I have been thinking about ordering my MINI from a dealer in Texas. My wife has never been to Texas and we thought it could be fun to fly out to take delivery and drive back to VA. She would like to see San Antonio, Austin, Etc. Any recommendations (or dealers to stay away from) would be appreciated.

Justin

 

MINI Center in San Antonio is just fine. No problems so far.

 

Come and join the club. http://www.lonestarminiclub.com
minifaron is the internet rep for the MINI Center.

 

Mini of the Woodlands (North Houston) was great for me. I think the ones to avoid (just from what I hear mind you) are Mini of Dallas and Momentum Mini.

 

I say do it! There is nothing more prettier than driving around the state of Texas. You could buy it in San Antonio, take a trip over to Houston for a look a the space center then hit the back roads north to Austin. The small towns are wonderful. Once you're in Austin, take a trip through the hill country on the way to Dallas. Nothing but pretty country everywhere!

You won't be disappointed at all.

 

If you want a great dealer in Texas, go to Trey Hill at MINI of Dallas.

 

Was totally underwhelmed by their service. Made an appointment because I was coming in from out of town. I waited 30 mins before the secretary took me out on a 10 min test drive!!! She knew absolutely nothing about the car. When I got back the sales person handed me a brochure and told her to call her with any questions.

I bought at Brian Harris Mini in Baton Rouge. Really took care of me and spent lots of time answering questions.

Best part is when the sales person from Momentum called to follow up and I got to tell her that I placed an order with another dealer

 

MINI Center in San Antonio is great! I recommend coming here to pick up your MINI because it's pretty central to Texas. You've got great food (can't beat the breakfast tacos!), beautiful scenery, and Austin is close by for arguably one of the best music scenes in the US. July/Aug are a bit hot, but if you like the heat then you'll love it here!

 

It would help to know *what* you heard.

I just took delivery of my Mini from Mini of Dallas and my experience was very good from beginning to delivery (~10 weeks).

I don't yet know what their after-sales service is like but I can easily recommend Jorge at MoD based on the service so far.

 

Just give a call to Faron at Mini Center, he is a good friend and a real good MA. Their number is 210-732-7121. Hope it helps.

 

I say Mini of San Antonio, not because I like San Antonio but because Austin doesn't have one. All kidding aside, Mini of San Antonio was awesome, MSRP, practically no waiting list and they allowed me to pick up the car the day that it arrived at the dealership. In addition, you can swing by Austin, the best city in Texas, in my opinion. Don't go to Momentum Mini is all I have to say. They're rude, act like they don't need your business, which in truth, they probably don't, and mark up the prices ridiculously high, either through fees that nobody has ever heard of or having mandatory options or so I've heard.

 

Another vote for either Woodlands or San Antonio. If I was coming from out of state, I would select San Antonio just for the much better choices for scenic routes back home.

Nothing real negative to say about Momentum, but the other two sites seemed to want to earn my business.

 

MINI Center of San Antonio has been mostly great.

There was a bit of a hiccup when they tried to tack on an additional non-refundable deposit (for an unusual color combination) weeks after I had placed my order. I wasn't especially pleased, particularly because they had all the information to determine whether or not an additional deposit was required at the time I placed the order. They should have asked for an additional deposit then, or not at all. Springing that on me the day my order was to be officially entered was in bad faith with our original deal, and generally bad for business.

In the end, after I pressured them on it, they relented and agreed to order the car with nothing but the standard $1000 deposit for a Cabrio.

My MA has been nothing but helpful sunshine since, so I remain hopeful that the little deposit incident was just a rare exception to what seems to otherwise be consistently good service on their part.

 

A deposit on an unusual color combo? That's a new one to me.

 

I asked about it over on MINI2, and a few people had been asked for one on their order for an unusual spec, but it was always at the time of the initial order. My take on it was twofold: 1) we already had a binding agreement on the price and deposit from when I first ordered teh car, and 2) the potential loss on a difficult-to-sell factory-spec car that has been legitimately rejected for good reason ought to be a risk assumed by the dealership, not the consumer.

They didn't have to choose to be MINI dealers, and making your own spec is a big part of how MINI works. They assumed the risk of your bad choices by going into the MINI business. If the factory offers it, there should be no question about your getting it without any additional deposit.

Anyway, as I say, it all sorted out in the end, although amusingly they never owned up to any of my arguments but just said they'd agreed to waive the deposit after all since I had just switched jobs and wouldn't have been able to pay it right away anyway. Oh well, let 'em save face if they want to, as long as justice prevails in the end.

 

Spoke to Faron. Seems like a good guy to deal with. Here is my plan:

1. Order MINI
2. Wait
3. Wait some more
4. June 14...Fly to San Antonio w/ wife
5. PU MINI
6. Drive back to VA in 5+/- days

We would like to check out San Antonio a bit and drive through the Hill Country. The Natchez Trace might be fun to hit too. Need to eat some Ribs in Memphis. Any suggestions on a route?

Justin

 

There are a lot of great drives in the Hill Country, but here's one suggested route:

- Take 87 north out of San Antonio to Fredericksburg
- Walk around downtown Fredericksburg
- Take 965 north out of Fredericksburg...nice scenery and curves as you approach Enchanted Rock
- optional stop off at Enchanted Rock to hike a bit and/or climb the rock
- continue north on 965, then take 16 north to Llano
- from Llano, head east on 29, then turn south on 4 to take a nice twisty jaunt through Inks Lake State Park
- continuing south on 4 just after the park ends, you'll take 2342 south, then take a left on eastbound 1431
- Follow 1431 through Marble Falls
- Just after Marble Falls, there's an optional scenic detour by taking CR 342 / CR 343, which will eventually merge back into eastbound 1431, but follow the shorelines more closely.
- continue east on 1431 through Jonestown and Lago Vista
- as you come into Cedar Park, you'll find the piece de resistance...take a right on Lime Creek Road (it's before Lakeline Blvd, so if you cross that you went too far). It will meander all along the Lake Travis shoreline, with lots of turns and switchbacks, before turning into 2769
- continue on 2769 all the way to US183, which you can then take south into Austin, a great place to stay and relax for a while

I'll probably take much the same route home to Austin myself. Might as well stretch it out and enjoy some scenery while I'm breaking in the MINI.