Have afriend with an MCS and another with a mc. MCS guy has promised me a drive. Grew up with the original mini. Last new car was a GTI. Have cruised this and other mini sites and see a raft of problems with the mcs (yoyo, rattles, stutter etc.)
Seems as though each model year gets better . I want to hold out for a 2005. Haven't visited a dealer yet. What's the word re- 05 changes to the mcs and when is it arriving. Is it orderable right now (at msrp) (in California). I will lease as it will be abusiness car. Out of state oder an option?

 

MSRP is not in the California MINI dealer vocabulary, except for Long Beach. All have very long wait lists for orders. Best bet is to order from out of state and have your MINI shipped home. That's what I did as well as many other CA MINI owners. Talk with Mini of the Hamptons and Classic MINI for startes.
The 04's seem to have fewer issues than the 02 & 03 builds. Haven't had any of the base issues other than trying to get my smile back to normal.
05 builds will most likely begin mid year.
Have fun and get readeeeeeeee to moooootooooor. :smile:

_________________
Poco Loco: 04 LY/B, Works MCS, S2933

 

Figure 05's in production in August with an October delivery for West Coast dealers.

Of course if you want ALL of the features that will be offered in the '05s you might need to wait for a December build... MINI doesn't always get all the new changes for a model year in at the start of production...

For example:
Rain Sensing Wipers and HK audio showed up in late December 02 build MY '03s
DVD Nav arrived in March 03 build 03 models
3 Spoke steering wheel... Dec 03 build 04 models I believe...

 

My dealer said to expect the '05 Converts in September.

 

I know I already replied in another post, but in case anyone is curious.....my 05 will be in September/October. My MA said we can get a more definite timeline by this summer, as they begin to gear up for the 05s.

I'm on the East Coast (DC) and I've heard that the waiting list for the 05s is currently short, but as it gets closerr to the end of the 04 model year, wait times will begin to lengthen. I'd suggest you put an order in if you're considering it. It's only $1K down (at least in my experience) and you can get 100% of the deposit back if you change your mind.

Good luck, sivado!

 

sivado, re: changes for the '05 MCS, check out Gabe Bridger's site at http://www.motoringfile.com - lots of photos and good descriptions!

 

>>MSRP is not in the California MINI dealer vocabulary, except for Long Beach. All have very long wait lists for orders.
>>Poco Loco: 04 LY/B, Works MCS, S2933

Pleasanton dealership in the East Bay has MSRP BUT it's a long wait. :smile:

 

The new BMW 2 series is just around the corner. It's going to be in the same price range as the MINI and it'll be a real BMW (in particular, it will have a BMW engine).

As a plus, it appears not to be too badly Bangled.

Might be worth considering, now that MINIs are so commonplace...