So I was on the Tai Shan. Discharged on 10/1 and delivered to VPC on 10/2. Owner's Lounge still says En route. Expected delivery though says today 10/4. No word from my dealer Peabody. Ask Mini also says En Route. So I don't know where my MCS is and I don't like not knowing.

 

>>
>>Scoutd; are you also a CA resident who ordered your Mini from the East to avoid the dreaded dealer gouging? Purchased mine from Tom Bush Mini in Jacksonville
>>
>>Yes inDEED. I tried to buy one in CA, but just as I was going to sign on the dotted line I regained my sanity. 3K over MSRP for an 03 in July? excuse me??? that's when I began hitchhiking through the dealer rating system and landed in the Home of Rock and Roll Cleveland OH. Classic MINI and Ms MINI Julie Saxo
>>
>>have you taken possession yet? Notice I asked have you? cause My car already has posssessed me. and she is over 5ooo miles away!


Not Yet. I am on the TOSCA arriving 10/11 to Charleston. Can't wait to fly out and cruise it home and see America!!!

 

24 hours down and this is so much fun!!!

I was at a strip mall and went back out to my car to find one of the employees from the pool and spa store next door walking all around my MINI. He had all sorts of questions.

Going through another parking lot a kid pointing and trying to get his family to look.

At the coffee shop, people stopping looking walking around the car.

You will definatly attract attention in this car No nose picking

 

It's weird how this car has been purchasable for what, 2 or 3 years now and people still see so few that they are still interested in it. I remember when the 350z first came out and it was like wow, thats a cool car and I would point them out everytime I saw one, now it's like oh, there's a nissan dealer with a 350z roadster.

edit test...

_________________
ANDRE: 2004 EB/EB MCS || premium|front fogs|xenons|silver x-lites|gray space cloth|anthracite dash|hk|gray mats|british flag vavle caps|roadblock || EXPECTED PICKUP 10/11

 

here is my bad experience for this week.

A girl i knew in NJ has her MINI on Friday. she has the same discharged date like mine. it is OK since it is in NJ. things might work differently there than here in GA.

A friend of mine has the same build date, went on the same boat, discharged in the same day with same time, and coming to the same city.

Her mini is ready this morning in her dealer, and mine??? MA has no info. how could this possible happen???? :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

My MINI is at home!!!! I'll lots of details about picking it up and driving, but I first wanted to see if I can get the pictures up.

Here's the MINI when we picked it up!!!


....and another.....


...and my wife and I with the new MINI.....


...and pulling out of the dealer....


....and ready to drive off!!!!!


The 2-cent summary. It's in perfect condition and everything I wanted!! We put 286 miles on the MINI today and every one of them was great!!!! I'll post more info in a bit.

Tim

_________________
'04 MCS, CR/W/W, HK, Sport#2, MFSW, JCW

 

Review - Part 1:

I know I wont get all the details down in one post, so here is the first installment. Working with Baron MINI has been great. I showed up and they had everything ready to go. I signed a few papers (darn money always gets in the way), reviewed the car details with my MA, and we were off. The dealer did a wonderful job getting the car in perfect shape. It showed up at the dealer with 12 miles and, after the JCW kit install, it had 13 miles at delivery.

It was the first time I had seen the space cloth interior and it is really nice...better then I expected. The seats are great! The panther black interior with the anthracite is a great match!!! I'll get some interior shots tomorrow.

The only issue, which I had been warned about, is that the dealer still has not been able to get the key remote to work properly (for all '04 deliveries). So, that means the remote option wont work until they get new modules in. No big loss there for me.

Starting the car up was like meeting a long lost friend ! The MINI just hummed!!! My wife and I zipped out for a 20 mile test drive around town to make sure everything was working well before beginning the 200 mile drive home. Sure enough....everything's working perfectly. No stumble...no yo-yo....not a single rattle or wierd noise......just a supercharger whine and the shifting of gears!

Part 2 - the drive home coming soon!!!!!

 

Tim - Congratulations, Great Pics.

