I am ordering a 06 MCS from out of state to avoid the $2500 dealer mark up.

Are MCS 50 state smog legal or do I have to get a Ca. car?

Thanks for any info.

 

the older years are .. so I don't think they changed anything..

Check out this link that I posted on bimmerforum..




///Gil

 

yeah, you're fine.

 

You should be fine but you should check East Bay Mini. Last I heard was there was no dealer mark up.

 

East Bay Mini—When I checked with them in March they didn't charge a premium, but they had a 11 month waiting period. I paid the 2500 markup at MINI of Mtn. View so I could get my car in 3 months instead.

 

When you get the car in Calfornia you will still have to pay to get it smog checked. You need to have that before you can register. Petty bureaucratic nonsense since the car is CARB cerified. But a small price to pay to avoid the CalPig dealer markups.

 

If you want a car quick without the markup, go to Long Beach MINI in Long Beach and ask for Tony or Jim Campanas. Either of the guys can set you up for NO PREMIUM NO MATTER WHAT. They are the only dealer to never charge a premium, even for the cars that they have on their lot.

 

If you can find one in CA with no markup and a reasonable lead time you may be better off.

I am pleased with the "unusual" way I got mine (from nice people at Classic in Ohio and then transported in a MINI nursery for a group pick up with the best part being the greeting by other NAM folks, including a demonstration of what JCampos's car sounds like--whoosh), but CA DMV is a hassle and your local dealer may not be pleased.

If you buy from a CA dealer you might avoid the following:

Getting the car smog checked at my neighborhood station caused anxiety because the boss (whom I know) was busy and the "kids" worked on my car--the first MINI they have had their hands (and feet) on. They sure had fun revving it up and testing all the switches.

And despite having an appointment system DMV still hands out numbers and everyone waits--4 stations in order to get plates (I brought an amusing book, but it could not compete with the attitudes of some very irrate DMV customers). In the midst of that process the car is "inspected". This was less exasperating than curious, but the inspection clerk did not know the make of car (I had to point it out on the emblem) and asked me questions that were already answered in the form she held (that had been typed out by her DMV colleague). The inspector also asked me what type of fuel my car used--and this was not in reference to octane rating. She also looked at the car and said, "This is a 2 door?" I expected someone to pounce from the ragged shrubbery with a candid camera. And inside the building, Clerk #3 disputed the tax and registration charged by Clerk #1 and refunded me $11 from her cash box (seeing the cash box was unexpected and troubling, but I don't know why). While passing between Clerk #3 and the clerk with the license plates a well-groomed and gym-toned woman leared at me and said, "They lost track of the appointments. That's why we have been waiting so long!" I could only respond to her with a NAM eek2 expression.

Then when I pulled into my nearby BMWMINI dealer to purchase floor mats one employee stared at me. I thought he was going to give me the thumbs up and the (now for me) typical "nice car", but instead he said, "Bought it out of state, hu-uh?" A harbinger of fun times when I go for warranty work?

PS: I looked at my car's new registration card and the make is typed in as "MNNI". I wonder if my car will always be known to CA DMV as a MNNI?

 

They are 50 state legal. If you buy outside CA then you'll just have to get a smog check when you bring it in in order to register it. I got mine in SLC Utah. Short wait and no markup over MSRP, unlike Bay Area dealers. Its kinda fun to drive it back across the Utah and Nevada desert too, although you can't really open it up since it is in the break-in period. Have fun!