Just found NAM. Looks like an involved, responsive group.

I think I am going through a serious mid life crisis. I have a perfectly good 2000 BMW 3 series convertible with only 40k miles and yet I keep going by one of the Atlanta MINI dealers and Googling MINI every day.

My wife thinks I have totally lost it but I am seriously considering selling the BMW and buying a new 2009 S Convertible with sport, premium, Tuscan leather, rain sensing wipers, arm rest, Ipod connection. Probably go with Horizon or Laser Blue.

I'd love to hear from any others out there that switched from "heavier iron" to MINI and your opinons of the decision after having the MINI for a while.

Happy Motoring to all you MINI owners!

 

gawannamini,

You are in the early stages of mini-mania. The only known cure is a test drive. Symptoms can be alleviated somewhat by spending time on the www.miniusa.com website configuring your dream mini. However, good minis are already out on lots waiting to be adopted. In January I traded my 2006 Dodge Magnum R/T AWD sport wagon with all the bells & whistles, 5.7 Hemi, multi-displacement, 375HP, 18" wheels, dvd, nav, satelite radio, leather , etc. for a 2006 BRG/Silver mini cooper with nav, premium and a manual tranny. I am in driver's heaven behind the wheel of my mini, Capt'n Jack. Yes, your mini will tell you its name soon enough. Welcome to NAM from Madison, WI; there are many here who can answer any questions that you may have. Remember, you need to schedule that test drive soon, you will feel much better afterwards, guaranteed!

 

Just do it!
Went from a 4 door family sedan to a Cooper S overnight and have never regretted it!
Just do it, you won't regret it.
You've got the fever.

 

Seriously, I went from BMW to MINI and honestly, you wont miss a step, but you will probably find yourself having more fun in the MINI!

I had a tuned 1996 318ti - awesome car! The MINI is 100x better in all aspects. You will be overwhelmed with supporters and continue to enjoy the culture you will buy into. Awesome people with awesome help and advice.

Trust me, you wont be missing your 3 series after getting behind of these! Once the MINI gets you, your hooked, you wont be able to resist!

 

Just do it! Last summer we ordered an '08 MCS Hardtop to replace my wife's '06 HEMI Charger RT - no regrets. In fact she is always telling me how much more she likes her MINI. It's such a blast I wanted to have one too, so we ordered '09 MCS Convertible - due in a few weeks. I also have a '92 and '08 Corvette in the garage, but still wanted a MINI of my own. The MINI is an incredible sports car...

 

Thanks for the input. I have had convertibles for 20+ years so if I sell the Bimmer convertible the MINI would have to be a convertible. I have driven a new '09 S convertible and really enoyed it. The 'back seat cave" feel and the rear visibility take a little getting used to. IMO the hardtop is more attractive but I've got to have the rag top.

 

Toss your logic! Give in to your emotional side! You will LOVE the Mini.
You will get more smiles to the gallon than any other car - guaranteed!

 

Today was one of those perfect spring convertible days in Atlanta that ended with me back at the MINI dealership (again) where they threw me the keys for an unescourted test drive of a '09 S convertible (dark silver, sport, cold weather, premium, convenience, black leather, web spoke wheels). The low end torque and willingness of this drive train is amazing! Now, if I can just convince the wife that the world's economy is not going to end (right away anyway).

 

Hmm, would she go along for a test drive too?

 

Believe it or not, I even rented a 2008 MC from Enterprize and brought it home for the night a few weeks ago. She drove it and admitted that it was fun to drive.

She just thinks now is a crazy time to buy a new car {I hate it when she is right] when I have a "perfectly good one with 40k miles".

If I put the 2000 Bimmer up for sale I think she will start to buy in. Thus the handwringing on my part to make sure that I am comfortable doing that. The MINI is a ton of fun but the Bimmer has been a good ride.

Wish MINI S Convertibles were available in a deep blue (Horizon is a little pale for me) as I like the Tuscon Beige leather MINI offers.

If I keep dropping by the MINI dealer I think they are going to get me a name badge and a desk......

 

I'm also married (28 years) to a "Little Miss Practical". She was not too enthused when I traded my 2006 loaded Dodge Magnum in for my 2006 Mini Cooper in January. It was pretty much an even-up trade, although I did have to kick in another $1,500 to close the deal. (The mini is also a manual while the Magnum was an automatic.) After almost 4 months of mini-ownership, she has only driven it once, but has been a passenger several times. She understands that I did what I did for my happiness and she accepts the mini now on those terms. FWIW, her drive is a 2004 Honda Pilot XL, in which she feels much safer and happy driving in for herself. Moral: To each his own, to thine own self be true. IMO, if the mini would make you a happier person compared to the BMW, you should go for it.

 

I hung out at our MINI dealership for two years before I could convince my husband that the time was right for me to order my MINI!! You definitely have the "Fever"... It will not leave you until you have your little pocket of Sunshine!!

 

I guess it is good thing that we have 2 MINI dealerships in Atlanta (so that I don't completely make a pest of myself). I went to the other dealership for the first time today to see a Dark Silver MINI with Tuscan beige leather . I had thought that the combination might not work but it looked great.

And of course while I was there I took an '09 S convertible out for a spin (again) ,,,, I am totally hooked...........

