No pictures yet, unfortunately, but I'm now the proud owner of an '07 CR/B MCSa. Nic II has the Premium and Cold Weather Packages, as well as Xenons and black OEM bonnet stripes. He was a blast to drive home from Memphis. Since they had such a pitiful selection of '07 MCSm's remaining matching my color desires and price range, I was even able to drive him back. We had planned to get a manual, in which case I would've had to learn to drive it, but the MY w/black rims inside was the only one that really jumped out at me and it was sooooo bare bones. Btw, little plug: if you've been eyeing that car, now is the time. They're really wanting to move it apparently.

Two huge thumbs up to Carl, Jan, and everyone at Roadshow for bending over backwards to get us as much trade in value on Nic I as they could, as well as carrying over the negative equity and making our payments reasonable. I figure we've probably paid Carl at least a month's salary by now(!), but he has never ceased to be anything but as helpful as possible. He was even very patient with me and my lack of an in depth study of economics. I tell ya, there's very little out there that's as complicated as financing. Give me chemistry and physics problems any day!

The future of Nic II is likely going to involve blacking out several of his chrome aspects, and *maybe* replacing his OEM stripes with something more akin to the Phat stripes I had before. I'm also planning to get him a new set of darker rims - anyone looking for a set of new 16" Sidewinders for cheap?

I'll update tomorrow with pics. I look forward to seeing everyone on the 19th!

 

Hey, looks great! I have to ask, did your change have anything to do with chasing Popeye on our drive? I know the first thing you said when we got back to the house was a comment on how fast Popeye is and I just wondered if that may have influenced your change. I'm glad you did it, whatever the reason. Take care, drive like ya stole it.

 

I might be interested in the rims. I'll need need tires in a few months, I could save them and replace my 15s with 16s. I assume there is no problem putting 16s on my car? (I'm so 'car' dumb, lol)

Are they chrome or dull like mine? I'll have a look saturday

 

Heh, it's a fair question. It didn't really affect my decision - as I've wanted an S since I got Nic I. It did illustrate the differences a little better to me though I suppose. There were a number of factors that went into the decision, not the least of which being the performance and aesthetics.

 

They are dull. And no, you shouldn't have a problem putting 16s on your car.

 

By the way, if you decide to get them, I'll give ya a good deal

 

Great! I'm going to get the guy's info from you for stripes also. If he does them that cheap and did a good job for you, I'll get some.. I want chrome, but I'm thinking that may be too much. But everyone seems to have black on red, and I don't want white.. decisions decisions. Ideally I'd like to have black with a wider than pinstrip chrome border. I got the impression he can make stripes?
So, can I drive Nic II for a small stretch? I know how I am with my car so it's asking alot. But you can trust a fellow mini owner can't you ;-) I just want to see how differently an S drives.

 

Yeah, the guy in Russellville (Jeff, e-mail addy is jautograpics@yahoo.com), can make custom stripes. We went up to his shop, and he has all the cutting equipment and rolls of vinyl. He told Mark he could've made him those stripes and installed them for around $45, just to give an idea. He told me my blackout job would be around $100, but it'll be a bit more now since I'm thinking of having him apply reverse viper stripes all the way from the front bumper to the back.

As for driving Nic II, yeah I'm not as paranoid as some drivers. Heck, I let a few people drive Nic I the day or two after I got him. We'll take him out while we're still in Conway if you want. He's an auto, btw, can't remember if Toro is stick or auto.

 

Toro is auto, but I know how to drive a stick. I got auto because pretty often I'm stuck in traffic on I40 to LR and didn't want the hassle of a stick, I kind of wish I had it though. I drive in sport mode pretty often, once I had the nerve to try it I really like it, especially for taking off!

After lunch we can trade and take a whirl up the hill and back, then switch back and head to LR

 

Sounds good. Yeah, I've never really learned how to drive a stick sufficiently, but I really need to now that Mark has a manual. I'm kinda glad I got Nic II in an auto though...it would've been difficult (and I'm impatient!) learning to drive a stick well enough to drive him on a regular basis.

As for the sport mode...in an auto I don't really like it. It keeps the car in too high of a gear and the downshifting is too aggressive. I haven't actually tried it in Nic II, but in Nic I it would throw me forward from the downshifting.

 

yeah, i've experienced that with downshifting also, but I've pretty much got it where that doesn't happen... if I downshift first, I know when it's coming and it doesn't seem to jerk as hard that way.

I mostly use it when passing or at first take off