After the standard amount of configuration, reconfiguration, dealer searching, rereconfiguration, and finally spousal approval, I ordered my MINI today.

This is a replacement for my Miata of 13 years (175K mi), with the MINI being justified as a 4 seater (2 kids now), as fun (if not more) to drive and equivalent MPG.

Thanks to those of you with your dealer pointers/referrals. I wound up w/ Donna at South Bay MINI for MSRP + $45 doc fee. Even with a post 3/1 delivery and the $500 increase, I'm ahead of the $2500 SBAMU (Standard Bay Area Mark-Up).

Now the bad news: my production date is mid-to-late February, meaning a late March delivery. However, I won't have to deal with the out-of-state-purchase registration hassle at the CA DMV. And they'll pick me up at LAX for what will be a fantastic day trip.

The worse news: part of the reason they don't have a production slot until then is that they made a 70 car sale to Red Bull, presumably to do this to them. I guess they have a shop in LA do this in batches?

Two oddities so far:

1. The order is now in their "order bank" waiting to get transferred to MINI when their next production slots get open. But she didn't think I'd have a production number until Feb. When in the process do I get a Production Number?
2. She seemed to think that the accessories I want (rubber mats, wheel locks, checker mirror caps, and security system) would come from the factory installed. And if I waited, her parts dept. would charge more? That's not consistent with what I've read here. Thoughts? I expect to install the alarm myself and have programmed by a Bay Area dealer.

And since you've been waiting, here are the specs:
(where's the smilie for drum roll?)

06 MCS CR/B
Packages: Premium, Sport, Conv., Cold
Oustide: LSD, rear fog light, black bonnet stripes
Inside: Cloth/Leather Tartan Red, CR interioir & shifter, Chrono Pack, H/K audio, arm rest
Planned Mods: Parcel Shelf, Ice Link Plus, Parrot 3100 Bluetooth + Mike's harness, MCAW or Ian's (whichever comes first)
Whimsy: Checker mirror caps, license plate: CPRSIZE
Under discussion for further whimsy: UGA Bulldog & G graphic on the sunroof

Thanks for all your help. I'll be trolling around and may possibly start the Week 8 support group...

thx,
--dwf
The W stands for "Waiting to Motor."

 

Congrats on the order. Sounds like a real looker! So, how many of those planned mods do you already have sitting in your house?

 

Congrats.

 

Your MINI will be beautiful.
Congratulations on a fine choice.

Regarding the accessories - if your dealer works like the majority,
the dealer installs most of the added accessories when the car
arrives. This does save you money, because they usually will not
charge you added labor - which they will if you order these at a
later time. Have them install your security system. It will be
covered by warranty should anything go wrong, and they can not
blame it on "the installer".

 

I have a feeling more and more options are becoming factory installs... For instance, my dealer assumed my bonnet stripes would be done at the dealer but the car was delivered to them with the stripes... they had to install my ipod adapter and my chrome grille. I'm not sure which options are dealer as opposed to factory but many options can be done at either place, I assume, so if you change your mind and want to add stuff after delivery it may be possible!

 

Can you wait that long? MrsDiff and I have been down to one car now for 3 months. It is a real pain to schedule the car between 2 jobs and kids.

MIB should be at D&R on Monday and we are not going to be able to pick it up untill Friday or Saturday at the earliest.

It might be worth the hastle to buy from say D&R in Indy and have them ship the car to Califorina and deal with the DMV.

 

No problem with waiting, other than the anticipation. The Miata is still in fine shape. We did the calculations a decided we really don't need a car until November. So anything earlier than that is a win.

With all the Holidays stress, December will pass quickly. Ask me again in mid-January when I don't have a production number yet.

--dwf

 

I've been good and only orderd the CA license plate. So far.

I expect I'll stress away the hours in Jan and Feb ordering the parcel shelf and the IceLinkPlus & BT car kit. Those can be the first weekend's worth of projects.

It's when I start pondering doing the aero grill install myself that you should all be worried.

--dwf

 

If you don't want to wait, Long Beach Mini in Southern California will take your order at MSRP and not require the deposit South Bay asks for. I ordered mine 4 weeks ago and it's already built and ready to board a boat in England. woowoo!

 

I've been on Long Beach's interest list for 3 weeks and was told to expect a 4-5 month wait for a production slot for an MCS. So I gave them a chance, but I think I'm ahead w/ South Bay.

--dwf

 

I've bought two MINIs from Long Beach and they were fantastic to deal with! If you call them and talk to Tony or Matt, tell them that Clover referrred you! Congrats on the order....you will love it! Lots of NAMers are Miata people, also!