 

Hi,
I was a corvette collector. Had 7 at once. I have had my 2009 S Coupe for about a month. This is the most fun you can have without getting arrested. The Mini community seems a little more down to earth also.

 

Took the plunge today and paid the deposit for a new '09 MINI S Convertible for mid June delivery.

6 spd manual /Dark silver/beige Tuscan leather /sport /convenience /cold weather/premimum /10 spkr sound/ arm rest/ web spoke 17"

Now if I can just sell the bimmer......

Looking forward to mid June!

 

Congratulations and welcome to the fold.

 

gawannamini -

I'm just now finding your thread. It will be interesting to compare our order/wait experiences. I ordered an MCS convertible from Global MINI on 4/17.

Which ATL dealer did you decide to go with? Any particular reason?

I'm already being taunted by my wife by the fact that I have to wait 8 weeks for a new car. Last weekend when we had the most perfect Spring day *ever*, she turned to me and said, "hey, don't you just wish you had your new car today?" It's making the waiting all the worse...

 

Hi Again,
We tend to be a little impulsive. We make up our mind to do something and then just pull the trigger. We purchased from International Mini in Milwaukee, WI. When we went to look at a Mini, the car we took for a test drive was the one we came back and purchased. No one else had driven it because it was pretty loaded. It was just what we were looking for so we just purchased it on the spot. We once purchased a Dodge Mini-Van during lunch. Dealers are always anxious to get rid of in stock cars because after a certain period their floorplan runs out and they begin to pay interest which cuts into the bottom line. The car has been great. I have about 1500 miles on it. It is more than I expected. International Mini is a great dealership. They also sell BMW, Mercedes and some others, so they extend that care to the Minis as well. I was also able to talk them into extending the bumper to bumper warranty to 6 years, 75000 miles. I also picked up the tire and wheel insurance at closing. The car has run flats and they can be very expensive to replace. This covers me for 5 years. I normally don't keep cars very long, but I like this one so much that I may keep it for 6 years. I joined Milwaukee Minis club. There is an older fellow who has a 2002 with 325000 miles on it. It looks like new. He has had almost no repairs on the car. So we will see.

 

Spousal Taunting?, OMG, this thread is taking a wrong turn...

 

Congrats mtubesing!! I too ordered mine from Global. I bought my 2000 323 convertible from them when it was new and have always received good service from them. Also the MINI salesmen at Global that I worked with were great. I orginally saw Asif but when I went back the second time Asif was not there and John Harper helped me out so they wound up splitting the sale. I visited the South Atlanta dealership too but I live in Kennesaw and Global is much closer (10 miles). Who was your MA? I hope you used better restraint than I ... I clicked all four packages. What color did you go with? When do you expect delivery?

Regarding tires I plan to replace the run flats with Toyo Proxies 4 or Yokahamas immediatley and I will take my chances with a "mobility kit" ( compressor, plugs and slime) as I understand they provide a much better ride with equal or better handling. The Dunlop run flats that come on many of the S are $293 each at Tirerack ...on sale!! I realize that not everyone would be happy running with no spare. I will buy a space saver spare to take if I go on longer trips.

And bigsoup52 you are correct about the taunting. My wife finally came around although as I have cleaned the dark blue 323 convertible up for sale I think she thinks I am crazy to sell it for a MINI. I'll be sad to see it go but I love the way the MINI drives and life is way too short.

Lonestar - what did you guys buy?

 

I worked with Phil at Global. Our interaction was pretty minimal, however, since I pretty much knew what I wanted. I finally went with the BRG (see my sig picture). Initially, I thought I wanted the Horizon Blue, but when we saw it in person, it wasn't as dark as I hoped. If the blue was a midnight blue, I would have been totally sold and the tuscan leather would have been a no-brainer to go with it.

From everything I've read, agreed about the runflats. I don't plan to replace them immediately, but when they have run their course, I'm definitely not planning on replacing with other runflats.

As for delivery, I still don't even have a production date, so it's anyone's guess (and it's driving me insane!) Do you have a production date from the ASK-MINI folks?

 

congrats,.

 

I agree about the Horizon Blue. I like deep blue cars (the 323 is Orient Blue) and the website shows the Horizon Blue as being a much deeper color. When I saw it at the dealership it is much more washed out to me and just didn't have the punch that I expected, so I went with the dark silver.

 

We decided on a 2009 Dark Silver S Coupe with black interior, premium package, cold weather (I live in Wisconsin after all), basically everything except the nav system and we went with the 16" wheels. Happily my wife is far more into the car than I figured she would be. She drives a mini-van but every time I jump in the Mini she seems to be sitting next to me. It's kind of nice to have her on board.

 

mtubesing - any update on your MINI? I went by Global last Friday and was told that my MINI was built that day (5-8-09). Ironically, it was built on the same day I sold my 2000 BMW 323 convertible. The buyer of my BMW asked why I was selling the car. I told him that I had a midlife crisis and ordered a MINI convertible. He said, "that's what I really wanted but the wife insisted that we have more room for the grandchildren". His desired MINI should sound familar to you - British racing green, tan interior, S convertible. He has a friend that has an S convertible and loves it.

Still trying to decide what non-runflat tire to buy. Boy do opinions vary on the same tire - all over the map.