This query was last posted 3 years ago, so I'd like an update. Anyone know when (if?) Austin, TX will be getting a Mini dealership? Thanx.

- Bob

 

The BMW dealer up on McNeil in North Austin owns a MINI franchise. They have a "coming soon" web site at http://www.minicooperofaustin.com/. Just called them and construction is due to begin next month (December). The new MINI dealership should open shortly thereafter (~3 months?).

I've lived in Austin for the past 4 years and just traded in my '06 MCS that I bought at MINI of San Antonio for an '09. Since I live not too far from this Beemer dealership, it'll be really nice to be able to go in for service locally, but it's still not that bad going down to SA once a year ;-)

 

They keep pushing the date back on opening... sigh. It started last year as opening October 08, then December, then February 09, now I've heard April 09.

Will believe it when I see it :p

 

That's bizaar - Austin is such a perfect place for MINIs. We had ours there for about a week this summer. Saw a bunch while we were there.

 

Thanks for the replies, y'all. My daughter's Mini S has some minor warranty issues, and for some reason she's unhappy with the San Antonio dealer, so it'll be off to Dallas before her warranty expires.

- Bob

 

That's disheartening to hear, bob. I've now bought 2 MINIs from SA and had all of my service done there for the past 3 years - all with absolutely no problems. While I'll be happy when an Austin dealer is available, I don't mind going down to SA once or twice a year for regular maintenance, etc... Everything there who I've had contact with in Sales, Service and even Finance has been totally friendly, helpful and accomodating.

 

What a difference a few years makes. When MINI of the Woodlands (Houston's second dealer) opened a few years ago, they were rushing to get the building ready and their first shipment of cars was "hidden" on the back lot of BMW Houston North several weeks in advance. Now, a very logical addition in Austin is stalling. I suspect that although MINI is doing better than most other marques right now, it's still tough to expend extra capital on a new dealership at this time. I've also thought since the beginning that an Austin dealer makes lots of sense demographically.

 

I ordered my MINI from San Antonio in December and picked it up 2/9/09, and it was leaking oil on the very first night. MINI of SA sent a flat bed tow truck with a loaner and picked up the car. I had the BMW dealer here in Austin look at it first to help diagnose the problem. The service manager told me they probably won't be able to handle warranty work until August.

 

I can't wait for this! My '09 MCS just developed the dreaded phantom window problem with the driver's window. I have to take Friday off of work to drive all the way down to SA to get it fixed.

 

GadgeTT and Cooperdreams-- Could you post how your experience with mini of san antonio went with the repairs? We are seriously considering a mc from the San Antonio mini. In fact, any info you could share about your purchase or experience with Mini of San Antonio would be appreciated. Makes me nervous that a new car was delivered leaking oil. Wonder if this is common? And that the phantom window issues continues with the 2009 model. I was hoping that the problem had been resolved. TIA, posting from Austin, TX

 

I have absolutely no qualms recommending Mini of SA for sales or service. My only complaint has nothing to do with them per se, but with their distance from Austin. For normal service issues (LOF, etc.) the 1/2-day round trip isn't bad. For service issues that require a more lengthy stay, it's more than inconvenient.

Case in point; my driver's window is exhibiting a really strange math error with the auto-crack feature (cracking the window when the door opens); the opening gets progressively larger each day until the feature stops working for a few days, then it starts the cycle all over again. It's as if the software controlling the feature has a math error since the problem is repeatable over a week's time. Mini of SA is completely willing to make this fix for me under warranty, but due to the distance and the fact that I'd probably have to leave my car there at least over night, I've been unable to do so yet.

Anyway, it'll be much more convenient when the local BMW dealer opens their Mini franchise, but until then, Mini of SA is a suitable alternative.

BTW, I've bought two Mini's from them over the past 4 years and never had a complaint with their sales or service. Of course, YMMV, VWP, etc...

 

I just spent spring break over there in austin. There were sooo many Minis! I was really confused that there wasnt a dealership.

 

There will be, soon (just not soon enough!)

 

Our buying experience was great. My husband actually placed the order as a surprise, so I don't have all of the details on that process. But, it seemed relatively easy, and he was able to handle it all by phone and email. Once I found out about the order, I began emailing my MA like crazy with all sorts of questions. He always responded immediately with answers to my questions. I was obsessed with my order, and relied heavily upon ASK MINI. It seemed my MA didn't have quite as much information as was available by calling into ASK MINI.

Once I wasn't able to track it through ASK MINI, my MA did keep me in the loop on its whereabouts.

My trouble didn't start until we took delivery. The sales process was a piece of cake, and my MA thoroughly explained all of the features. It was when we got home the car started to smoke. I reported the problem right away, but my MA suggested it was nothing to worry about that that the problem should resolve itself.

The smoke didn't let up and after 4 days my husband was at his wit's end. I took the car by BMW of Austin and they identified the oil leak. My husband called MINI of SA and we assumed based on the diagnosis that they were sending a flatbed truck to get the car. A driver showed up instead, and we refused to allow him to take my car. That was Saturday, and on Monday a flatbed with a loaner arrived to pick up my MINI.

The biggest issue here was we were working with the Sales Dept and should have gone straight to Service. Once our SA got involved everything went really well. He called once they identified the problem and provided updates along the way.

It took a week and a half for them to fix the car, but it has run very smoothly since then.

I agree with gadgeTT that the biggest drawback is the drive to San Antonio. The night we went down to pick up my car the first time we were stuck in rush hour traffic in Austin, and we didn't even hit 35 until Hwy 71 and still sat in stop and go traffic for 45 min. Then on the way home from San Antonio after picking it up the second time, I hit Austin right at 5.

