Right you are, Rob! We were looking at the Clubman and the X3 in 2008 and I knew ONE of them was made at MS. In the end, we decided we liked the Clubman over the X3 but needed a bit more room. Also, we couldn't see spending the additional $7,000 for the X3...

Curious how you would compare your Clubman with the Countryman? Probably two different animals, but what have been your pros and cons between the two?

 

Congratulations! Maybe you'll make it up to Bremerhaven for the 11/17 departure of WW's "Glorious Leader"!

 

Does it matter that it's coming to Memphis or do they load on the 'first available' ship after completion?

 

Mine was completed on Friday (11/11/11) so hopefully it makes the next departure to Port Hueneme on the 19th. If does not I can kiss that MotorTober rebate goodbye...

 

Ask Mini told me the same thing today! And my MA told me earlier in the week that my scheduled completion date was 11/14. Maybe our CMs are sitting right next to each other!

Mine will be coming into Brunswick, GA. Looks like for me the 3 best ship options are the Integrity (Bremerhaven 11/16, GA 12/03), the Glorious Leader (Bremerhaven 11/17, GA 12/05), or the Courage (Bremerhaven 11/18, GA 12/09). After that it would be the Topeka on 11/23, arriving in GA on 12/10.

I doubt it will make the Integrity, but I hope it makes it onto the Glorious Leader! It would be really cool if all of us end up on the same boat!

 

Also, just in case anyone was interested, I thought I'd post this. On the OL, there's a link to a Mini plant production video, but (for me at least) when you click on it, it gives you a 404 File Not Found error. I found this video on YouTube. Not sure if it's the same as the one the OL links to, but it gives you a great tour of the production process!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3FCHNe_hhY

(Sorry, I tried to embed it, but I can't get it to work)

 

My CM will be going to Brunswick, GA as well

I too am hoping for one of those 3 ships on the 16th, 17th or 18th.....

 

Will the OL tell us which ship we're on? I assume mine would be coming to GA too.

 

Yes, SoonerMack, you have MORE chances to get to the US than we NY VDC folks do! Unfortunately, the only way to identify your ship is to search the WW ships using the last seven characters of your VIN for the "Cargo ID" number. If you are on a K-Line ship, I believe there isn't a way search for your car.

BTW -- I believe that MINIs Order System accessed by your MA used to reference the ship name or ship ID. I'm not sure if that is still the case, however.

 

For those following the transport process, this web site has some good info (for BMW, but the shipping part is the same):
http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/14/ho...d-to-delivery/

 

Thanks Koopah! Great info.

 

Hey, thanks for the link! The tour on the web site was useless. I was surprised to learn that 80% of MINIs are custom made, and no two cars produced in a model year are exactly alike.

 

If you have the spec sheet from your order that your MA should have given you it will tell you what port your car will be shipped to.

 

Port loc. = SSIPOA

 

SSIPOA = Brunswick, Georgia port

Your MA can tell you the shipping vessel. Not all shipping lines will provide tracking.

 

I had my MA check on the "birth date" and she sent a copy of the sheet from MINI indicating an actual production date of 11/11/11 for mine, too!!! It also shows that the cross rails are to be installed at port, so that will slow her up a bit. I grew up in Baltimore, though, so could give her some ideas of places to check out while she's waiting for her bars!

 

Just got word from my MA that my car is done.... now just have to wait for a ship to take her to me.... OL still shows in production. I guess OL is always late anyway.... now the long wait continues... here's hoping that I get on a ship soon to be united with my new toy..... Cheers.....

 

awaiting transport! cant wait

 

The Clubman handles better, is significantly faster around corners and more fun to drive, the CM has more room and a slightly nicer interior, the ride is also more comfortable, not that any MINI on sports suspension is going to ride like a Golf, one is a MINI the other is a Golf competitor which looks like a MINI. I like them both but they are very different from each other.

If I was living in the US (so much cheaper than in Europe, especially Norway) and in the market for a Cooper S CM I'd probably buy a Golf GTi or R, IMO the CM makes sense if you buy the Justa or Dooper, but there are much better cars available as alternatives to the S.

 

I know for a fact that that is not true, my dealer placed an order for an identical car to mine when a person looked at it before I collected mine, he wanted a car exactly the same as mine so the dealer submitted my order again, it pissed me off, now there are two MINI's (out of a total to date of 11) in my town that are 100% identical.

 

Confirmed completion today and Boomer is headed to port of exit! We just may all be on the same boat ... we're already IN the same boat.

 

okay, so finally a real update on my CM base order saga....my SM told me that he has confirmed that there is a production delay till the end of the month (for whatever reason) on base countryman...so he is keeping my order but is also putting another one in for my countryman but the S version. so whichever one comes in first...that is the one i will probably buy. he did tell me that the turbo issues have been resolved with the 2012s and that was a concern of mine.

 

Just checked the shipping schedule, seems to have changed from what we were seeing before.

Integrity and Glorious Leader now both leaving on the 16th (with Integrity due in GA 2 days before GL). The Courage is next out now on 11/19

 

We will be a two-MINI family soon. The '00 328i gets sold and replaced with the CM-S. We need the space for the dog and trips. However, we'll still have the '04 MCS JCW (a bit tweaked for the track) to scoot around for fun.

Looking back, had we bought a Clubman in 2008 we'd still have a space problem but would have TWO MINIs that could be thrashed about! On the other hand, after six decades of sports car and motorcycle adventures taking a toll on my body, I must admit that the more comfortable accommodations of the CM are actually quite welcomed!

Thanks