I have a question about your remote. Did your key (buttons) lock and unlock the car or is it completely disabled? My dealer swore that it worked before reprogramming some options but think that they wrecked the control module and ordered a new one.

Thanks
Mark

 

Katana:

Today I put about 110 miles on my new '04 MCS and I can tell you that the car's steering wheel is center dead on and the car tracks straight and true in the highway. This is the first thing I checked when I got in I-95 earlier this morning.

Also I have not detected any vibration in the stick shift while in 2nd or 5th gears. Actually I think the gearbox is pretty smooth for being so new but there is a bit of notchiness when engaging reverse and when going from 5th to 6th gears, but easily solved when you get the hand of it.

Other than that I am pretty pleased with the build quality as I have not heard any unpleasant rattles or squeaks so the car definetely feels more solid than our '02 Cooper.


The new suspension is superb. It does absorb bumps and other road imperfections much better than ever before. The same razor sharp handling remains and the car seems to ride more smoothly than our '02 Cooper with the standard suspension and 15" tires.

The rear hatch mechanism has also been greatly improved. Gone are the "Toy gun" noises when opening the boot's hatch and the somewhat hard closing. I noticed that MINI has added 2 additional rubber stops at the bottom of the hatch opening to improve the quality of closing and also to eliminate any rattles from ever developing around the hatch lock mechanism area. The hatch closes so softly its almost unperceptible. In the '02 you have to add a bit more effort to close the hatch, not so in the '04. The hatch rim is now plated versus the metal color one fitted in the '02's.


In all and all the car feels very tightly build and MINI seems to be improving the quality control process in this car. I love the digital speed readout now offered as std functionality of the Trip Computer (OBC) option.

Will continue reporting on more impressions about the car.

 

Sob

Nice MINI TiMINITim. Sob , oh the wait! My parents are telling me that if I can get a ride home next friday they will wait for me and pick it up on saturday instead of friday. How did you get to the dealer by the way, did you guys drive and you drive the MINI home and your wife drives the other car home! Ha.

AhHa! An idea strikes and the light bulb turns on! Perhaps one of my friends over at FAMU will give me a ride if I pay for gas and offer them lunch or something.

Hey chris, you say you had a friend whose MINI was on the TANABATA who already took delivery of their car, that's no fair.

Cooper4us
I thought the digital speed readout was standard on all 2004 MINIs and that it was displayed in the tach. Could you please clear this up for me. Doesnt matter much if it's only for the OBC because I got the premium.
_________________
ANDRE: 2004 EB/EB MCS || premium|front fogs|xenons|silver x-lites|gray space cloth|anthracite dash|hk|gray mats|british flag vavle caps|roadblock || EXPECTED PICKUP 10/11

 

congrats Tim
I have been congrats many MINI owners those days.
I was always happy to see everyone's MINI, until today after i heard My friend's MINI from TANABATA is ready for pick up and mine is nowhere to be found!

BK_MCS i know how hard it is to wait for the last week. I'm going crazy with this waiting!
Poor us!

 

A bit of details regarding our delivery experience at Lauderdale MINI...it was superb. We picked the var up yesterday at around 6:30PM. Car was ready waiting in the showroom, fully detailed and big gift bow sitting on top of the dash. Larry took care of the paperwork and money exchange formalities and soon we were ready to get our "first" interior tour of the car with our Motoring Advisor, Crystal. The car looks stunning with the chrome front grille and the chrome mirror caps. The panther black interior with the Anthracite trim is the icing on the cake. Crystal showed us all the features ordered on the car specially the H/K stereo. Funny thing the dealer was deserted last night (The Florida Marlins game I suppose), so Crystal and Larry devoted a lot of time to make sure that we were completely happy with the delivery process from beginning to end (Thank you guys!! :smile.

After we finished touring the car, we were offered to pick a few MINI merchandise goodies....I got a beautiful 1/18 scale diecast model of a DS/B MCS with all the details right down to the fully carpeted interior. It was the only MCS 1/18 they had as the rest were Coopers in various sizes and colors. This is a pretty expensive model and I am glad I got it for free. My wife picked the MINI driving sunglasses that she had been eyeing from some time before.

