Definitely be more jealous about the Countryman!

 

Nope, guess someone got their head stuck in it or something. Now we just need someone to crash while holding the switch and sure them so they can change it back again.

Funny, my 03 had express open on the sunroof but not the windows. Now it is the exact opposite.

 

Congratulations TunaBall (could you explain your NAM name).

Nice to see your write-up, you beat me by a day, I will pick up our CM this afternoon.

Enjoy CES, give your impressions of the new tech. in off-topic.

Don

 

All I can say is this is a MINI and it's not!

First impressions, solid, door closure makes me think of a luxury sedan, think high end old school.

Its not Elegant, but think elite. (Is that the adjective).

CM is very quiet, the Conti All-season tires do not slap like the Dunlop RFs did on my 07 MCS, so I may keep them.

Lots of power, but you know your pulling a heavy all wheel drive machine.

I was able to cruise on I25 Southbound with the traffic and pull around some big azz trucks, prime time between 5:30 and 6PM.

This is not the Interstate you want to be on at this time on the North side of Denver.

I posted some pictures and a picasa link over in the CM picture thread.

Enjoy, I wonder if I can sneak all the break-in miles on Thursday.

Btw, this is my wife's CM, once she has it I may never get to drive it again.

 

Yeah, about TunaBall. In the past I'd always chose "MacGuy" as my username. Being an early person on the Internet it was always available and Macs weren't that popular. As Apple gained popularity "MacGuy" was not available as a username a lot of the time. I joked with friends that I needed to find something completely random that would always be available. You know, something crazy like "TunaBall". Well, randomly, it stuck. So I generally use the same username everywhere and if I find it is taken, it is usually because I don't remember signing up for that name. I've always thought about coming up with something cooler, but it fits the need. So generally anywhere, I'm TunaBall. Like @TunaBall on twitter, or any other forum. Anyways.... You asked.

So, although I beat you by a day on picking up the Countryman, Mine's been sitting at the airport for a couple days now... So you're still way ahead of me. ;-)

 

Thanks Tunaball, I have a handle like that too. old81 or archer, but archer seemed to get popular for some reason. :(

Ours is sitting in the garage until the wife gets some time to go motoring. I keep it clean for her.

 

So, my Countryman arrived at the dealer yesterday. Was hoping on picking it up Monday apparently PDI is taking much longer at the dealer than usual (Nav codes and some other nuisances), it may not be until Tuesday. Oh, and there was a snowstorm this morning.

My MA was kind enough to send me this pic of our Countryman...

 

I sure hope they got a chance to wash and do a little polish before the snow storm.

Yes, the NAV code can be a bugger, took 2 faxes/emails from Germany before our code worked.

It's in the details. Watch out for swirls.

 

Your Countryman looks kind of sad & forlorn, waiting for its forever home!

 

looks like you picked the right color!

... as for NAV codes, etc, really? how hard can this be? Cars have had complex computers in them for decades... grrrr.

anyhow, I can't imagine how good it must have felt to finally see a picture.

 

You might want to consider re-ordering the car. It looks like the factory screwed up the paint job, they continued the white roof all the way down the hood and sides of the car!

 

Thanks for the much needed laugh!

 

I hear ya. Since Nav is HD based now it's not as simple as inserting a CD or DVD anymore. Apparently something is amiss in the code provisioning process which is causing cars to arrive with either no code or an invalid code. And the codes are generated in Germany. I'm remarkably calm considering. Oh and I'm home alone with our three boys (8, 4 and 2) while my wife is gone on a 10 day cruise with her dad. Snowed in. No Countryman. And the Wii broke. Just my luck

 

Hey Midnight..Congrats!

Really looking forward to photos when she's all "plowed" and cleaned up! I think Cosmic Blue is one of my favorites..haven't seen that color yet at my dealer.

 

Looks awesome, and we picked the same color (although mine with black roof). Cannot wait. I just drove by Mini of Baltimore today just to see what was in. They have about 5 on the lot, but none I'd go for. It's going to be a long wait.

 

Drove down 110 miles with the fam to drive an all4 s. My true blue/black roof and 18 inch black wheels is due to arrive in 2 weeks. Had a hankering to at least drive one before I got mine.

