I ordered my car on Monday. A black on black MINI cooper S countryman all4 .My dealer first notified me yesterday (Thursday) that the system "threw out" the order because I ordered it with the navigation. There are parts for the Nav system that were being manufactured in Japan, and there are a shortage of them right now.
I'm paying cash for my car and plan to have it for a long time. I'd prefer to have everything in the car exactly the way I've planned, so I've decided to just wait until the order is accepted by the system, hopefully it won't be a long wait for that to happen.
I just wanted to warn everyone here that the Nav may be a problem with orders right now, so you won't be surprised as I was.

 

Add auto transmission to that list too...

 

I didn't have a problem with the auto trans, that is what I ordered. The MA said I could have everything but the NAV right now.

 

Yes, that's what i've been told too.. atleast we know they are not lying to us...

 

Glad to know it's a legit issue. Thanks for clarifying !

What did you decide to do? Order it without the Nav or wait?

 

Me and my wife are going back to the dealer this weekend.. Our MA is looking at their inventory (other Mini Dealers too) and see if we would find a similar (or close).. I'm not sure we could wait that long.. They told us the earliest delivery if we order would be end of Aug. or early Sept.

 

Well...good luck to you both. I hope you'll be able to find something you like soon.
As for me, I'm going to wait. We have other vehicles, so it's not a matter of 'need' so much as 'want', and I rather just wait until they can give me what I ordered.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys!!

 

The Nav is not worth it.

 

The automatic transmission for the base is made in Japan, the one for the S is made somewhere else.

 

I have an S, the window sticker says country of origin for the transmission is Japan and the engine is France, Possibly the transmissions are made elsewhere too...

 

My MA told me that because most dealerships have run out of their allotments and the auto trans are in short/no supply, other dealerships are less likely to trade their allotments or their auto trans on the lots. But you seem to be having better luck than most on these boards. Good luck to you with that and please tell us the outcome.

 

I played hookey and met an awesome MA who let me test drive a few different cars. I used connected with nav and while nav isn't much to write home about, connected was cool since I was able to output audio from my droid and it sounds like they're working on an android verios of the mini connected app.

Anyway, I was told by the MA that auto transmission and connected are no go until the MY2012. He guessed that late august or September delivery was the leading candidate for when those items would be delivered, but didn't have anything concrete. He also mentioned that dealers here aren't trading, so Wysiwyg when it comes to cars with either of the limited parts.

I'm waiting until orders are accepted for 2012 since I too want to have my MINI me-a-fied. There's a car due in next week thats got almost everything I want in a different color, but I'd rather wait than settle. Good luck to folks out there in a similar boat!

 

... My MA also mentioned that Toyota, Honda and BMW are just a few other makes having similar types of issues. Apparently getting a 3 or 5 series is difficult to get UNLESS you have nav!

Just emphasizes that the auto industry is global for many brands...

 

Transmission on our S All4 is from Belgium.

 

I love my 2011 Countryman S but the Navigation was a waste of my money, and is now a waste of my time. The set-up is not intuitive. The driving directions are far from efficient. And the map appearance is lousy. And did I mention it does not speak the street names? The navigation on my 2005 MCS was better!

I'd suggest going with the Connected sans Nav, and using one of the many cool navigation apps on the cell phone.

 

In response to those that feel the navigation system is not worth the effort, I can only say that I feel the opposite. I had the feature in my 2008 MC and now also in the C-Man. I'd be "lost" without it and find it lives up to its stated purpose to keep me away from and out of trouble. I think you will be sorry if you get your car other than the way you want it. My two cents.