Lauderdale MINI gave us FIRST CLASS treatment (as always) and the delivery was total nirvana...fun, fun.

We drove back home via US1 at around 8:30PM and got back 1 hour later. This car is best described in one word: AWESOME! Solid and tight as a drum, no rattles, buzzes or squeaks and the engine and gearbox make music together...pure supercharger whine and linear strong acceleration from the get go...no stumbling, yoyoing, bogging, nada.

The new suspension is terrific. Same handling prowess but the car absorbs and damps road dips so much better than our '02 (But then again our Cooper CVT has that RAW go-Kart feeling).

All of our requested programmed features work..Comfort opening, DRLs, etc.


For those of you waiting to take delivery, the Key looks exactly the same as the one issued during the 2002 and 2003 model years. No surprises there. I was expecting to see a 3 or 4 button BMW key, but instead I got the standard 2 button MINI key as before. Only this time around we got 2 remote keys as opposed as 1 remote key and 1 plain key when we got our Cooper CVT a year ago.


I also notice the A/C cools the car a bit faster and the fan is less noisier than the one in our '02. In fact you can barely hear it even at full blast.

The H/K stereo is superb but I am still learning how to use its features. I will play with it some more in the morning.


The Anthracite trim and the Chrome grille as well as the chrome mirror caps are show stoppers...really make the car look classy inside and out.

Overall, very, very happy camper.

Fuel consumption seems high...I am averaging 18.9 MPG per the trip computer and this is on a very light foot. Things should improve past the break in period.

I took some pics today but will not get them for another day or so, so hold on tight!

 

>>Sob
>>
>>Nice MINI TiMINITim. Sob , oh the wait! My parents are telling me that if I can get a ride home next friday they will wait for me and pick it up on saturday instead of friday. How did you get to the dealer by the way, did you guys drive and you drive the MINI home and your wife drives the other car home! Ha.
>>
>>AhHa! An idea strikes and the light bulb turns on! Perhaps one of my friends over at FAMU will give me a ride if I pay for gas and offer them lunch or something.
>>
>>Hey chris, you say you had a friend whose MINI was on the TANABATA who already took delivery of their car, that's no fair.
>>
>>Cooper4us
>>I thought the digital speed readout was standard on all 2004 MINIs and that it was displayed in the tach. Could you please clear this up for me. Doesnt matter much if it's only for the OBC because I got the premium.
>>_________________
>>ANDRE: 2004 EB/EB MCS || premium|front fogs|xenons|silver x-lites|gray space cloth|anthracite dash|hk|gray mats|british flag vavle caps|roadblock || EXPECTED PICKUP 10/11


As far as I know, you only get the LCD speed and average fuel consumption read outs in the tach if you get the OBC. Otherwise, you only get the exterior temperature readout.

 

Just got back from another 15 mile spin!!! Still great!!! Already had to put some gas in. Drove 285 miles and needed 10.4 gallons.......almost 28 mpg and the drive home was with CONSTANTLY varying the speed.

For the speed read-out....(without the OBC) there is a small button on the turn-indicator **** which switches the view between temperature and speed. It works nicely and looks great.

Yes, to get the car my wife and I drove up together and then drove back separately (me in the MINI ). I'm pretty sure she was getting pretty tired of me speeding up....slowing down.....speeding up.....slowing down.......

 

>>I have a question about your remote. Did your key (buttons) lock and unlock the car or is it completely disabled? My dealer swore that it worked before reprogramming some options but think that they wrecked the control module and ordered a new one.>>


The dealer said they have not been able to get any of the remote keys to work on the '04s. They said the same thing happened last year with the switch to the '03s. They didn't have a date for getting the replacement part, but this is a pretty small detail and doesn't really bother me at all.

 

Thanks for answering my question so fast, not that it matters much for me anyways, I've got the OBC, I cant wait to see how the speed readout looks, I loved it on my friends 92 240sx before he totalled it!

