Hi, I just ordered my new MCS space blue
it has the checkmate pckg, premium pckg, convinience pckg , Agitronic transmission (wife requirement) and finally navigation.
however the total price MSRP plus fee and taxes is going too high
I am thinking I can drop the Navigation, what are your comments,

also how much above the MSRP price is normal, I am paying almost $3000 above MSRP.

Octavio

 

You should drop the navi; I've read that there are better aftermarket navi systems out there. Also, you find another dealer. Where are you located? I believe California dealers are the only place where markups are still occurring. Some Cali members can refer you to the proper dealers in the area. Another option would be to order from either a midwest or east coast dealer and drive back to your residence. There's no reason you should be paying a markup on MSRP :impatient

 

DO NOT PAY MARKUP even if it is a JCW GP!

 

If you need/use navigation the option is very worthwhile IMHO - if you do a search on "nav" I'm sure you will pick up many threads discussing the pros and cons of it as well as aftermarket stuff.

There are dealers, even in California, who sell without any mark-up or fees. Do yourself a favor and save your money and don't reward the dealers that are gouging, call around and/or search or post here for info on many dealers all over that are straight shooters.

Another option that will save you money, if you are interested, is the used car market. I see lots and lots of Minis for sale - recent peek on Craigslist here included loaded 05 & 06s, there were even those with Nav and auto.

 

Drop the ADM (i.e. buy out of State, or elsewhere), get the Nav. You'll save more. $3K for, uh nothing*. $1800 for Nav.

Where are you located?

*ok, you may get a rental car, but $3K will rent a lot of cars...

 

I have Nav but never use it because I know my town pretty well. If you think that you would use it will probably be handy though. There are better/cheaper systems out there, but the downside is you do not have the clean oem look of the stock system, you will have another cluttering accessory, which doesnt matter to some but does to others. Another point for Nav is that you can do some modification to use the screen to play DVDs, but it can be a bit spendy though looks very nice.

 

First I drop my order, unless you're terrible impatiant and don't mine getting taken for three grand. Sometimes by shopping over the phone and internet, you can get a better deal without the dealer playing their games with ya.

I have the Nav in my 2006 MCSC and my wife has a Magellan Roadmate in her van. The Magellan is a little more user friendly, but the clean, built in look of mine more than make up for it. I was on the fence about getting it, but I'm really glad I did

 

Get the NAV, if you do any amount of traveling it will pay for itself in no time at all. My NAV more than payed for itself when we had to evacuate for Katrina last year. The system get me right to the hotel which i had no idea where it was beforhand.

 

The nav thing has been discussed ad nauseasm.

It comes down to a matter of personal preference vice economics. If you want it to be clean and dont care about the money, get OEM

If you care about the money they are far better aftermarket units out that do more (like integrated BT now and traffic routing around traffic jams).

You also need to figure out exactly HOW much you will use it. If you use it maybe a couple of times a year, is that worth $2K? If you never know where you are ... get a GPS!

 

most important point relayed in this thread.

 

I agree! I ordered a MCS with a Nav in CA and paid MSRP. If you are in CA, check the SoCal forum. CapWKidd did an excellent job of CA dealers and their markups.

 

Drop the nav and drop the CVT transmission. The tranny will save you $1,300 and just tell your wife she can learn! (Plus there more fun, and auto's are frowned apon)

-Cody

 

I think the Navi takes away from the classic look of the the big speedo in the middle. Everyone that has ridden in my MINI thinks that's one of the coolest parts of the interior. Plus, aren't you supposed to get lost in a MINI anyway?

 

First of all great color choice As for the Nav I didn't get it on any of my cars.......getting lost is always fun

However, if you do need Nav TomTom makes some real good units that have some great features.......voice command, bluetooth and you can even hook up you ipod.......plus they are portable. Just google it.

 

I like gauges so I opted for the cockpit chrono instead of Navi.

 

and it's expensive, but if you do any driving out of your normal area, it's a good unit. Not great, but good. It's also very usefull if you have to find addresses that you don't normally go to (this happened a lot for me with work).
Some of the aftermarket units don't house the DVD or CD, so you have to load them with the relavent maps beforehand, and this can be a bit of a hassle.
But then, you can put it in any car you own.

6 of one, half dozen of the other. FWIW, I always put it in when I configure the next Mini (that I've never bought.....)

Matt

 

Get the NAV for the wife... It saves a lot of arguments and it's easy to use. Everything else can be added at later time but not the NAV, plus I think the Mickey Mouse Ears look is nicer..

Got NAV on my '03 and in both '05 and I will get one on my next MINI, too.

MD STREGA2
22 GS
OPEN 22

 

I have a question for nav owners. Can you browse through places? For instance, you can search Places -> Restaraunts -> Italian -> Buca Di Peppo. And then sort by distance to travel, city vicinity, etc.?

 

but I have a non-upgraded 02. The information part is very, very weak.

Matt

 

I was afraid of that. I used nav on a 530i and I was very let down by how it was lacking key features. That's why I chose not to opt for it in our MCS. When I'm in an area that I'm unfamiliar with, I'd like to know where the nearest [specific] restaraunts, hotels, gas stations, police stations, and hospitals are. In my Acura TSX, you're able to search for those places and press "CALL" on the touch-screen and it would call via Bluetooth. You're even able to read Zagat surveys on the restaraunts. You can also activate icons on the map and gas station are specific to the company, i.e. you'll see a Shell icon on the map for Shell gas stations.

In my opinion, these are a must for nav systems today. That's why I'd suggest to go aftermarket.

Most likely, I'll be going with the Alpine Blackbird



or maybe the TomTom.

 

mine is an O2 CD based system. It doesn't do lots of things the newer ones do (I think). But overall I agree. For the price, the factory nav should have voice integration and much better search functions.

But with the DVD system, you have the whole country with you, no matter where you go!

Matt

 

Forget the nav, everyone knows guys don’t need directions.

 

I used to find restaurants all of the time on my old CD based system and that one was not as specific as drilling down by type of food, it let you narrow down by letter/name or just found everything in a location or city and gave you distance, etc. I haven't it used the DVD one lately for restaurant finding so offhand I can't tell you if it goes by type - I can check that out if you want. I know it does sort by distance and have phone numbers (which would probably dial if the system was hooked up to the phone) and you can also search within various mile ranges - ie I searched for Starbucks once in a 25 mile range when I was on a trip (needed an iced coffee ).

 

It's great for restaurant finding...I use my DVD Nav as my 411 now - saves alot of time...

Definitely go for the nav, you won't be disappointed!

 

Yes, thumbs up for the OEM Nav/GPS ... i didn't even think of getting this option when i was shopping, the dealer had a less then a yr old '04MCS that was just traded in for the new '05 conv., it had 6k miles on it (fully loaded), so i saved some $$$$ buying used and got everything .

Definitly check out some used Mini's, you could find a great deal... If you can swing the $$$$ on a new one, get the OEM Nav, the design is great (integrated into the style of the car), bonus factor among the friends and my Bro and Sis and their friends... I use all the time, i drive alot. The '04 disc software has alot of features on it, maybe call the dealer and ask what features on the new '06 Nav. disk...

Best of luck with your new Mini,
MotorOn.