Even after going through all of this, I would buy from them again. With that said, I also can't wait to have our own dealership here in Austin. It is so close to my office and not too far from the house.

Sorry for the book...but this is a big decision for you and I wanted to explain my situation in a little more detail.

 

Thanks so much for the information GadgeTT and Cooper Dreams! It helps! It's been since the mid 80's that we have even looked at new cars so it's been quite educational. Knew that cars now were computerized but didn't realize how much. We go to San Antonio on a regular basis (NBA and WNBA games) so that should help when we need service. Good to hear that service from the Mini of San Antonio has been good. Altho a dealership in Austin would be ideal.

Cooperdreams-- The traffic you mentioned is absolutely awful in Austin. We have to leave Austin by 3 p.m. to miss the worst. By the way, do you like the auto air? Is it just to keep the fan from blowing until the ac starts cooling?

gadgeTT -- When you have to leave your car overnight or more--- has there been a problem getting a loaner? And Now I'm wondering if you tried that temporary fix of reprogramming the window and if it worked. But your problem sounds different then the dipper and the going half way down after hitting the top problems, but maybe it's all related.

I thank you again.

 

Hi mshelton,

I also have the auto climate control system, and it works even better than it did in my prior 2006 MCS. It controls the temp, the fan speed and the vent locations automatically. While I haven't driven the car in the heat of a Texan summer yet, it has worked exactly as expected since I got the car in November. And to answer your specific question - yes, it delays high fan speeds for both heat and a/c until the source air temp is closer to ideal (heat or a/c).

As for my car's window issue- I have yet to leave it overnight at MINI of SA, so I can't comment on the availability of a loaner, etc. I know they'll make one available to me, but I'm just unwilling right now to take two days off of work and have a loaner for an undetermined time in order to get this fixed. It's more to do with the days off for the two round trips to SA and the fact that it's not a critical component of the car. If this were a safety issue or prevented me from driving, that's different. I'm certain that it will take a while to diagnose since it's a really odd problem.

Anyway, best of luck!

 

gadgeTT answered the Auto Air question much better than I could! On the loaner question, my MA said one would be provided if the service will be longer than 1.5 hours.

Keep us posted on what you decide!

 

We went by BMW of Austin today to look at their three Mini. There was massive hail damage to all the outside cars at BMW. The three remaining Mini (1 clubman s, 1 clubman justacooper, and 1 yellow hardtop s) were also damaged (some more than others). A red one was spoken for and they were waiting for the loan to go thru. They are marking them down $6000 from MSRP.These are considered Preowned, but very few miles. They were new but moved in from their Phoenix dealership. Just thought I would share.I asked when BMW would open the Mini dealership, and was told maybe in Sept.

 

As an update, I went to the BMW dealership before buying my MCS from MINI of SA. I was test driving the 1 series (convertible too $$) and a used 3 series (kinda boat-like) and in talking with the sales guy, he said that they had finally broken ground on the MINI site. He claimed some sort of zoning or other legal issue but I guess I'll believe it when I see it. The MINI "coming soon" on their site is gone.

 

Wow! That is the best progress Mini of Austin has made in the 4 years that I've been in college. Now I've graduated, moved back to Dallas, have my own Mini, and want to move back to Austin. I had an interview last week in Austin and I'm really praying that I get the job. I had already resigned myself to having to drive to Arlington for maintenance but an Austin dealership would be the icing on the cake!

 

Good luck on the job search. I'll believe it when I see it, as I recall them promising a MINI dealership 3 years ago when we testdrove potential cars for the wife. On the other hand, they were eager to sell my a BMW rather than one of the used MINIs on the lot so maybe its more concrete this time. I'll try to give it the old drive by one of these days (its within .5 mi from my house).

 

After spending a week in Austin, I was surprised that we didn't see more MINIs. We enjoyed cruising 183 throughout the week, top down in the early morning when it was only 80 degrees or so. Driving down Congress at night after we saw the bats was kind of cool. The Capitol looked beautiful on a full moon night, almost enough to make you forget about the brilliant legislators, governor and their antics.

Although I haven't had any problems with MINI of SA, I do hope Austin gets a dealership soon.

The drive back to SA was horrendous, thanks to the dimbulbs at TXDOT or the municipality of Shertz/Selma or some genius who decided to shut I35 down to a crawl by closing lanes. There was no construction going on, no evidence of damage to the freeway, not a thing save two of Schertz's finest leaning against their shiny police cruisers and twiddling their thumbs. It took an hour and 45 minutes to crawl 7 miles through that mess.

C'mon Austin MINI!

 

Quesera, there are lots of MINIs in Austin, especially when one considers the lack of dealerships. The more central you are, the more MINIs there are. I think I see a half dozen parked in the 35th St Central Market lot every time I go.

I'm really mystified by the continuous state of lane closures between Austin and SA. It seems a large number of my drives there take almost as long as Houston despite being a good distance shorter / less traffic.

 

I was at the BMW dealership for a in-warranty repair and saw a banner at the adjoining construction site "Mini of Austin" coming soon. On inquiring the service personnel, they expect the dealership to be open by end of December or maybe early next year. now that construction has started it will open. .yippee...

 

I am disappointed to have missed out on it for my first repair, and I hope not to visit it soon, but it will be good to have a dealership almost in walking distance from my house. Is the BMW dealership any good service-wise? I thought the sales team there was reasonable though I didn't end up buying there.