Hi all, this mini cooper thing is new to me after deciding I need a new car. Looking at Mazda, Toyota, etc and currently drive a Honda Coupe with 157,000 miles. Great car but I am tired of the same old same old. The cooper is so different. I don't want to get into over paying for something and to me paying MSRP or above is crazy. My other problem is finding exactly what I want from the dealer. How does the ordering work. Do you go down to the dealership and build your cooper with as much or little as you do on the mini site?. When done, is that price the same as the mini site and the dealer can add on a fee of some kind. If I am ordering, I am not really competing with other buyers for a very high demand product if I am willing to wait. Speaking of that, if I ordered an 07 MC, how long does it take. Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

Where are you located?

 

Hi amazonracer and welcome to NAM!

I'm sure that someone who ordered an '07 will be able to give you a timeline. When I ordered my MCS in '04, it took 10 weeks.

There are a few dealers that are selling a little under MSRP. There are dealers (like in California) who are still adding a premium.

My dealer (Classic MINI in Ohio) didn't add on ANY fluff charges. But in '04, I did pay MSRP for the car. There's not a huge surplus of them, and the demand is quite high, so therefore, they can pretty much charge what they want.

I will never, ever try to convince someone that they should get a MINI. If someone tests drives one, sees what the car can do, and is still unsure about it? Then perhaps it's not the car for them. People who want a MINI and will settle for nothing else? Then yes, they should get it. Seems to me like you REALLY want one, but you don't want to feel like you got "taken." I know the feeling. My stepdad couldn't believe I was going to pay MSRP for the car...

If you go to build the MINI at the dealer, they will run through ALL the options, and yes, it will be real close if not identical to the configurator...

Good luck!

 

Hey there! Well i agree it depends on where you are located and where you order from. MSRP isnt a bad deal really for a car that has that holds it value better than others. I waited almost 6 months when I ordered back in November 2005 and was happy to wait. I am on the West Coast so that adds a bit of time to the delivery. I built mine at home online and printed it for my MA and they reviewed, I put my deposit down, then just before my build date we went over the specs again to make sure there were no changes, errors, etc. and shazam! I took delivery in April 2006!

 

Thanks for everyones input.

 

One of the most refreshing things about buying a MINI is that you know exactly where you stand. It's not a dealer's game, it's a buyers decision, unless you're around lots of dealership, or the opposite (like in Oregon), where there's only one. Even then, most of the time if you spec and order your own MINI and don't buy off the lot, you'll pay MSRP w/ a nominal fee (I think Rasumussen in Portland charges $500). If you order an S, you'll usually wait a good bit longer than for a regular MC, and if you're on the west coast, you'll have a much longer transit time. The serious fanatics who can't wait will buy off a lot in some other state, get there somehow, and then drive it back, getting break-in smileage at the same time.