Hey guys

this is my first post but I’ve been hanging around for a few months reading up and educating my self. I must say you guys have a great site going here.

I test drove a 07 mini cooper s for the first time 3days ago and man what a great car, I fell in love right away. Right now in my life I need a more practical car. I’m currently driving a 350whp auto 98 LS1 Trans am that gets like 16mpg .while the car is pretty to look at and scary fast, I just really don’t enjoy driving it as I did my last car which was a 98 bmw 328i. I ended up buying the Trans am last year after someone decided they were going to crash into my bimmer and total it.after the accidnet i could drive stick so i got the car in auto.

I got hit from behind while I was stopped at a stop sign waiting to cross. the guy hit my car going about 45mph as that was the marked speed limit before the stop sign. the guy didnt even break so i didnt hear him coming. he just wasnt paying attention to the road and hit me full force... wanna know what his excuse was.... he said he has bad ADD!!... common that lame! and if that really is the case where his condition is so bad that hes not paying attention while driving well he shoudlnt be driving. needless to say he ended up walking away with out a scatch but I ended up breaking my left shoulder and popped a few disks in my neck and upper back basilly messing up my spine for life. I now have slight nerve damage and will have to have an operation in a few years on my backto minmize the nerve damage. I’m doing a little better now but I still have pain in my neck and back that radiates down to my arms when I wake up in the morning. Anyways I recently got one of my 2 settlement check that I will be receiving from this ordeal and I figured its time to spend it on something nice for myself. So I want to get something that made me feel good like my bimmer did and the mini fits this bill pretty well. It’s very sporty gets great gas mileage and isn’t like anything else out there.

So on to my question. I was thinking about ordering one next week or so but should I wait a bit longer to order a 08 as I would imagine I wouldn’t get my car till almost 08 anyways. Are the prices known to go up a lot from year to year on the minis? Or should I just order one now so I don’t have to deal with crashing and dying in my Trans am this winter lol

btw im ether gonna get a cr/b or a ds/b its the hardest choice im having right now lol

thanks for taking the time to read and your imput would be well appreciated

 

Sorry about the back injury. You might want to consider getting 16" wheels for a softer ride. It will still handle well. So, order DSC separately, rather than getting the Sports Package.

There have been several threads on whether to wait or buy now. Check them out for the detailed arguments. IMO, no point in waiting.

 

Aloha and welcome to NAM.

Sorry to hear about your accident and situation.

If you need the MINI now then order now. If you can wait then order an 08' ASAP. The prices can go up a little but usually it isn't that bad.

For best ride comfort-
Order stock base suspension
Definitely 16" wheels or order what you want but maybe consider swapping the stock wheels for aftermarket wheels that offer more comfort and sell your stock wheels or use them for snow tires (then 16" wheels are best).

Wheels and tires that would fit a MCS or MC can be found at tirerack.com (talk to Alex) but you have to define which MINI it is whether Cooper or Cooper S since the S has larger brake calipers.

If you find a good 15x7" wheel then you can choose 205/55-15 tires for comfort

If you find a good 16x7" wheel then you can choose 205/55-16 tires for comfort

Good luck.

 

Welcome to NAM unxpectederror! I agree with Robin -- don't wait. Go ahead and order your MINI and get the 16s. I have them on my S, and they're not as bone-jarring as the 17s.

 

Yeah- there's a price increase on the way for accessories in 08, and only minor changes in the works for US models. Tire pressure sensors and a built in USB port for iPod and thumb drive compatability seem to be the only significant change.

According to my MA, they're seeing the new tire pressure sensors already, but the space for the USB port just has a blank in it on cars arriving now. UK cars are seeing the new stop/start system, the regenerative alternator, and the economy shifting guide thing, but they don't have an arrival date for US markets yet.

There's a whole thread of people hoping for the USB ports to start showing up with the factory changeover in August, but I haven't heard of any cars delivered in the US with it yet.

 

thanks for the input guys

i just went there today and talk some things over with my MA about trade in value and stuff for my Trans Am and all that good stuff. i took the cooper s out for another spin with my gf driving shotgun... and you know the first thing she said when she got out after we were done....its cute! haha

o well...i guess its no trans am lol

i talked over the options i wanted and i should be going there sometime next week with my down payment.. he also said that he would bump me up in there que list as im trading in a car thats horrible in the winter and would like to get me in the car asap so i dont run into any snow problems as even at the top of the list i would have to wait about 6 weeks. he actually said that waiting for 08 would have been a better idea if i didnt have to worry about my trade in. he said that with the configuration i wanted it wouldnt have gone up much if any. he said it had something to do with the way mini prices things or something with odd and even numbers lol.

also im not sure if this is standard or just my dealership but my MA told me i get free maintance for 3 years.. like oil changes, check ups all stuff like that? is this normal because i see threads on people changing there own oil.

 

Usually, those threads are from people who live like 100+ miles away from the nearest dealer so they'd rather do their own oil changes than travel so far or they're the ones who'd rather change their oil at every 5k miles and not at the suggested 15k miles.

 

3 years maintenance is standard. However, oil changes are when the car computer recommends them, or once a year. The default is 15,000 miles, but it changes with the nature of your driving. Mine is already up to 17,000 miles because I do a lot of highway driving.

Many of us believe that is too long to wait, especially for the first "break-in" oil change. So, we do them ourselves. Dealers charge an exorbitant amount for an "unscheduled" oil change, it is easy to do it yourself.