Or know where to find info about it? Wife & I are hopping the pond next month and would love to know if this is worthy of being a stop on our adventure. I didn't see any info on the UK MINI site re: factory tours, but I have read on MINI2 about local UK groups taking the tour.

Also, as someone who has been *fanatically* reading these boards for months...its about time I logged my first post!

 

Flyingsluzer, I haven't been, of course, but I heard they were constructing a visitor's center, which would be really cool! Don't know the status of this project...anybody??

 

Yeah, that is what I had read as well. I found several postings on UK club boards from around May of this year stating that the tours were "about to" begin. Then, not much else. Maybe the tour wasn't too exciting...but how could that be!

 

I wish Mini offered overseas delivery like Volvo does. I considered going that route with a V70.

Volvo has a really good setup. The overseas prices are fixed. There is no haggling and they are much lower than MSRP. You walk in, order only the options you want (no packages to get stuck with), put down your deposit and in a few weeks you get a packet explaining the rest of the process and a build date for your car. Volvo pays for 2 roundtrip airfares over to Sweden and one night's stay so you can pick your car up at their factory delivery center. They set you up with a European registration and insurance for 15 days (included). Then you can either make a vacation of it or drive the car around for a few hours and drop it back off and go home. They then take the car from you and ship it back to the states and you pick it up at your dealership once it's here. It's a great deal. You get a nice car for a good price and a vacation to boot. And as long as you're not there in August when the factory is shut down, you can take a tour of the facility as well.

How cool would that be?

 

I have the number you are supposed to call at home. I'm heading over in April of next year and wanted to do a tour myself.
I was told they have a 12 person limit for each tour and that reservations are required. Will post the phone number when I get home tonight.
Don't know about you but I'm already excited about the trip and the tour!

 

>>I wish Mini offered overseas delivery like Volvo does. I considered going that route with a V70.
>>
>>Volvo has a really good setup. The overseas prices are fixed. There is no haggling and they are much lower than MSRP. You walk in, order only the options you want (no packages to get stuck with), put down your deposit and in a few weeks you get a packet explaining the rest of the process and a build date for your car. Volvo pays for 2 roundtrip airfares over to Sweden and one night's stay so you can pick your car up at their factory delivery center. They set you up with a European registration and insurance for 15 days (included). Then you can either make a vacation of it or drive the car around for a few hours and drop it back off and go home. They then take the car from you and ship it back to the states and you pick it up at your dealership once it's here. It's a great deal. You get a nice car for a good price and a vacation to boot. And as long as you're not there in August when the factory is shut down, you can take a tour of the facility as well.
>>
>>How cool would that be?
>>
>>
>>
>>
That would be *quite* a nice experience. Driving your MINI on its home turf. I believe that BMW has a similiar program through their dealerships. Perhaps something like this could be in the works? Who knows.

 

>>I have the number you are supposed to call at home. I'm heading over in April of next year and wanted to do a tour myself.
>>I was told they have a 12 person limit for each tour and that reservations are required. Will post the phone number when I get home tonight.
>>Don't know about you but I'm already excited about the trip and the tour!

Thanks! That would be superb. It's just my wife & I, so I wonder if they will still accomodate us. Perhaps we could be stuck in with an existing group that needs 2 more people. I will definitely keep everyone up to date on what I find.

 

Here's some info from my site: http://www.bridger.us/mini/?Y=2003&M...lantInOxfordUK

I'm actually planning on going over in late March or early April next year.