It looks great Mark. You were last of the Week 26ers, but certainly not the least!

 

Now that we all have our cars, time for a group photo. These are in order of delivery.

ahahn -


Jeremy1026 -


MiniGRM -


jmhouse -


markusw -

 

Sorry guys, been busy this week. Your cars look GREAT !!! Here finally is a couple of pics of mine.

 

Looks sharp MiniGRM

A few observations:
We all went with the 'S'.
1 of us went with body color accents, 1 of us went black accents and 3 of us went with white accents.
4 Hardtops, 1 Convertible, 0 Clubmans.
We all got different wheels.
2 LB, 1 HzB, 1 CR, 1 IY.

 

I was reading Jeremy's breakdown of our cars and I'm curious why we picked what we picked? I'll go first

Hardtop vs. Convertible (or Clubman) - space for a dog crate. My wife and I breed Bull Terriers and I need to be able to occasionally carry a dog crate. The top to bottom opening on a hardtop is bigger than a Clubman and long enough for my crate. I also like the proportions of a hardtop better than the Clubman (though I nearly bought one of those) I'd love a Convertible but I couldn't carry a dog crate.

Laser Blue vs other colors - Love bright blue, also like red but have two other red cars. Went with body color top just to be a bit different.....have always loved Mini's with contrasting tops.

Wheels - just love the JCW Challenge wheels and was willing to spring for them...am using my Bridgespokes for my winter wheels.

Cooper S - Love performance and would have bought the JCW, but this is my daily driver and my wife talked me into automatic, which by the way I'm pleased with. Will be adding JCW Stage I and Aero kit shortly, just for a bit more performance and I like the Aero look.

Car has been great so far, no issues....also checked the paint (remember extra 10 days in production????) and no areas have been repainted, which I'm relieved and pleased about....still wondering about the cause for the extra 10 days.

 

I'll do the same.

Hardtop vs Convertible vs Clubman - I had a 2003 MINI Hardtop, so since I was getting another MINI, I felt it would be foolish to get another hardtop. I don't ever need to haul anything besides myself and occasionally my girlfriend.

Color choice - When I was shopping for my 03' I wanted Liquid Yellow. I couldn't find a used one within my price range, so I had to go with BRG. When I say Interchange Yellow I just KNEW that I had to have it.

Wheels - It was a toss up between the Black Star Bullets and the Crown Spokes in black. I wanted dark rims to compliment my black stripes. I like the silver trim around the BSBs which accent the various chrome on the car. Also the Crown Spokes were a bit to glossy for my tastes.

Cooper vs. Cooper S vs. JCW - I didn't want to 'upgrade' to another Cooper, so at least an S was a must. I was price shopping the JCW Convertible but just couldn't make it work. So I went with an S with the JCW Tuning Kit. Extra kick in my pants with out the same crazy price increase as the factory JCW. It actually works out to be less dollars per horsepower added to go with the Tuning Kit, although you top out at a lower overall number.

Tomorrow will be two weeks of ownership, I am pushing 300 miles (I know, not nearly enough but I am currently healing.) I also have over 11.5 hours of open motoring, and maybe 2-4 minutes of closed motoring. I have a service appointment to get a trim piece on my top looked at/replaced. All in all, I love this MINI just as much as my old MINI. I feel we will have some very fond memories over the next couple years.

 

Hardtop vs Convertible vs Clubman - Hardtop, I love coupes, so a Clubman was out of the question and I never really considered a Convertible.

Color choice - It was between Chili Red or Mellow Yellow. I wanted a color that attracts attention. I decided on the Red, because I see plenty of yellow Coopers and no reds. Shortly after I decided on Chili Red, I started seeing red MINIs. Too bad the Interstate Yellow isn't available on Hardtops.

Wheels - Alloy bridge spokes, I liked them because they were just spokes.

Cooper vs. Cooper S vs. JCW - I wanted something with a Turbo and the JCW is above my price range. So the S was my choice.

 

Hehe, Interstate Yellow .

 

That color isn't available on Convertibles either .

