with center armrests!

 

I have to get the one in the showroom as the Indi Blue/White with sport package & Moonroof was 2-3 weeks away...that was in 2004. It's nice to know that after all this years...mini is still hot and in demand.

 

I bought mine off the lot, I was on my way to breakfast with a buddy and drove thru the lot, it was there, I was there, it was in my driveway that afternoon. First thing I did was remove the armrest tho, and I wave.......

 

My name is Ikeprof and I'm a lot buyer.

But I wave

I even wave at parked MINI's with no one in them just in case the driver is really short.

 

My MA said they had similar problems with listing them online. They'd get a few cars in for sale, list them online, and they'd all be sold within the next day or two. I think he said it takes at least a few days to take it off the website but that they'd gotten dozens of callers from people all over the US trying to get those cars that were listed.

I agree, it sucks, but they're in such high demand right now that the dealers can barely keep up.

 

That was funny!

 

I don't think so . . . I bought two of my five MINIs off the lot . . .

 

You guys sure took that comment personally. What is that now, 20 of you that say you bought off the lot. Okay, who's accounting for those other 264,673 MINIs that have been bought off the lot over the last 7 years ?

Lots of non-MINI enthusiasts accounted for most of them, I assure you. THAT was my point... not that NO miniacs buy off the lot.

wowzers.

 

I'll keep your quote going, Chris.

I was running some errands a couple of months ago and passed a MINI with a ton of mods on it. I pulled beside them and waved when the driver looked over. He kind of rolled his eyes and turned back forward and stuck his nose up in the air.

A couple of hours later we're walking across a parking lot at a store when the same car pulls in. I start talking to him (without telling him I was a MINI owner) and he's telling me about how long he had to wait for it when he ordered it, all the mods, etc. After a few minutes I told him he had a nice MINI, told him to have a nice day and then told him I was the driver of the MINI who waved at him earlier that day. I didn't say anything about his attitude earlier. I kind of had the feeling it wouldn't have mattered. He was an exception for the folks who order their MINI.

I'm an exception-and proud of it. I bought off the lot (GASP!!!! ) but we were fortunate. Our MINI was exactly how we had it built on MINIUSA with the exception of it having an automatic. We had built it both ways but decided to get a manual when we ordered it. Since it was there with an auto, we figured why wait? It allowed us to start motoring a lot earlier than we had expected. BTW, nothing taken personally here.

 

Interesting story, Mike. Wonder why someone who was so willing to talk about his MINI would not wave to you out on the road.

People are weird.

 

I am one of those exceptions.

I waited until the lots were chock full of '07 cars before I began looking for my '06. Saving a decent amount of money on a MINI isn't easy, but my timing was perfect and I saved $2K.

 

That's for sure. When he was talking to me he still had an "I'm better than everyone else" attitude.

Maybe he had been waved to SO many times he was tired of it.

 

He was acting like a Porsche owner then, huh ?

Yeah, maybe his MINI is SO great that even Chevy owners wave at him.

 

I was givin' ya a hard time that's why the winky thingy. I do think we have more "Mod Snobs" than clueless owners around here. With gas prices, it should even out pretty quick though.

 

I can surely agree with that, UJ !

BTW, glad to see you still around here when so many of the other long-timers have vanished.

 

I don't stray from OT very often. I didn't port and polish my own head, so not really qualified to post much tech info . . .

 

From one of your exceptions: Grrrr! On March 5th, 2002, I walked into the MINI dealership (Grand Opening day, I think) saw Farley, and said "Gimme". Took some negotiation (and a buyer who couldn't complete the financing), but I drove away three hours later with #13 off the lot... while most of you were still driving around in horribly ordinary cars. And that first year, almost everyone waved at me! Hardly ever saw another MINI to wave at, had to go to the dealership for an occasional 'bonding' day. And I still wave at every MINI I see. Always have, always will. No, I don't have an armrest, but, boy do I have fun in this car! Carefull with those generic labels, more often false than true.
Wow! That was a fun rant! Thanks for the opportunity, everyone.

 

I love the comments from dealers about how long it takes to get the inventory changed on the web site....

they don't work in the IT industry huh?

 

I must have really done a no-no. I bought MS MINIVER off a "used" car lot! But I wave and act like a flame Minidiot.

 

You are. You are, indeed, Rev. And that's a good thing. Spread the joy.

 

Oh, and by the way, is that pronounced 'Min-idiot' or 'Mini-diot'?

 

The MINI on-line dealer inventory listings are not reliable, as you discovered.
I would recommend calling the dealers and asking if any models are available on the lot. Minis are selling very quickly, so don't be surprised if it's slim pickins.

 

Don't ask me, I Minidiot!

 

I once called a BMW dealer about an '07 wagon with a stick that was listed on the online inventory, and they said it was long gone.

I happened to be checking the same dealer's inventory months later, and the '07 manual was still listed. I guess some dealers still think the internet is an annoying waste of time, instead of an excellent way to attract prospective buyers. Then again, maybe the same guy that designed I-Drive also designed the dealer inventory interface, and no one knows how to use it!

 

I just think it's really bad business to do that... Many people check inventory online instead of driving around wasting time & gas...

The dealership is 25 mins drive from my home and I basically wasted 3 hrs of my Saturday fully intending to drive home with one...

Any other time I would give sympathy but the thing is the inventory list on the site had been changing regularly for the few weeks I had been keeping an eye online and debating back and forth between buying a new or used Mini...

Plus I work in the IT industry, it doesn't take much to remove a listing from a web page...