well as im waiting for my cruze to be returned to gm under the lemon law i figured I would goto Monmouth mini and test drive the coupes. First off, the dealer was fantastic!! no one came out and pressured me at all, they were very down to earth and easy going. I wanted to drive the justa coupe first with manual trans because this version would make more sense for me because i drive 23,000 miles a year. I can tell early on that this was no speed machine but when driven hard it moved decently. Next up I had to drive the S which may have been a mistake because I think I smiled the entire test drive! Besides getting pushed in my seat I absolutely loved the backfiring and rumbling sounds!!

I love this car but im torn on whether to be sensible and get the justa or live on the edge with the S. Of course the mrs saw the roadster and wants me to get that one. One thing I noticed on both cars was the molding by the windows inside the car was rippling or bubbling. Considering the price of the car I did not think that was acceptable, is this normal on the coupes? one more thing, whats up with the vinyl seats??? I thought they were gone in the 70's....haha

ps, another customer walked up to me and asked if the roof comes off!! lol, I know you guys get asked that all the time!

 

You can order the car anyway you want. You can get leather or cloth or whatever. If the dealer does not have what you want then go online and build one. Test drive a JCW your grin will be wider. (Assuming the dealer has one.)

10,000 different combinations.

 

Second what Pat says.

No problem here with bubbling or rippling here.

That's not vinyl, it is Leatherette, sounds like you test drove some very basic models, ask to see the different options. It really helps if you spend time building your own and then talke with the dealer about the things your interested in on your MINI. You will also find that you get more bang for your buck if you build your own

 

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

 

I had to get leatherette because the real leather was way beyond my price range, and I don't regret the decision at all. I think it looks good regardless of being "fake."

And, personally, I'd get the S. Which is what I ended up doing!

 

The leatherette also looks like new after 100,000 miles, which is not the case with the leather, which tends to stretch some. Just ordered my 7th Mini (Roadster) and went with the cloth seats. I will put neoprene seat covers on to protect from the sun....

 

Finally test drove a Cooper S Coupe this past Friday... up north, almost everyone here comes with the Cold Weather Package... I'm very happy with the quality of the "Vinyl" seats... I'm not going to pay the premium price for real leather.

After doing a lot of research and homework... and a fantastic test drive... I now have a new Cooper S Coupe sitting in the queue... I'm just waiting for it to be scheduled for production... and eventually make it's way to this side of the pond and into my garage.

 

Cool, actually if I could not have got the Recaros I may have gone with the Cloth.

 

Get the S........ it actually comes with a lot more standard features then the standard Justacooper like bigger wheels, fog lights, sport seats...... a TURBO! You would be surprised, when you equip a Justacooper to be like an S without the turbo, you do not save that much $ and the gas mileage is not that drastically different either. Go with the S, you will not be upset you spend the extra cash.

 

OMG, does this mean I might finally see another Coupe on the road up here? I have yet to come across another.

 

Not for a few weeks, but yes... I have not seen one on the road yet myself either.