 

This is a good idea. I really didn't want many of the upgrades available, for both cost and personal reasons. I just don't need that much in a car, especially if it's really fun to drive. And so far the MCS is ridiculously fun to drive.

Hardtop vs Convertible vs Clubman - Well, I don't really like convertibles that much and I don't really have much use for the extra space of the Clubman. I actually don't like the design of the rear doors. I had a VW Golf before and even though it has more space than the MINI, I never used it. It was rare that I had more than 1 person in the car and I really only need to haul around a skateboard and some camping gear here and there.

Color choice - I originally didn't like Horizon Blue because I saw it inside and that is just a bad place to show off that color. I didn't want a bright color so I was considering the dark gray, black, green and white (not dark but not bright either) because my Golf was white. Then I saw the Horizon Blue with white roof out on the lot in the sun and it was between that and BRG/White. I eventually said screw it and picked the blue on the day I ordered.

Wheels - Just picked what was free and I didn't want white or black wheels. The bridge spokes look pretty good.

Cooper vs. Cooper S vs. JCW - I bought a 2.0L Golf and sort of regretted it most of the time I owned the car. 115hp wasn't enough. So it was a no brainer to go with a Cooper S. JCW was out of my price range. I'm still trying to adjust to the power of the S vs. the Golf. I've scared myself more than a few times already by flooring it in places I used to have to floor it in the Golf.

I'm about to go drive to Alexandria, VA during the DC rush hour to take some photos for a Washington Post article. Normally I'd hate having to deal with traffic down there but I don't think I'll mind it as much this time . I used to hate commuting to work and now I hate working from home because I want to drive!

 

Good to hear that we're all liking our cars and off to a good start. It's interesting what issues have caught our interest and shaped our choices for our cars....One of the cool things about Mini's is how much they can be individualized.

Jeremy, I really like the black wheels with the machined edge. I understand the "blacked out" look, but must admit my preference is for your wheels. They look really great.

Bridge spokes are easily my favorite of the "no extra cost" wheels. With the 17" wheels on my car, I find them quite firm riding but not intolerably so....but I have to wonder how the 18's can possibly be streetable, certainly not here in Michigan unless you have a LOT more padding in your backside than I do

Was able to place my order for my JCW Aero kit today, should be here middle of this coming week. However, painting and installation will have to wait as I have a businees trip out of the country until the 28th. Pre-painted kits are no longer available

 

lame about the pre-painted kits! hopefully it won't take that long once you get back.

i drove my car out to shenandoah nattional park today and had a blast! the funnest road all day was the switchbacks on route 211 east leaving the park. also went over 700 miles on the odometer. the miles are going by quick...

also, there has to be at least 100 dead bugs on my windshield. and a rock got kicked up into it this afternoon. hopefully that doesn't turn into a crack

 

Wow, I am only at 370mi and I had my MINI for almost a week and a half longer!


I just filled up today for the 1st time. I ran it WELL beyond when I planned on stopping, but a gas station couldn't be found in the boondocks. I rode almost 10 miles with '----' showing on my range meter. When I finally got to a gas station the tank took 14.359 gallons . Luckily we never ran out of gas.

 

haha wow you really pushed it pretty far. i'm about to fill up for the second time today even though my range meter says I have about 70 miles left. i'm getting just over 33mpg mixed city/hwy driving. pretty happy about that

 

Jeremy...you must have been on FUMES !!!!!!!

Got 390 mi. on my car today, been driving mostly around in the city and averaging about 28.5 mpg....and have washed the car twice for all the bugs and BRAKE DUST. These cars seem to generate prolific dust, wow no wonder why people change their pads so quickly. But I must admit, I really love this car.

I'm wondering if you guys have had the following experience, or something similar.....when I depress the gas pedal, I've noticed the very first bit of travel (maybe 1/4-3/8") seems to have no effect on increasing engine speed whether the car is sitting still, or rolling freely without power continually applied. Then as I continue to depress the throttle, suddenly the engine revs jump up a bit. Sometimes it seems a bit linear and then at times not linear at all. I've read on other threads that people attribute this "lag" to the automatic, but it seems to me to be related mostly to the throttle by wire.
Thoughts?????

