Hello to all
We're planning on purchasing a new '13 Countryman this week and we have a few questions. We currently own a '09 Clubman that was purchased new and now has 124k miles on it. We absolutely love the Club, though its time for a new car. So my questions are:
How much off MSRP can we expect on a nicely equipped base Countryman and how far would you drive to get a better deal? We live in the NYC metro area and have 3 or 4 pretty decent dealers in our area. The dealer we purchased from originally was okay, though not too aggressive on pricing and the service dept. was adequate at best. Manhattan mini is close to my wife's work location and are offering a pretty aggressive price, though 55 miles from our house. Also are the black alloy rims available on the Non S models.

 

i think you'd be able to negotiate a better deal for a '12 left over than a '13 since they're just barely hitting the shores now.

 

I was 'only' able to get 1500 off MSRP from a 2012 in November. I pushed hard but my dealer was willing to let me walk. I would have if not for the fact that I need to buy through them so I can get serviced with them with a loaner car.

 

Our dealer doesn't budge. However we were able to get $500 off msrp. They can't keep the countryman on the lot. Most are sold prior to arrival. We pick ours up tonight.

 

1 to this

We bought ours off the boat while en-route but before it reached port. Sight unseen.

All we knew about her were the basic specs we'd selected and the color. Nothing else. We were pleasantly surprised.

 

I guess I feel better about my purchase then. I bought mine unseen as part of a swap with another dealer. Had to wait to weeks for my dealer to make the swap. Very happy with my car so far.

 

Thank you for The quick responses and information. Availability seems to be pretty good for either a '12 or '13. A quick search of dealer inventories in a 100 mile radius shows 40+ cars equipped with our option choices. (Give or take a few minor things). So it's really going to come down to price at this point. We are also seriously considering a '12 Audi A3 TDI and a Jetta sport wagon. I know this is MINI country so be nice...

 

This is my first countryman. Owned Jeeps and Subarus before. You'll find (welcome, btw!!) that most people here just love cars and often appreciate the fine points of all vehicles. Vehicles are like men (or women, lol) they all have points to appreciate, and really it's down to what you like! Too bad my poor husband couldn't order me to spec, or take me in for warranty repairs!!!!

My recommendation: get in all the cars and take pictures of the dash as you, the driver sees it. Makes it easy to compare and contrast the cabin set up later.

Next, drive all of them. More than once. Even include a car you wouldn't normally drive: like the WRX STI. Which one makes you smile? Which one fits what you or your family needs?

Also, what I love about my 2012: Xenons, all4, Harmon stereo, aftermarket tinting, and an armrest. Both the tinting and armrest were done before I picked her up.

Kinda wishing I had ordered a nav. Fine without it, but it sounds fun.

Whatever you choose, I hope you have fun with it and welcome!!

 

I would suggest that truecar.com would be a good resource. When we ordered our fairly well optioned CM last spring, we connected to mini of Monmouth through them and were able to get more than $2000 off MSRP. None of the other dealers in New Jersey were willing to give more than a $1000 discount.

Based on the amount of time from order to production right now, it would appear that there is no shortage of cars whatsoever, and the dealers can get all the cars they want. It would be difficult to believe if you live in an area with multiple dealers that you would not be able to get a substantial discount.

 

If you aren't getting an All4 I'd STRONGLY consider the A3 TDI. It won't be around after this year except in Sedan form Also the KILLER new 2014 vw's might be worth waiting for

 

I ordered my All4 and got about 500 bucks off msrp.

It was awesome to pick what I wanted...


Get the xenons. Awesome headlights
Harmon stereo is good
Still mixed feelings about mini connected

 

I managed $1,000 off the MSRP, but they started me at $600 so it wasn't much of a stretch after that. I've heard of people getting around $1,500 at some places. Mine was for an S All4 though.

 

We got about $1500 off our first CM base. Due to Mototober we got almost $2500 off my husbands r56, but then only $800 + tint/stripes off our CMSX. These were all purchased at the same dealership within a year btw.

 

Can any of the buying clubs/services help? Costco? PenFed? My dealer had told me that they didn't work with the buying clubs, and if I didn't buy from them, they didn't have to provide loaner cars for service. I decided I'd rather buy locally and have a better relationship with the local dealer. I did pay sticker for my All4 (and order to my specifications), but it was when the cars were pretty scarce.

