Just finished working with Dorian at Roadshow Mini in Memphis. It is a long distance out of state sale and she made it so easy and fun. Put down my $1k to hold my British Racing Green MCS with Premium, Sport, and Leather. Other than a very small dealer fee ($398), they are not adding any rip-off dealer options or hidden charges on a vehicle that is already on the boat and will be arriving in Memphis about the same time I finish my move from Colorado to Alabama.

Only thing that I feel bad about is all the people who have been fooled to believe they had to wait months and months for their Mini of their dreams. I guess I just live a charmed life. . . .

I think the hype is just now beginning to die down and there will be Minis for everyone soon without the long wait.

A special thanks to Ralph Schomp MINI in Denver for letting me test drive their MCS without a chaperone. If they had cars to sell, I would have bought it from them on the spot.

 

My 4 mo. wait is pretty typical wait period for any custom ordered foreign automobile. That wait is worthwhile for many of us who want very specific options/colors.

And please don't take this the wrong way, but in this case your luck probably has more to do with the $400 bucks you paid, than your charmed life. I, and many others, ordered the exact car we wanted at sticker price. I chose to spend that $400 on rally lights.

Regardless, enjoy your MINI when it arrives. Ours MCSs are probably on the same boat, so neither of us has too much longer to wait!
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::Indi Blue MCS, White roof+wheels, All 3 packages:: En route to Chicago on the AIDA

 

No offense taken. I know that I am a "gotta have it NOW" kind of guy, and if I waited until February I might save a few hundred bucks. However, I might also be dead before taking delivery, so I am going to enjoy it now while I still can. :smile:

That $400 upfront and honest dealer fee is a lot better than paying for a BS dealer package that some other dealers put together to sell valve stem caps, floor mats, and boot liners for $1000 more than they are worth.

Plus, I am selling a Land Rover Defender 90 on Ebay that is going to sell for many thousands more than any sane person should ever pay for an 8 year old well used 4x4. But because some people consider them rare and very desirable, they consistently sell for prices well over their original sticker price, and I am not going to turn down an extra $5000 or so if someone wants to pay it.

The current MINI hype is just that: hype. It is the kind of car that is tons of fun initially for the average driver, but I suspect that lots of people who value most the uniqueness of having the most stylish newest thing on the block will soon tire of its small size and limitations compared to a regular car and will be trading these things in sooner than anyone would have imagined. When the VW New Beetle came out, the cars sold for thousands over MSRP and had impossibly long waiting lists too. But I am positive that those first overpriced new beetles that are now being sold as 5 year old used cars are not bringing in any sort of added collector value. They are just worth less because they are older and more basic than newer model year vehicles.

I am just so excited because this little car is the exact thing I have been trying to build my GTI to be, but have been frustrated because no matter what I do, I cannot change the inherent properties of the chassis and engineering designs that limit its performance on the track.

 

Death happens. I bought the Cooper and the S on the spot.

 

Off topic, but one of my dad's very best friends just died in a car accident. A healthy and successful family man and a pillar of the community one day, and the next day he is no more.

I do "need" a new car now, and after talking with my dad about all of this, the general consensus was to "stop dreaming and start doing" even if that does mean paying a small fee to a dealer to get what I want sooner than later. I am sure that 4 additional months of owning a MINI will be worth the couple bucks a day it is going to cost me. And I can buy the car confidently knowing that I am working with a quality dealer/salesperson that I like.