Hello. I am a new Mini owner. Always loved them since their North American debut but never jumped into one. I am a transplant from the VAG scene having owned and driven exclusively VW's my entire driving life. I had a '91 GTI for 14 years that went through many phases of mods. I had been wanting a Mini since their introduction in the US and finally made the switch with the purchase of an '11 MCS a few months ago. Love the car, its a blast to drive. Just as much or maybe even more fun than my GTI was.

I am itching to start some suspension and wheel mods but holding off for now on account that this is my daily driver. My GTI was lowered with widened RM's and I'd like to do the same this time around with RS's (I know way overrated but I love the look) so we'll see how long before my bank account gives in.

First "mod" was an armrest. Today installed a new toggle and switchplate to enable rear fogs. Next maybe an autosport module.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

 

Good choice with the 2011 MY. It has a better design in terms of the head.

I too (am/was) a long time VW owner until I got my Mini.

 

Welcome!

I Love your GTI, but hey you got a MINI, give it a couple months and it will look better than your old GTI

I too am a VW owner, mi MINI is mi daily, and my rabbit Mk1 '79 lives at the shop (at least it has, for the last 3 years) muajaja

B|

someday

 

Thanks. I found some better pics of the GTI. I'm posting from a tablet so still trying to get the hang of things. Mobile functionality is not exactly up to par with a PC, IMO.

 

We also have a R32, I actually get bummed when we have to take the VW instead of the MINI

 

VW's here as well. 86 Golf diesel, 99 Passat wgn and 2010 Jetta TDI (wife's). It's hard for me to choose, Golf or Mini. I guess it depends on what I'm in the mood for. Low and slow, the Golf. Fast and furious, the Mini.

Nice GTI.

 

Welcome, had a Diesel Beetle, before my Hummer, before my Clubman, before Lucy.

 

Cool cars. I have an 09 GTI which is my fast, the Mini is a close second though. Welcome!

 

Hey, thanks. My daily before the Mini was a plain old `01 Jetta 1.8T with some mods. The Mini isn't quite as quick but hopefully it will be in the near future. However the Mini is the first "newer" car I have driven since my GTI that has a solid connected feeling between the driver and the car. VW lost that feeling with the introduction of the A3 platform.

 

Fellow Dubber here as well. 2nd car is a 91 cabriolet. Also have owned a 96 golf, 00 beetle, 01 mk iv vr6, 10 golf tdi, 13 passat tdi,. But I previously had a 06 cooper s vert, so I knew the new one would be ****.

 

Programming done. Rear fogs active. Nice to see some other VW nuts here. There's just something about german autos!

 

I grew up driving VW's '94 Golf, '96 Golf, '98 Jetta, '01 Golf, and a '06 Jetta and finally bought my first Mini '08 Clubman and I couldn't be happier. I have truly enjoyed all of my V dubs but my Mini is a new kind of animal. I'm a convert

 

Well my first 5 months of MINI ownership has been interesting. I know the service manager of my local MINI dealer well....not by choice either. The car has been back twice for malfunctioning passenger seat occupancy sensor, smoked (literally-smoke filled the car) rear wiper motor, high pressure fuel pump replacement and most recently no heat. Second guessing the decision getting away from VW's, especially considering I just turned 50K yesterday.

 

I was going to say welcome to the 2011 Mini but considering the problems that you have had.... I've been problem free and have had all matter of fun upgrading the Dread Pirate. Good luck.

 

I wouldn't worry too much, you'll get all the common stuff out of the way. Plus, I work at a VW dealership in service. I know just about customer because they're in here all the time with dumb little things that break, just like your clubman.

 

Welcome from a fellow upstate New Yorker.

 

Welcome to NAM, thebutternutter and congrats on your new MINI. I myself jumped the VW ship after 14 years for a MINI Roadster last year. I've never been happier with any other car I've owned.

Thanks for the pics right up front. Your MINI looks fantastic. Happy motoring and please don't forget to promote the MINI wave.

 

Nice S, I too am in the vag scene with my B5 S4 and Allroad. We love our new (06) MCS and has been welcomed into the garage nicely.

 

Getting set up with a second set of wheels for summer use. Chickened out on BBS's (for now) and went with some stock alloys but going to mix it up a bit with them for something a little different. It sure is easy to sink some money in wheels/tires when you throw run flats and TPMS into the mix.

 

Sweet setup! Where'd you get your armrest from?

 

$$$dealership$$$

The wife bought it without me knowing. You can save $100 buying it off ebay...

Totally worth it. Every time I get into her Countryman I fall to the right because I am used to leaning on the armrest as I enter the car.

 

Add to the list a failed oil cooler seal which resulted a quite large coolant leak. Hence the source of no heat the dealer could not explain on their first attempt at diagnosis.

 

^ This.^ I bought a used '09 last year with 64k on it, and 2 weeks after buying was at the dealership with a slew of problems, all of which were covered by service bulletins, biggest of all was was the high pressure fuel pump. Once all of that was taken care of the experience has been great!

My two cents keep an eye on the oil level and keep an eye out for oil leaks, if you catch any early its much cheaper.

 

It seems from reading here the last "common" thing to worry about is the turbo oil return line seal failure. I think I might just nip that in the behind and go ahead and change it out myself. I think somewhere in my internet travels I saw a braided stainless return line.

 

Which part of ny do u reside in? I'm in the east aurora/buffalo area.