 

MiniGRM,
I'm experiencing the same thing with my automatic. It makes it really hard to gauge how far the pedal needs pressed to get the Cooper moving without it sounding like I'm racing the engine. Now if I want a spirited take off from a red light, the car doesn't hesitate. I wonder if that is something the dealer can adjust. It seems like it should be more linear.

BTW my wheels are also covered in brake dust , I can see why black wheels are so popular.

 

My wheels will be coming off either Friday or Saturday and getting a couple of coats of wax put on, front and back. Hopefully that will help to keep the dust off. I love that jacking up a MINI will lift both wheels off the ground at the same time, saves lots of time.

 

I just put 12.1 gals at 304 miles. My computers says I'm getting an average of 24 MPG . I'm a little heavy on the pedal.

 

Right now my OBC is showing 39.1MPG after ~50 miles on my 2nd tank. (I reset the MPG each fill up.) I'm it best to keep the RPM as close to 3000 as possible. Right after refilling I was coming down a country road at 40MPH in 5th, and the OBC reading was dropping down to about 37 MPG. When I shifted to 5th, the OBC reading crept up to 42.x MPG.

 

How's everyone enjoying their new MINIs? I put my grill badge holder on a few days ago. Then I spent a good part of yesterday washing, claying, polishing and waxing mine. I was kind of upset to find that the depth of Interchange Yellow is about 1/5th to that of my old BRG.

 

Jeremy - Sorry to hear about your depth of paint issue......must say I'm very pleased with the look of my Laser Blue....paint depth and quality for a factory job is quite good. Having my JCW Aero painted this next week.....install will have to wait till I get back, off to Australia for a couple of weeks. I'm really enjoying my Mini (except the brake dust LOL) Hey, how are you feeling about the JCW Stage I kit? I'm thinking pretty seriously about adding that, though I was thinking I'd wait until I'd gotten the car broken in...Any advice?

Mark - I'm finding that the sensitivity on the throttle seems to vary...am wondering if I limited my "normal" drving to the Normal setting and when "Sport" driving switch to the sport mode.....if this would lead to the ECU "learning" to be more sensitive in the Normal setting???? The experiment will have to wait till I get back.

May not be able to post while I'm away, though I'm planning on checking some Mini parts from K-Mac in Sydney while I'm there. Anybody heard from ahahn? He must be either REALLY happy or unhappy

 

got back from camping at assateague a couple days ago. it was quite an adventure with nasty thunderstorms, ponies and mosquitos. an FYI, sleeping in a MINI isn't all that bad . And all of my camping gear fit quite nicely. Oh and my break in period is done. I'm at 1400 miles now

 

I'll learn to live with the lack of depth, maybe I'll try a couple of different products, to see if I can't get a bit more in future details. The problem is that the IY is too bright. It reflects off so much light that the color pops, unlike the darker colors which show depth. In the shade or low light conditions I get the effect that I was shooting for.

I'm loving the JCW Tuning Kit, even though I'm still in break in and havn't really been able to push the tach yet. I am finding it a breeze to drop to 4th and blow by people on the highway, all while staying right around 4200 RPM. It is hard to compare it to the standard Cooper S, because I only drove a stock R57 once, for maybe 5 miles prior to my order. (I knew I was getting one, so the test drive was just because I wanted to play.)

I havn't even touched the sport button yet, I'm finding throttle response to be only a tad sluggish, certainly nothing to scoff at. I actually like the little bit of insensitivity, because when I shift my leg (to adjust my knee) the car doesn't jerk.

Have a great trip, is it for business or pleasure? Want me to take your MINI out for a spin once or twice for ya .

 

jmhouse,
I hope you parked your Cooper in the tent at night.

 

haha, it could've fit in that massive screened in tent house!

i drove my golf yesterday for about 10 minutes and i have no idea how i drove that thing for 6 years. it felt so sloppy! the sport button is on almost all the time in my MINI. i've also sat in traffic a few times, and driving through the city from light to light, the sport button just makes it easier to deal with that kind of driving.