 

1. The Production Number comes from the MINI factory. You won't get one until after the dealer submits your order, and that's exactly what the waiting list is all about. Your dealer can only submit an order when they have a production slot available.
2. None of those accessories come from the factory. I have no idea what your MA could be talking about. It seems fairly common for dealers to give away complimentary mats with a car purchase, and you might talk them into doing that. For the other items, a dealer will charge MSRP plus installation. If there are accessories that you plan to install yourself, you should consider purchasing the items at a discount (typically 20%) from NAM sponser Classic MINI, rather than from your dealer.

 

dwf - the way it works (and south bay won't admit to this and ultimately lost my sale for not being forthcoming) is that they have their build quota from corporate. They can build x number of cars each month and usually the orders are placed near the end of a given month. Until the order is placed, your car exists in no form whatsoever. I presume that is why they they have a no-questions asked refund policy on their order deposit. They know they won't be ordering a car for you for 1-3 months from when they take your order. Once an order is placed, a production number is generated, is scheduled for production in Oxford, and then takes about 5 or 6 days to build and 6-8 weeks to ship and receive. The whole process from when they order to when you can pick it up is usually about a two and half months. (I ended up taking my deposit back since they told me they would order a car for me when in fact, I was being put on a waiting list and that they required me to specify a cosignor when I clearly and explicit stated during the order that I would be financing through my credit union. FWIW, the salesman I dealt with was on the BMW side, and when I was getting my deposit back from the sales manager, I had noticed the board listed a single sale on his part when some others already had 20-25 and all the others had at least 5 or 6. I doubt he works there anymore. The Mini reps that I dealt with were pleasant but far too busy and not very well-studied on the available options. I ended up ordering through Long Beach. They were also too busy. The first time I visited the lot, I got no service whatsoever in 20 minutes of wandering around looking at cars, and one of the other two times, it took 4 or 5 minutes for them to ask me if I'd like help with anything despite having nobody else looking at the cars. however, when I actually placed my order, I got prompt assisitance and was on the lot no more than 10 minutes. So it seemed to depend on who was around. Andrea took my order and was very forthcoming about the ordering process and very pleasant to deal with.)

 

Donna was very clear about this with me. My order is in their "Order Bank" and I'll get a production number once MINI gets it. She couldn't tell me when the order would get to MINI, but it sounds like sometime in January.

This is equivalent (except for the deposit) to Long Beach's "Interest List," which I've been on for about 3 weeks now. They told me to expect 4-5 months wait for an MCS, which at this point is about the same.

So no regrets here so far. Except the waiting.

--dwf
The W stands for "The Hardest Part"

 

Looks great and welcome. The best tip I can give you on the wait is to just try and not to think about it.

Happy motoring when she arrives, you will not be dissapointed.

 

For those of you keeping score, a funny thing happened to today. I wound up talking to Long Beach MINI, and Bobby found me a production slot a month (possibly more) ahead of what South Bay MINI had quoted me.

Over the course of a few hours, I went from being in one dealer's "Order Bank" to having a production number. I'm a little stunned.

So suddenly my MCS is going to be here about a month ahead of schedule. Like I'm going to say no...

--dwf
The W stands for "What just happened?"

 

Mini Clo and Fitch in unison... We told you so
kiddin that's great news!!!!!

 

I'll take that "I told you so" at about 50%.

I contacted The Dudes at Long Beach early in my search as a coworker got his S there 6 months ago and had a great experience. I gave them my specs as requested and they told me that they worked like this:

• We operate an "interest list" not a wait list.
• We contact you when we find a car or when a produciton slot opens up for you.
• Contact us monthly to stay on the list, else we drop you off.
• Expect 4-5 month wait for a custom MCS

By this math, I'd expect an email/call in a couple of months for a March production slot. All it took was a quick email to ask if they could beat a February production slot. I got a call from Bobby within 15 minutes of sending that email.

As Big Bird says, "Asking questions is a great way of finding something out." And I wouldn't of asked if you folks hadn't planted the nag at the back of my brain.

--dwf

 

nah you can take 100%..you had checked it out. Funny about the interest list you are talking about...I wanted to place my order and so I called my MA there a few times and left messages that I wanted to place my order but couldn't get a hold of the person. So I called for the 3rd time and got a guy who took my order right there on the phone and 5 minutes later he confirms my order by calling me back with a production order. Then I get an email from my original MA about a half hour later and they write that the order can't be placed because Mini didn't give them the allocation due to severe backlog and it would probably be a few months just to get the order in. Then I get an email about 10 minutes later from the same MA saying to disregard the previous email, that they made a mistake and congrats on your order. I was like WTF is going on??? Why was it so easy for one of the dudes to place my order while the other person gave me a completely different story. I wondered if each salesperson was allocated a certain amount of cars they could sell. I decided not to ask questions and take my order. I still have no idea what happened but I'm not complaining because all that matters is I got the order in. My only question after that was who i am supposed to work with since my original MA didn't place my order...Sound confusing?:impatient