**Warning! This is long, mainly because I am so excited and I can't keep it in anymore! If you don't want to read the whole thing the main idea is that I ordered a MINI and my excitement level is that of a child on Christmas day**

Happy Earth Day everyone! My name is Cody and this is my MINI story. My lease runs out on my current car (Jetta) at the end of May, and I start my nursing clinicals this fall at college. So with that in mind I began to search for a car that would be both fun for a college student while still being fuel conscientious and affordable. I went and test drove Fits, Civics, Priuses, Yarises, Mazdas, and other cars of that sort, and while they all have their redeeming features, they lacked a certain something that I was looking for. I did not just want any ol' car, I wanted something with spunk and character while still being fuel efficient, compact, and relatively inexpensive.

This is where MINI comes in. While doing my research (I looked around each car's fan sites. I think that while slighted biased, they overall give good reviews of how the car is in real life and not on some 3 hour test.) I found this lovely site. After reading many of the threads, I decided that looking at MINI's would be a worthwhile event. So one weekend my family and I drove up to Morristown MINI. We took some test drives and each time I had a smile across my face that would put the Cheshire cat to shame. It was at that moment that I knew that a MINI was for me. I also made observations that I wanted to share:

1. Don't let the name MINI confuse you. Yes they are small vehicles, but they were bigger than I expected on the inside and outside.

2. Color wise, Oxygen Blue is one of the most eye-catching colors I have ever seen on a car. I would donate a kidney if MINI put this color on an S. Chili Red was my second favorite color, with Pepper White being a close third. These colors have given me many sleepless nights, and I'm still not sure I made the right choice.

3. Boy does the Cooper S have some kick to it! My test drive had around 800 pounds of people in it and still flew. The regular Cooper was no slouch either though.

4. The only negative thing that I found was that it doesn't fit my father's wheelchair in the back without both seats folded down. Perhaps if the back seats were in a 60/40 formation it would have.

Now I could've given in right there and ordered a MINI, but thanks to the numerous threads about price negotiation here, I left to find the best deal that I could. Luckily I have plenty of dealers in the NY, NJ, PA tristate area, so I did a plethora of phone calling and emailing during the next week. After a lot of "only MSRP" speeches, I found a dealer that would work with me and eventually got to a price that both sides could agree on.
So over the weekend, the paperwork was filled out and my order was placed for a brand new MINI Cooper S! This was my first experience purchasing a car by myself and I must say that everything went picture perfect.

So that is my MINI story up to now. I've heard that the waiting is the hardest part (no bad Tom Petty pun intended), and after only a few days I must say it is very true. I have never seen many MINIs where I live, but today and yesterday they all came out of the woodwork to taunt me! The only things still holding me sane are my final exams that are creeping ever so closer. Well, if you are still reading this I applaud your lack of ADD. Thank you for reading my MINI story and I look forward to sharing my future ones with you too.

Here's my spec:

Cooper S
CR/B
DSC
LSD
Rear Fog
Bridespoke wheels w/ all season
Cloth Seats
MFSW

 

Well there you go then!
Nice story Cody, congratulations.

 

Congrats, I was the same way with my MINI, I couldnt wait to start doing stuff to it.

Welcome to the community..!

 

Nice spec! Clean, driver-oriented and bound to be loads of fun!

PS: Pepper White is faster!

Welcome to the club. Search around the web and find a local MINI club. Going to the meetings will help you overcome the anxiety you will feel while your car is being built.

 

um ... no.

 

Welcome to the party! You're going thru what all of us have (or want to) go through. And don't let Aaron (agranger) jerk your chain. He knows that BRG adds 10 HP resulting in the fastest speeds. But our first MINI was CR/W and she was tons of fun too.

 

So since yours was ordered, when did they say you might get delivery? We ordered mine last Friday afternoon and it's already in production, due to be finished this week (Monday actually).

 

Wow your MINI made it to production pretty darn fast! My MA said that delivery should be during the last week in May, although there was a slight chance that it could be in the first week in June too. How about for you? And thank you everyone for your welcoming words and "color" commentary, lol.

 

Welcome to the MINI world - great story!!! Can't wait to see pictures when it comes in...

Donna

 

Congratulations! I'm waiting on my first MINI too.
Oh, and good luck in clinicals. The MINI might come in handy
for a little relief from the stress.

 

Is too!

Seriously, congratulations! It sounds like a great car, and the anticipation makes that first drive SO cool!

 

Did you order the Dealer installed swirls?

Hope you left that option off

 

Our MA said 6 to 8 weeks but they always say that. They have to be conservative. Getting into the production line basically overnight is pretty rare from what I've read. It's probably moved me up by at least a week. I probably got a slot that was already allocated to MoD for a BRG.


I'm already a Zaino nut. Claybar will fix the dealer installed swirls.

 

Well stated, well thought out and you are a winner. Congratulations. You will love it and the only downside is that you will have permanent smile lines.

 

That is an understatement!

Congrats on your order and your new baby!! Look around in the different threads, there's lots to learn while you're waiting.