Hello NAM! My name is Lou. I have owned a Honda Del Sol for 18 years. It has 311,000 miles and this year it finally said it's last good bye. I was very sad to see it go and started shopping for a new car. Need something with decent gas mileage and someone pointed out the new MINI coupe. Went for a test drive last week and feel in love with it. Also test drove the new Ford Focus and 2012 Mazda3 SkyActiv. Nice cars but they do not compare to the MINI. I built my coupe on line - S Coupe in Spice Orange and black roof. Toffee and black interior with cold weather package, sports package and considering the tech package (not sure if I need the MINI connect but do need blue tooth and Iphone connection). Considering going down this week to order the car. Any thoughts before I go? Haven't bought a new car in 18 years so don't know if the price is negotiable. I can go to my local credit union for financing if the rate isn't low enough. Appreciate the feedback. Look forward to owning a MINI!

 

311000 miles? Wow, is that a Honda all time mileage? Congrats on your new coupe and from what I understand, oumight get a little off the MSRP. Now, try running that MINI coupe for all those miles!

 

I love my MINI, but I hope you are buying one for the joy of driving it and NOT looking for 300K miles.
I was looking a month ago at the new prices and the only thing I found was an "event" coupon for $750 off. You'll have to check locally to see what the market is allowing your dealer to offer.
I drove the Focus and the Mazda also. Both were nice cars, but lacked the crispness and personality of the MINI.
Good luck with your purchase..... Lots of great info on NAM.

 

Thanks for the info. I made an appointment with the MA I spoke to when I went for my test drive for this Saturday. I definitely want the MINI for the fun of driving it. Nothing matched the driving experience i got driving it Not sure if I can ever get a car that will match the miles I got on my Honda. Going back to fine tune my build selection. Not sure of the time frame it will take to get my car but I was told sometime in February.

 

While the MINI driving experience is the best.... The wait is the worst.
IMHO, order everything you want on your MINI. IT IS expensive to do it later. The only thing I regretted was upgrading my wheels. They are WAY too heavy. I went aftermarket w/nonrun-flats when the tires wore out.

 

Well, I am now a member of the MINI owners club. I put my deposit down yesterday for my build. Here it is (sorry if I dont know all the acronyms yet). '12 MCS Coupe, SO/Blk, Cold weather package, Sports package, Technology package, Black sports stripe, Black headlight Housing, Leather/cloth toffee seats, toffee color line, Piano Black dash, automatic transmission (after 18 years of driving stick in my daily commute my knee is starting to hurt), all season tires, and checkerboard side scuttles for fun. I have been reading some of the threads and want to know how much lumbar support there is in the seats I choose. I didn't really want to spend $2k on the toffee leather seats but have a bad back and need the support. If someone could let me know that would be great. Also, how do I get the shorty antenna? Not a fan of the long antenna I saw on the cars in the showroom. My MA is telling me I should have the car by the end of February. The countdown begins!