 

I used the Consumer Reports buying service. I bought an online subscription for around $20 (I subscribe to the magazine so i am not sure what they might charge someone who doesn't). With this service, it is basically TrueCar, they give you buying advise on any new model cars you are interested in. I wanted to order the 2013 CountrymanS in November. The CR printout on Countryman showed that the dealers should at least discount $800 something off the MSRP. I took this to two dealers, one dealer said he participated with CR and would honor it, and the other dealer said they did not participate with CR but would honor the discount anyway. With the NotNormal certificate and the You-ification credit, I was happy to get over 2k off the sticker price of my 2013 and the lot was full of 2012's. I ended up 2 hours from my house at the Classic Mini in Cleveland (Tiffany was really nice to work with). I did preliminary negotiating by phone and email before making the long drive. Good luck. I LOVE my Countryman !

 

We finally made our decision. We went with a base Countryman in red, with a black roof, black interior, black wheels black stripes, auto transmission, winter package and the moonroof. We purchased it from Mini of MoTown here in NJ. Our salesperson was stellar and dealership was right on point. We trade in our '09 Clubman which had 122k miles on it and received a very fair trade valuation and a pretty aggressive price on the new CM. My wife is thrilled and I'm happy that her new car makes her smile when she's behind the wheel. I guess the Subaru outback will have to wait.

 

i traded from a vw sportwagen tdi to the countryman. both the a3 tdi and the vw tdi are experiencing complete engine failures due to contamination from the fuel pumps. vw is blaming the user for purchasing bad diesel. result is a $10,000 repair NOT covered by warranty.

stay away from any vw tdi at this point. at least until the fuel pump issue is certified by the NHTSB.

 

As 2013 Countrymans just have started arriving at the dealerships, MINI isn't providing any incentives on the car this month. You-Ification Option Credit, available on all other MINI models excluding Hardtop, also doesn't apply to Countryman. (Available for 2012 CM) If you can wait, I'd wait at least until February to see if MINI puts any incentive on CM.

 

The mark up on a MINI is about 6%, they were not marking 2012 down enough to justify buying a 1 year old car. What i suggest you do is go to TRUECAR.COM and put your request through them. You can get anywhere from & $700 to $1300 off with no haggling. I would not expect much more that that though, margins are pretty tight.

I negotiated $800 off my car, then found out about TrueCar and the same dealer offered the car for $1200 off. But since I had already ordered the car they held me to the original deal. fair enough on this one but I will get them next time.

If you use Truecar let me know how it works for you.

 

Actually the markup on a countryman is closer to 10%.

True car.com worked well for us when we purchased our 2012 about a year ago. The dealer closest to our house offered us $750 off MSRP, but when we made a counter offer of $1500 off they did not even respond. That sort of irked us, we thought the more polite thing to do would've been to just say no thanks.

We went on true car.com and quickly found another dealer about an hour away that quoted $1500 off. After a bit of back-and-forth we agreed to a price that was more than $2000 off. But keep in mind that we bought a fairly well loaded car that had an MSRP in the $35,000 range. So the dealer had more Margin dollars to work with then his average sale.

And the local dealer was very happy to service the car when we needed it. The distance of the selling dealer was never an issue. We did everything over the phone and via email. The only time we ever went there was to take delivery on the car.

 

Bought a loaded 2013 for $35,600 ($2k off MSRP). Gave them their $200 processing fee, but insisted they match our Carmax quote for our trade so that we could benefit from the tax savings by trading it in. We were less than $500 off and we walked out. Within 30 minutes their Sales Manager called and agreed to our terms... Bottom line, deals can be had, but you have to stand your ground and be prepared to walk. More often than not, the dealer will cave because they do not want to lose a customer ready to buy...

 

Yes, they realize they are better off making $1000 on a car versus zero. Despite what they would like you to believe, it appears they can get all the cars they want. There is no allocation of cars nor shortage of cars. Of course, negotiations are a bit more difficult if you only have one dealer within hundreds of miles, as is the case in some parts of North America. But there are plenty of examples of owners on this forum who traveled several hundred miles to save $1000 or more, and then had no trouble getting warranty service at their local dealer.

 

Minor panic today. We placed our order Saturday for a ALL4 CMS ($2200 off MSRP). MA said I had a few days to make changes. On Sunday I realized I forgot the black headliner. I didn't sweat because I didn't have a production number yet. Monday morning, the MA says sorry, no changes; the car went to production. I threw a fit but the MA said, sorry, nothing I can do. 2 minutes later he calls back and says, we can make the change but on a new production number but it will take a week longer. Does this sound fishy or ok?

 

Sounds normal. The original car is already in production and they can't change it. In order to get you what they want they are going to place another order - hence the reason for the new production number.

 

Yes, assuming your original order was not some crazy mix of options, I would assume they will just take the car and put it in stock at the dealer.