Anybody know when dealers are supposed to start getting in their non-special order countrymen to sell? We are trying to decide on our color and I just can't bring myself to order a color without seeing it in person.

 

I know this may not help but since back when I bought my 09 the demand was high so there were no cars sitting on the lot plus much of the fun of having/buying a MINI is making it yours. Last time I was in my dealer however, they had sample of the paint and interior colors on large (approx 6x9) pieces of metal and fabric. While I know that isnt at all optimal and doesnt even come close to representing a entire car painted a certain color, it is much better than a picture online because you can actually see the paint color on the same metal and how it looks in the sunlight etc...just a thought. Like I said, I may not be much help.

 

Although my dealer had the color tiles, unfortunately they were permanently affixed to the wall so you couldn't take them outside and see how they looked in real sunlight. When I got my 03, I walked all around with those color tiles to get a good feel for the color.

 

I don't think there's a set answer to the OP's question. When an individual dealer gets "lot" cars will depend entirely on how diligent they've been about getting customer cars sold and ordered prior to the Countryman's launch. I think every dealer is supposed to get "launch demo" cars in the next week or so, but of course they will only represent one or two color/option combos. The dealer where I just recently picked up my car told me they've sold out the first couple month's allotments already and will have only the demos on the lot.

 

Our dealer was allotted 13 cars of which 3 are" lot" cars. That being said, I'm quite sure they ordered the 3 when our car was ordered. Our car will reach the VDC on the 2nd. That would put the vehicles at the dealer the week of the 10th.

 

The number of lot cars unclaimed for will depend on-

How many Countrymans will be alloted per dealership
How many pre-orders each dealership has to fill for now- the higher the demand and the more the backlog the less likely there will be any lot cars for the first few months until the demand is less than the allocation.
How many pre-orders fall through and are not purchased once they are either shipped or arrive at the dealership.
How inclined a dealership is to have at least one test drive Countryman on hand to show and tell and to promote the newest MINI- seems reasonable.

My dealership says they will have a few in mid January to show the public during a rollout party.

 

lindseybp,

I am in LA, and my local dealer just got 8 cars in stock, none of which are sold. Another local LA dealer near me got 8 also, all for stock, none spoken for. We are lucky, we have 9 dealers in the LA area, so plenty to choose from.

I agree with you, go look at all the colors before you decide. The configurator does not really show what the color looks like, I am sure you probably knew that.

I just looked at the 8 cars at my local dealer, mini of Universal City, on christmas eve last week, and I was going to order a white ALL4 S with black roof and black 18" rims, but when I saw the surf blue, I was sold!

So that is what I ordered, a surf blue exterior, black roof, black 18" rims, and pretty much loaded. I think it looks awesome, different, and rich. Then again, I own an interchange yellow mini now, so I am no stranger to "out there colors". I am not into the usual white, black, silver, red cars, just think mini's should be a unique color to match there unique-ness as a car.

 

Thanks for the info. Stopped in and the local Mini dealer again today and they had a true blue "lot car" in stock. Just waiting to see a red before we order. Hopefully soon.

 

Towne MINI in Buffalo has an white All-4 and a green one (Cooper S, i think). Also a Coffee colored one (Cooper, i think)

 

I assume that having vehicles available for test drive would be a requirement to be a dealer right?

 

Not really. My dealer buddy told me they are alloted a couple of demo duty cars, but it's really up to them what they do with them. He indicated they will try to keep a couple variations on hand at least in the beginning, but since they've already sold a couple months worth sight unseen, the lack of demos doesn't seem to be keeping people from buying them.

 

I'm told there is one on the lot in El Paso now.

 

Some of the So Cal dealers have Countrymans on their lots. I was at Mini of Monrovia and Mini of Ontario Mini yesterday. The salesperson in Monrovia said they had cars, but all were pre-sold. I asked if it would be possible to look at them as I wanted to see some in different colors before placing an order; he said no. Ontario Mini had a Royal Grey All-4 parked out front. The salesman came out and asked if I had any questions. I asked if he had received any other Countryman and in what colors. I wanted to see a Countryman in the new red color and he stated he did receive one. I asked if I could see the car and he then went inside and proceeded to show me a color sample; I then asked if it would be possible to see the actual car. He agreed and told me it was parked in the back, He grabbed some keys and said he would bring it up front. He then drove the car to the front, got out, locked it and walked inside the showroom. I thought he would come back out but never did. I can understand if it was a customer’s car and he could not leave it unlocked, but he should have said something to that effect. I also don’t think much of a salesperson that walks away from a customer or a dealership that would allow that to happen. If he needed to go inside for any reason he should have excused himself and said he would be back. I waited outside for about 10 min and then left. Just curious what experience others is having with the dealers when asking about the Countryman; my first two have been rather poor.

 

Any dealership that has presold all of their allocation is likely to have high demand and isn't interested in sales from a walkby. Probably they have other orders to call back or process and are busy. When business is good you will have to track them down if you are interested or wait until the frenzy is over in 6 months and come back.

It appears to be a sellers market at the places you visited. Keep looking or see if you can cut a deal on something on the lot. You might want a different salesperson since your last experience wasn't the greatest.

 

There is no such requirement. Dealerships can sell everything in sight and often do when demand outstrips supply/allocation on newer models which is very common with MINIs.

Test drive would be nice but impossible if-

All countrymans that arrive are presold, spoken for, or otherwise committed.

 

MINI of the Main Line got their first demo car a couple weeks ago and they are keeping it for test drives. Naturally they festooned it with dealer logos and such, but it is a long term test driver. Drove it myself last week in fact. It's an FWD S automatic in Royal Grey.