Nothing in this thread is important. There is a short lull here at work and I'm a little bored.

While checking how many F56 MINIs are at my dealer, their inventory system says they have 3 2015 Justa Hardtops in stock. Huh? How could they have gotten those? Since the VIN numbers are with the cars I punched them into the BMW VIN Decoder. The model year isn't displayed anywhere and all three were made in late June, early July. I suspect they're 2014s but am not sure how a dealer could sell them as 2015s. Any ideas?

Link to the dealer page: http://www.townemini.com/VehicleSear...visitedVD=true


Secondly, when I check out the cars in the BMW VIN Decoder, they come up with photos (or renderings). When I drop the VIN of my ordered but imprisoned 2015 I get no photos (or renderings). Does anyone with a 2015 ordered get a photo (or rendering) of their car? My wife's 2014 Coupe (just delivered) has pics but not mine. I thought maybe it wasn't updated for 2015s and if so then it's proof the three at my dealer aren't really 2015s.

Link to the BMW VIN Decoder: http://www.bmwarchive.org/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html

None of this matters but, darn it, I'm curious!

 

Strange that they all have the exact same picture ... makes me think that the 2015's aren't on the lot yet, or they'd have a pic of the actual car.

When I bought my 2014 two weeks ago -- off the lot -- the dealer said they had been told a predicted 3 months til they had any 2015's to sell off the lot. Granted, that's west coast, and east coast might get them a wee bit sooner. And they probably overestimated time til arrival.

Strangely, though, one of the two dealers I was looking at had new 2013's as well as new 2014's for sale. Go figure.

 

I did the BMW VIN decoder and there are a couple of interesting things


Yes there is a picture of my car, two views one head on and one of the dash. My car Was completed on 8/3 and has been at the VDC since 8/20.


Secondly the list of stuff has changed. It used to have a line that said "emergency spare wheel". That line is now gone.


So my MA was right. He assured me that even though the car is a Justa with 16" wheels that it would not have a spare.

 

Look at your drivers side door jam. There should be a plate there, it should have "xx/xxxx" on it, that is your build date.

The build date should reflect the year model, but you need to know when in 2014 did the cars become 2015 e.g., a 09/2014 could be a 2014 year model, and a 10/2014 could be a 2015 year model.

Motor on!

 

The 10th position of VIN indicates model year ... in this case an "F" which is 2015.

These 3 cars have been spec'd by the dealer and probably stuck at the VPC just like customer spec'd 2015s. If you view details on the cars it states "Manufacturer Photos ... May not represent actual vehicle".

 

Code S300A is the spare wheel . My build was 8/8. Car is at VPC since 8/21. I have 16" Victory Spokes All Season on a Justa. Spare wheel is still on BMW Vin Decoder. Dealer has re-assured me several a spare is in the car.

 

Sure, why not?!
I work for a major vehicle manufacturer (not MINI!) and we can sell next year model as early as January of the current year.
Typically though September is the most popular month that next year's models show up at dealerships. But if there is no big changes from the current yearmode, they can show up much sooner. And vice versa if there is a big change, or a complete new model and some issues develop, then they may show up much later (sometimes never as in the case of 2014 KIA Forte SX 1.6 Turbo 5-Door).

 

Wow, it's not a big deal but it would nice if I could know that what's on the list is really on the list and that it won't just disappear tomorrow

 

I think Mini screwed the pooch by at least not calling the F56 a 2014.5. It's still hard getting vendors to understand this isn't an "R" car when all the other 2014's are!

 

Yes, they certainly did. My wife's 2014 Clubman, purchased a week after my 2014 F56 Hardtop, actually is an "R". She's been the lucky recipient of a few goodies I purchased online that were advertised as compatible with the F56, but actually weren't.

RichSz: I'm in Western NY as well, and purchased mine from Mini of Rochester. Based on my experiences with the dealer's web site, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Towne Mini made an error in listing those as 2015s.

 

I'll bet if the first F56s had been officially 2015s, or if they had continued to manufacture 2014s until the EPA had approved the 2015s, they could have avoided the current problems. I'll also bet someone got some grief over this.

 

I think all production after 1 of June is 2015 I just got my F56 Cooper S last week here in Mexico and it's 2015 production date is 06/09/2014.

All the previous shipments were 2014 and my MA didn´t knew for sure if the ones arriving by mid July were 2014´s or 2015´s, luckily for me they were 2015´s

 

According to the VINs they are 2015 models.

MINI of San Francisco has 7 Cooper and 1 Cooper S 2015 models listed on their site.

 

These are all actual 2015 F56 models.

Unfortunately, they are all at the VDC with "Delivery Stop" notifications. The dealers know these vehicles are in their inventory so they are listing them on the websites. However, if you went to the dealer, they would not have the vehicle physically on their lot or available for sale.

 

How do you know that? I'm not doubting you, I'm trying to understand your methodology.

 

I have a source that can run the VIN with the manufacturer. The VINs listed on the Towne MINI website show at VDC with Delivery Stop notification.

I don't claim to know everything, but I like to help when I can, especially if the information can clear something up or help prevent mass panic

 

I am also aware that 26 2014 MINI F56 models were built with "F" designation VIN labels. The customers who own or purchase these vehicles will be notified of the error and correction (if any).

All MINIs manufactured before July 1st, 2014 are in fact 2014 MY vehicles. No US (OR Canada) bound or produced 2015 F56 models have been sold or sent to dealer lots. I cannot speak for Mexico, but I would be surprised if any have made it there either.

 

Cool, thanks for the info! That's a great source you have.

 

By "manufactured," does that mean the start date - or the completion date? Mine entered production in June, but completed July 4.

 

start date.

 

Hmmm... something more to wonder about while my car sits in jail. I definitely started production before 1 July, but my VIN build sheet has my production date as 4 July and designation as 2015. My VIN also shows the Driver Assistant package (which I ordered) that was not available until 2015 MY. I don't think MINI could have made this any more confusing if they had tried.

 

Wasn't week 27 the first week of 2015 builds? If so this week started with Sunday June 29. Your car might have started production on Monday the 30th but I'm not sure it takes as long as 5 days to build a car.

 

Week 27 was the first week of 2015 builds. That week overlapped the last couple of days from June and early July. Some of the 2015 were started in June, but I don't believe any were completed until the first couple days of July.

I have one of the earlier 2015's (still in prison) and I believe it started around June 25 and was completed on July 3rd.

 

Your MINI was one of the first of the changeover. There was a slight overlap with the last couple days of June.

 

How many days does take to build a MINI?