Chris
It's not really just that it's the last week, I love it, cant wait, the thing that gets me is everyone posting about their lovely MINIs and showing pics that kills me! Oh well. Lucky you guys, you didnt have to go through all of the pic posting for all the new cars. You probably still had your pain though.

By the way I was just over at MINI2 and noticed a thread titled "My SLUTTY MINI", went in and looked at it (shut up, no jokes!) and it was by red03miniS. Since he's been booted from here he seems to be spending all of his time over there. He is doing the same thing, pushing up his post count through pointless posts. In that thread he was posting one pic per post of his car demonstrating it's changes over time, he could have just put them all in one post. He's never gonna learn.

 

For all of us still waiting for delivery, all these positive posts are good news. I still can't figure how to post a photo here. Any tips?

 

Alright! alright!

At least there is something new to know baout today!

OL just updated me into distributioncenter status.

Hope it gets there safe.

I'm going to see my MINI on Monday, they need to get it on Monday! they better do so!

 

Alright! alright!

At least there is something new to know baout today!

OL just updated me into distributioncenter status.

Hope it gets there safe.

I'm going to see my MINI on Monday, they need to get it on Monday! they better do so!

 

Oh how I hate the OL, how did I know that I was going to be updated as being at the VPC, thanks for making me check chris. I was also updated from EDD of 10/10 to 10/7, not that it means anything, wont be picking it up till saturday regardless.

Man TiMINITim, reading about you having the JCW and just looking at your pics are making me wish we got the JCW. Oh well...

To a speedy delivery for the rest of us (especially me and chris! )

 

BK_MCS thanks for remind me to check the details. mine has moved to EDD MONDAY!

 

BK_MCS thanks for remind me to check the details. mine has moved to EDD MONDAY!

 

I have 200 miles on my car (2 days). About half highway and half city, with quite a few heavy foot full throttle runs. My OBC is indicating 28.9mpg right now. I am quite satisfied with the fuel consumption at this point.

 

Oh boy, I'm gonna have probably somewhere about 400 miles on Andre by the time that we are finished with it next weekend, that much closer to break in, not that I care about 1200 miles, just about the first 20 or so! Hopefully after that my dad doesnt drive it to work every day, I told him to try to only drive it to work 3 or 4 of the 5 days, not every day, he drives a good 40 minutes to work every day I'd say. Oh, the agony.

On a good note though, my good friend over at FAMU offered to give me a ride home this friday so I can go pick up Andre saturday! Woooooo! (did you guys catch their game tonight on BET, they actually won and their band rocks, better than 112 was anyways, was a little upset that only AJ was on the field and not Free, you have to watch BET to know what I'm talking about).

 

It's 7 AM and my MINI was calling from garage.......finishing breakfast and getting ready to MOTOR!!!!!

A few other observations about the MINI from the first day:

My GoMINIGo glove box organizer fits fantastic!!!!!! You can find GoMINIGo in the "Marketplace" forum. It fits perfect, the red felt looks great, and it holds everything right where it should be.

I am now convinced that the hood scoop has nothing to do with getting air into the engine.....it is a bug vacuum!!!!! The bugs are scooped up and deposited on my windscreen!!!! My wife was driving our Civic home right next to me and her wwindow was slightly impacted....my MINI.....a plethora of bug guts!!!! Time to buy that stock in Windex!!

Some have observed that their xenons may be positioned a bit low. We went out last night and they are very nice and seem to be well positioned. No complaints at all!!!

The H/K soundsystem is exactly what I wanted. It is NOT a stereo for booming the neighborhood, it does sounds great at 'normal' listening levels. At highway speed I can urn it up loud enough to completely drown out any road noise, but it is still perfectly clear. There were a few songs I was listening to with various backgound instruments or effects that I was surprised to have heard for the first time. Also, I have heard some complaints about the radio reception....maybe that's only the stock stereo, but the reception was great!!!

Well, enough writing for now.....time to MOTOR!!!!