Hey Everyone,

I am very close to buying a clubman. I am facing a dilemma here and I wanted to hear some opinions and advice from you all.

I am planning on picking up a clubman from the lot (and not custom order) and here are my options

1. Chilli red with black roof, just a cooper, auto, with Premium package and blue tooth prep

2. PW/B roof, just a copper, auto with Mini Connect.

Both of them are good deals but option 1 is a 1200-1500 more expensive.


My wife loves the red and red is my first choice is red too. I like the PW/b as a second choice.

Should I choose the cooper that is the right color we want although it is slightly more expensive (Sun roof is not a must have for me) or get the one with a mini connect (I like the way it changes the look of the large center speedo dial and I think it could become a great feature as they develop the application) with a color we could live with and be within our original range for the price.

Personally, I am 50-50 now. What would you do? Also please let me know if you have the mini connect and how you like it whether it is over hyped.

My commute one way is 25 miles. So I will get a lot of time to enjoy the car..

Thanks to everybody on NAM

 

I bought one off the lot just as you are planning to.....personally I'd go with the red/premium package.....to me a sunroof is must have.........I'm not a fan of MINI connect...just a personal thing.............as to the PW...we own a Cooper in PW from 2003 to 2010. It's a great looking color BUT that color seems to 'discolor' for example if a leaf gets stuck on it overnight...it almost seems to stain. I had a number of stains that never really came out. There's a thread on here somewhere I believe about the discoloration of PW cars. Go with the red!
Good luck
Philip

 

I would go with Option 1 also.

I was in a similar situation, between Pure Silver with premium, auto, Bluetooth, cold weather and HiFi vs. a Hot Chocolate with the same options but no Bluetooth and HiFi. Although I could live with the Hot Chocolate, I just liked the Pure Silver more. In the end I bought the Pure Silver, even though it was a little bit more expensive. Also, since you are buying off the lot, make sure you don't pay MSRP. Best of luck in your choice! Either way, I am sure you will be happy with whichever vehicle you choose.

 

Tough decision but I would go with Option 2. I think the Mini Connect feature is amazing and I am envious of those who have it. As you said, the uses will only multiply in the future and it would be great to have as time goes on. I don't use my sun roof much at all, but I do use the bluetooth every single day. Taking and receiving calls from the steering wheel as well as other features have definitely spoiled me.

As far as discoloration, that is interesting with the leaf thing. I park my car in a garage so I cannot comment to that, my car looks exactly like it did the day I bought it! , cheers and good luck.

 

i would go with option one. Mini connect is overrated IMHO. its "revolutionary" and not quite there yet in development. I also dont like the fact that it keeps you tied to a crapple product So that means its virtually useless if you ever decide to change phones and there doesnt seem to be any real hurry on mini's part to allow the system to work with Android & and blackberrys.

 

Personally I wouldn't go with either option. I would just order the car the way I wanted it. Hopefully you will have it for years to come, so what is 6-8 weeks to wait for the right one.
Annette

 

+1

i would order it, it may be the longest wait of your life but then again you dont want to be sitting in your new mini wishing you had this or that and you settled.

 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the feedback.. The biggest motivation to order one off the lot is that there is a good incentive that expires in Feb. Typically you don't see such incentives on the mini..

 

good luck with your purchase.. regardless of the color you will thoroughly enjoy the clubman.. as i have been the past 2 months..

 

Just an FYI when you order a Mini they run your credit and get you approved. Once you are approved it locks in the current rate's and incentives at the time of approval. If they happen to have a better deal upon delivery you have the option to accept that offer rather then keeping the one when you ordered it.

usually the MA's dont tell you that because they would rather you get one off the lot but they have to give you the incentive. (there was a lawsuit against BMW financial quite a few years back about this)

 

I think you'll be happy with either option. I think you just need to figure out which of the different options available in the 2 cars you'll like/miss the most. Since the color choices close, from what you say.

I also bought one off the lot, I knew there ws no wy I could wait for one to arrive if I ordered it. I really wnted a Horizon Blue MCS, but the dealer had a SpiceOrange w/ exactly what I wanted in options, and I haven't regretted buying the SO one bit.

 

You get whatever the offers are at delivery, at least in our state. That was true for my 2008 GMC truck also. Dodge.Chrysler does let you lock in current offers.

When we ordered interest was 2.9 and that's it. On delivery it was 1.9 and free premium pack, we scored.

Related thread.

 

Thank you all. We were able to bring home our clubman yesterday. We chose the Chilli Red with premium and we couldn't be happier.. I will post pictures and write more about my purchase experience later. The dealership and our MA were incredible..

 

congratulations! I got a Chili Red off the lot also--I decided that the color was the most important part of the MINI for me.

pics, please