Congrats bluzeke and fingershooter - don't forget the baby pics!

 

After nearly 4 years of dreaming and 73 days since ordering, I took delivery of the MINI with my name on it this evening. The folks at Towson were great and I got a regal send-off complete with a goodie bag of cool stuff and a gift certificate. Followed my wife home to drop off her car, grabbed a quick bite, donned our matching gratis red MINI ballcaps and headed out for a late night cruise. Oh . . . MY . . . This . . . is . . . FUN! The JCW just says GO! Even my wife, who's often kind of a Nervous Nellie in the passenger seat, immediately "got it" and remarked how confident and glued the car felt. It was like Xanex on four wheels! Who'da thunk! I got a free bonus upgrade!

I don't think of myself as one who would normally "testify" - but let me tell you - Tonight, my life changed for the better!!!!

ready to roll . . .



. . . stand-by for more.

 

When I got my first Mini I followed the standard break-in procedure. This time before I drove it away I asked the service manager who I trust completely, if anything had changed. He said, "Just drive it!" So that's what I'm doing.

 

well it's about f'in time

 

I'm a wuss...i'm treating mine like a baby...which makes sense to me...Just as a new born needs to be handled differently, so too should a new car...I won't shift it past 4000 rpm's. flame away

 

. . . yeah, boy! I gotta watch this - I sneezed last night and the car jumped to 4700 rpm!

 

Congrats bluzeke! That is one sharp JCW. Very nice.

3 days and counting.

 

I'm in such debate about this. On my first MINI I didnt follow break-in. It was my first manual and on two (or three ) occassions I downshifted into 3rd instead of shifting into 5th when getting on the highway. Hello redline! Plus my dealership didnt tell me anything about an illusive "break in procedure"

I've heard so much back and forth about break in. The difference between this MINI and the last two is that I intend to keep this one... probably for a very long time. A close friend and BMW tech-in-training was pretty (well, very) adamant about doing a proper break in. Then again, he also said the first 50-100 miles are the most important. Since I bought at Classic then drove home to Michigan, I made sure to not use cruise on the highway and down shift every now and then to vary my revs.

I just want Grimace to be healthy for a very long time

 

Sorry for the delay responding...not enough hours in the day for work, driving MINI, and keeping road salt off MINI.....I'd recomend Classic for sure, they have been very good through the whole process, I think they understand how obsessive MINI buyers can be. I asked about the free NAM stuff, which was no problem, I get the feeling that even non NAM people get a good load of freebies too.....This was my first new car purchase, and I've been impressed with how painless the whole process has been.

Jason

 

Greetings all . . . just trying to breathe some life into the ol' increasingly geriatric "4" thread. Who's driving, who's on the verge, and who's still clueless?

Yesterday was my first full day with the car. What a cool thing to open the garage doors and have the bright blue morning light rake across the U-stripe. Cracking the driver's door to that smell of new, rolling the key over to those melodic chimes, then - IGNITION! My, my, that sound reverberating off the walls - WOW!

Heading to work, while merging onto the ol' beltway I got Evasive Maneuver Lesson #1. The wonderful chap merging in front of me, we'll call him Mr. Oblivious Roadhog Lincoln, decides he'll take my outside lane just as I'm crossing his stern. Applying the same steering input (oops ) I'd use in my soon to be sold Toyota sedan, revealed what I already knew but had never actually applied in the real world yet. The cars behind me must've thought I was doing the "cone weave test" on MotorWeek! At least my drawers stayed clean, but I certainly didn't need any more coffee till later in the morning - my heart was beating just fine, thank you! Phil Wicks here we come.

As I'll bet most of you hopefully now are discovering . . .

Everybody loves the car . . .

 

I'm actually a week 5, but I had been posting here some so I'll update you guys. I got my MINI on Tuesday night, 2/28. This car has got pep! I love every minute in it.
I bought the Aux audio input and the bumper protector yesterday, going to install them myself soon.

Motor on!

 

2 days and counting! Added the MINI to my insurance, will go to the bank to get a check cut later today. Been checking the weather forecast for I-80 and I-70 this weekend to determine my route from Cleveland to Denver. Looks like some rain/snow up north so will probably opt for the southern, slightly longer and a lot duller I-80 route through Kansas. Trying to stay busy to keep my mind off Sat. morning with little success.

 

I'm half way through the break in mileage and enjoying every second of it. Having a 76 mile round trip commute to work, I am forcing myself to drive the Subaru once in a while to keep my mileage down to reasonable levels (the inclement weather we're having today helps with that). I knew that the MCS had great acceleration from driving my wife's MCSa, but the stick is more responsive - life is good!

 

My baby is all ready to go, sitting cozy and warm in the Classic showroom. I'm sure he says this to all the new owners but Mike K. said "This honestly might be the best looking MINI I've seen yet! It looks amazing!!!" Like I said, I may not be the first person he's said this to but my excitement level just went through the roof. Deep breaths ... deep breaths ... Ommmmmmmmmm!

 

The cold and rain are keeping me from applying the final touches.....a few layers of Zaino for a great shine. Motoring continues to be an unmitigated pleasure!

 

I'm nearly at halfway. But I'm clearly in the next stage of learning with the clutch. Yesterday I had my first stall. Sigh.

I also had about three accidental into-R instead of into-1st shifts from stop. It turns out my "grab from neutral" needs some adjustment.

Other than that, I'm having fun. You can do a lot shifting at 4500. But man, in a few weeks I can do a LOT MORE shifting higher.

--dwf

 

I picked up my Mini in Murray on Wednesday and drove home to Seattle...the long way. I have already met the break in requirements. All I can say is WOW what a neat little car.
Highway 55 through central Idaho was a blast, lots of twistys and little traffic! Drove on the leading edge of a snow storm near Lewiston, saw lightning start a wildfire and just as quickly a blizzard snuff it out. Surprised my daughter at WSU then home across the Washington prairie!

Anyone out there in week four without a car yet?

 

I haven't driven my Cooper in more than a week

 

what?!

Grimace is a week old now. We've done 750 miles so far.

 

I picked my MINI up on Friday and all I can say is wow!!! I have either been driving it or oggling over it since I picked it up. The MINI is everything that I had hoped for in just about every way except one.

Having come from owning a number of Toyota vehicles, I found the plastic materials to be somewhat sub par. Of course I had already seen this when I had looked at MINI, so it was certainly not a surprise.

These pictures are not very good, but will upload some better ones soon.

 

I picked up Maggie on Sat. morning and got through the break-in yesterday afternoon.



Wow, what a great car. It exceeded my high expectations. I am one happy (and tired) camper. I will put up a thread later with more pics and the full story of the drive home.

 

Wow, that picture is really small. I will have to fix later tonight and repost.

 

Wow, what a great car. I exceeded my high expectations. I am one happy (and tired) camper.[/quote]

Ah yes, but it's a good tired! JCW = FUN - NO?

 

Fixed it for you. Great looking MINI.

 

Especially after the breakin when I could get the RPM's up and really start to hear the burble!