charlie" in my gallery. How does one import photos to this forum site ?

 

Hi Steaming,

I was pleasantly surprised about the bottles fitting in the cupholder, a little snug but not bad. That particular brand is a little bit over the top in carbonation, FYI: I actually christened my interior yesterday, LOL. No damage, most of it ended up on ME.

I did get an ashtray with the car but in order to use it (as a change holder) I would need to take over one of the cupholders. I often have two drinks...oh, I just thought of it: put it in the rear cupholder, the one that is under the armrest and thus unusable for beverages. Great, thanks for sparking the idea.

Nice to hear about the chrome not reflecting the light.

How is the smell in your car? Do you have "new car smell"? Mine isn't exactly like that: I am pretty sure the smell in my car is due mainly to the leather and that it will fade over time; I am hoping it fades quickly.

Driving back to SF today to play cards with friends and I'll get to show off my new toy more. Tomorrow will be back to Marin. I'll have 400 - 500 miles on my car by the time the weekend is done. I started with 7.

I know others started with 2, 3, or 4, so I'm wondering why 7? You would think there would be a standard run/route/process for testing the new cars, so I wonder why the mileage varies. Maybe the dealer used it for a test ride? Or maybe 7 is not an unusual number of starting miles?

Tony

 

Thanks for the write-up Tony. Enjoyed reading it very much.

Congrats to all those you have picked up their new Minis!! Love seeing the pics!

 

I drove up to the Mini of Mountain View yesterday to see if Hawthorne had arrived. I walked up to the roof where they store most of the vehicles, and sure enough, there he was, still with the "wraps" on. It was overcast, but I snapped a few pic's with my PDA..







I will go back up on Wednesday ( via our fine mass transit, the Mrs. has to work, I haven't ridden a bus since I was a youngster ). Tough wait!

Cheers,

Bill in P.G.

 

sfo.... my nose burps whenever i drink that stuff. i love it, but it super carbonated. even the bottle feels like its gonna pop. LOVE the new car smell. i don't even have leather, i have leatherette. i have bad luck with leather seat, plus i personally kinda liked the leatherette. i think the only thing i have thats leather is my jacket. but that has zippers and stuff on the outside, so i'm not wearing that in the car (otherwise i'll scratch the seats up. leather seats or not.). i'm starting to understand why people buy new cars every few years....to get the new car smell. enjoy it while it lasts people.....damn things intoxicating.

3 people told me that the miles come from the moving of the car on and off the ship, dyno testing, and basic testing at both the vdc & dealership. 7 is a good number. one of my lucky ones. i know i got six, so since is right behind 7, i'll happy with it.

nice shots there, satsloader. can't wait to hear from ya on wednesday!

dlaw.....click on 'go advanced', then there will be a "attach file" button.