1st impressions:
Exterior colors that were in stock were all good. Royal grey, cosmic blue are good. I have to admit I had second thoughst about true blue after seeing some pics of the other colors. I walked around the corner at the dealer and there was a true blue in the sun. It was outstanding. A touch of silverish blue in the direct sunlight. With a black roof and viper reverse stripes it will be great.

Interior: the build quality and plastics/buttons, etc are exponentially better than my 08 clubman S. The plastic looks high quality. The lines, colors and fit look a ton better. Seats are much more confortable than my clubman carbon black leather and I got to sit in cloth, leathers, and leatherette today. The back seat is great. My kids sat in the back without difficulty. Booster for one car seat for the other. Plenty of room even behind my 6'3" frame in drivers seat. My wife sat behind be for a bit and was comfy. I sat back there but I'm not sure why! the rail is kinda neat. Played with one that had connected. The screen is smaller than I thought but is very clear and much like the new android and iPhone screens. The armrest is kinda in the way but it is doable.

Drive:
The ride on the 18's is exponentially better. The countryman seems umpteen decibels quieter than my clubbie with my summer 17 nonrunflats as well as my 16 Michelin primacy alpins. The engine is quetier too. Absolutely no rattles unlike my clubby that has many. The suspension non sport was outstanding. Quiet without clunking even in our Indiana midjanuary potholes. I did not feel as if my kidneys and bladder were about to rupture at every little road crack. My wife pointed out that we should have hAd this insted of clubbie when she was nine months pregnant! It still had the go kart feel but did roll a bit on the onramps at 80 the engine is peppy and I can tell that this engine has more horsepower than my clubbie. Can also tell with acceleration that the cman is a few hundred pounds heavier. Same can be said for braking but by no means is it glaringly obvious.

All in all I am extremely happy that mine is coming in 2 weeks or less. This car feels and looks like a MINI with build quality and ride of it cousin the Bimmer. Now the final wait and countdown. I will miss my clubbie but this is a better more realistic car for my family and life (without giving up my "MINI")!

 

Picked up my wife's CM today and she asked if I wanted to drive it out of the garage at the dealer. I said, "it's your car, you can drive it initially." It was snowing from the time we got there and then all the way home (15 mi). Roads were only wet since they had treated the surfaces. Our road coming in to our development was slightly snow covered. No problems in the snow.
This was the first time we've experienced the ride quality and handling. It was a very comfortable drive. My wife said that she likes the way it handles over her Audi A4 that we traded in.
I will be driving it tomorrow. Can't wait. Will give my feedback tomorrow.
Pictures will be up in a little while.

 

Please post some good pics after you pick it up, I am very curious to see your color combo!

 

Congrats on getting your car! Post more feedback when you can.

 

Does anybody have pics of the interior lights?? Im very curious

 

Here is a shot of our rear rail (2 piece). I had a hard time getting shots of the doors. I also took of a video of the interior with the lighting set to continuous color change. That was a little hard to distinguish. All I can say is it is very cool.
My MA didn't even know the door inserts lit up. Can you believe that? She said multiple times that I know more about the car than them. That's sad.

 

Sorry I didn't post anything last night. I took my wife's car out Saturday night and it was snowing pretty hard. Roads were covered and icy. Not wanting to get in an accident, I took it easy on the icy stuff. I didn't have any problems with traction.

Yesterday my wife let me drive it as we went shopping. I'm very impressed with the ride comfort, the cloth/leather seat comfort, steering feel and overall quality of the car. It's very responsive in acceleration and handling. Body roll is much better than I thought it would be.
The car was well worth the wait.

Our dealer has 4 for sale...problem is they're all slushboxes. I think there's a stick at a dealer an hour from me. I would like to test drive the stick w/ sport package and 18" rims. The only problem would be test driving 18" w/ performance summer tires in this cold w/ snow. Not a good thing.

 

Excellent! Glad to hear you are enjoing the Countryman.

 

nice thanks!! If u'll put the video of the changing lights tell me something

 

I'll take a video tonight with my Motorola Droid X hi def video. Hopefully I'll be able to upload it onto the forum.