Great pics. It looks like your bulldog is going to be having the time of his life too

I thought I'd share these as well:

I don't know if you've seen them but they add another level of 'cool' to your MINI for not a lot of money :-D

 

Those puddle lights look awesome. I'm really liking how much you can personalize this car. That for sharing UV

 

Well, finally going to pick up my new MINI on Monday. It has been a long wait. Sat in Baltimore for two weeks waiting for a truck coming my way. Minor panic a week ago when I called ASK - MINI and they said it was at the dealer. False alarm. Called my dealer and was told "Oh, your MA no longer works here. Let me have someone call you back." Not exactly the experience I was hoping for. Sure hope Monday goes well.

 

I had the same false alarm myself. Car did show up two days later. Hang in there, You should be motoring shortly.

 

My Mini arrived at the VDC in California this past Thursday, and my MA predicts that it will be ready for pickup on the 18th or 19th. Since I'm having a roof decal, and a few other accessories installed, I'm thinking it might take longer. These accessories were installed by the dealer on my last Mini, and it took 6 days to be ready for pick up before those accessories were installed. I'm just hoping I can take possession before the 30th, so I can take advantage of the $1000 discount. I would be interested in knowing if others had accessories installed at the VDC and how long it took.

 

Mine came with bonnet stripes. Not sure if they are a VDC install or factory. Mine was originally slated to hit the dealership on 3 Jun, Actually made it there on the 7th (picked it up on the 8th).

 

I was under the impression from my MA that the bonnet stripes are installed at the factory, but all other accessories are installed at the VDC, except for the clear bra, which is a dealer install.

 

I hope today goes well for you, LittleRed. Keep us posted! Having it sit in Baltimore for two weeks was agonizing I'm sure! Just rest assured it will be well worth it when you are motoring in style later today

 

I think you are correct on the bonnet stripes being a factory install. Lets hope they can get your extras installed and off to your dealer in short order. The "waits" can be maddening.

 

Well, finally able to drive home in LittleRed2. Everything I hoped for. Looks like I have to do some programming to get things tweaked the way I want and adding a bra for some protection later this week. All part of the "Me-ification" process I guess. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Here are the pics.

 

Congratulations! Let the fun begin

 

That's great! It's so satisfying to be able to not only take delivery, but to stop agonizing over whether the car is at the port, on the ship, at the VDC, etc! It's nice to just finally have it at home in the garage. Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

As an aside - I had never had my windows tinted before but I did it with the MINI at the recommendation of some friends. If you're located somewhere that gets a lot of sun I HIGHLY recommend it. I live in Raleigh, NC and we're currently in a 100 degree stretch this week. I'm amazed at how much cooler the inside of the car is after having it done. I will do that on all my cars from now on.

 

Congrats on taking your "baby" home. Tweaking is mandatory. Still in the process of doing that with ours. Even after reading the manual I'm still left with questions and some head scratching. So it's plenty of "in car" experimenting.

The manual talks about Parked Car ventilation. Still scratching my head over that one after reading it a half dozen times. Makes sense initially, then again after reading further it doesn't

I'm spending some time parked with engine running, manual in hand, fiddling with settings.

Making a list of questions for our "Second Date" with Mini.

Pictures of your new car are mandatory.

 

How dark did you go on your tint? Did you go with different levels of tint between front and back? I have heard that you don't necessarily have to go very dark to get the interior quite a bit cooler.

 

I went with 30%, and as I said it made a world of difference. We hit 100 in Raleigh today and while it was definitely hot it wasn't unbearable inside the car like before the tinting. It's really incredible stuff

 

My MINI has been at Halifax, Canada since 6/11. 2wglobal shown as "Delivered from", and i have no idea what that mean. I though it means the car has been released to shipper (truck), But when i called my Sale rap, he said that the car is still at Halifax, won't be here (toronto, Canada) till July 2 or so. I ordered my car on 4/24. Such a long wait!!

 

You can probably get more detail if you call 1-866-ASK-MINI and speak to a customer service representative. From my experience, they tend to have the best information, especially once the car is off the ship.

Did you have any accessories added to your MINI? I seem to remember some people posting about being delayed at the VDC if they ordered non-standard accessories that had to be added at the VDC.

 

I called 1-866-ASK-MINI twice actually, both representatives told me that all they can see its the car has arrived at the port, after that the dealership would have more info. I will keep waiting... and who know how long my car till stay there till. 55 days and counting. & No, i don't have any accessories added to my MINI.

 

This is a little known feature that works BEAUTIFULLY for those in warmer climates. I have been using it a lot lately with the gorgeous weather we're having here. My car is parked outside all day while I'm at work.

What is does, is you set a timer and at that specific time, the car's fans come on and basically help air out the car, even when the car is off. It does this for 10-15 minutes then switches back off, but the end result is your car doesn't have that stagnant, hot, stuff air when you get in at the end of your day.

It's under SETTINGS --> CLIMATE. There are two timers you can set and they will take effect in the next 24 hours. They reset every time so you have to set them everyday, if you wish.

I usually get out of work around 6:30 so I have mine set for about 6. I've sometimes gotten in my car while it was still running and you can hear the fans going, even with the car off. The fan symbol on the climate controls will flash to let you know it's working.

 

I experienced the same thing although when I tracked the ship that my Mini was on, I could see that it had already reached the destination port on 6/11 in California. When I checked 2wglobal, it just said Delivered (from Southampton), then a few days later it showed that it had cleared customs. My MA said that it was sent to the VDC on 6/12, but who knows how long it will be there.

 

A mysterious package was waiting on my doorstep when I got home today.

Hmm, what on earth can this be? It feels quite heavy.


A tin?


Does this mean what I think it means?


Chocolate chip cookies! My dealership rocks


Wish I could share 'em with you all!

 

Very nice, DS! That's fantastic. Please be sure to describe in detail how they taste so we don't feel like we're missing out

 

It amazes me how different the dealers are, from ZIP to over the top

 

Really sorry to hear of the delay. Very strange that it's being held up. I was told that shippers won't release trucks unless they have a full load of cars for delivery. That may be the problem (I think that's what held mine up a few days in getting to my dealership).

Not sure how many MINI and BMW dealerships you have between POE and your MINI dealership, but without a full load your car could be "marking time" until the next boat arrives.

Lets hope that's not the case and yours is on it's way.

 

How very cool. Those MINI dealerships that seem to embrace the MINI mystique certainly are a delight to deal with. Ummm I can almost taste those cookies all the way down here.