Well we did it!:smile: We ordered our 05 Cooper yesterday! Our dealer, Niello BMW, in Sacramento, CA, just called with our Production Number. Now the fun begins. Tracking and waiting for "Jimmy" to arrive. First the agonizing wait of tracking through MiniUsa and than tracking overseas. I cannot wait. We ordered a Cooper, Purple Haze, Black Roof and mirrors, Premium Package #1, Sport Seats, Fogs, and Spoiler. Nothing too fancy, just enough for our own personal enjoyment. This will finally send our grown children over the edge. Ha Ha Looks like our arrival date will be in late August or early September, just in time for our planned driving trip to New Mexico and the Grand Canyon. Looking forward to reading all of your posts. Ciao.

 

Right on :smile:

 

Cool

 

this will be fun seeing the '05'ers starting to live-out the waiting process.

Good luck, and don't forget PICTURES!

 

If I haven't seen a Purple Haze in person by Aug/Sept, I'm driving to Tracy!!
Enjoy!

 

TrixienSpeed- We should be putting our order in at the end of June or July (been wait listed since January!) and I am sooooo curious about the Purple Haze color. Did your dealer have a color sample? I can't tell a thing about it from any websites I've seen. Please let me know anything that helped you make the choice!


By the way, if we go with Purple Haze we've thought about ScuzeMe or KSTHSKY for license plates. I guess you'd have to be a miniphile to get that. PrplHaz is already taken in AZ!

Thanks-
Candy

 

Did you get a production week yet? I'm placing my order Monday, and have been told that so many convertibles have been ordered, the allotment of MCs's will be reduced. They already won't let you order the external chrome kit. Purple Haze may delay it as well.

 

Congrats, TrixienSpeed! And welcome to NAM! I love your specs and as I just returned from a fun cross-country roadtrip in my Wanda, I can tell you that you'll enjoy taking Jimmy to the Southwest! MINIs like New Mexico! Tee hee! Eager to see a Purple Haze in person.

Now the waiting begins in earnest. Hang out here, read the forums, ask questions, share your stories. This is an incredible support group for you to utilize! Enjoy the process and have fun making new friends! :smile:

Cheers!

Clo/Wanda

 

Oh I think Jimi would be proud that any car colour would be called Purple Haze

 

Hi Trixien Speed,

My wife and I just picked up our Cooper S from Niello MINI a week and a half ago. They were pretty great to us. They messed up and Padre wasn't ready at noon when we arrived so they told us to go to lunch wherever we wanted and they would pick up the tab. After a great Italian lunch a Lucca's downtown we were able to get our MINI after work. Sweet! If you see a chili red/white S with white wheels and a California flag on the roof, that's us! Give us a wave.

Welcome to NAM. It's lots of fun and I've learned a million things about the MINI that I never would have known without the help of all the great MINIacs.

Cheers,

 

Congrats on your order! I can't wait 'til I see my first Purple Haze MINI rolling down the road. If it's anything like the Daytona Violet on my old M3, I'm in love already.

 

Well, I did it too. Just sent in my check. Orderd a 2005 MCS, Purple Haze, White Roof and Wheels, Sport, Premium, Chrono Package, HK stereo - Red Octogon cloth/leather. Anthracite Headliner and trim. They wanted outrageous prices here in Virginia for used ones. A 2003 with 13K was 24,900. My car MSRP's at $25,169! $300 more for a two year younger model year and 2 year longer warranty. At least I know my car will retain its value........

 

I would strongly suggest you don't return to Niello BMW for service for your MINI. I have had a lot of service visits there and there were very few that weren't a disappointment. I have had trips to pick up the car to find out they didn't have the part and didn't fix it correctly. The worst thing that happened was to return to find more damage to the car than when I left it. Hopefully your car is rattler free. I would take my car in for a rattle telling them exactly where it was. Then when I pick up the car they tell me they decided it was somewhere else. Lucky me I get to go home with a whole new rattle besides the one that they were suppose to fix. That was the story at least 4 times. Have fun.

 

Well this is all very exciting!!! Congrats to the soon-to-be-owners!!!!

 

Thanks everyone for the great posts:smile: We have only seen the Purple Haze color through other websites. As long as it isn't Barney purple we will be happy. Luckily my husband is color blind or he might freak out. We really wanted Indi Blue, but this is the closest we can get. The best I can gather is that Purple Haze is Indi Blue with some reddish-purple in it. I have the production number and will be registering with MINIUSA next week. Hopefully I will be able to get the production week then. We are looking at an August/September arrival. Perhaps we could start a July Build group?

I sure hope I do not have any troubles with service at Niello. They have been really great so far. Has anyone else had problems at Niello?

Have a great weekend.

 

OK Gang...

Reading about these 05 buyers has made waiting more difficult... Too difficult.

Can't stand it anymore... must...find...cash...

I Live in the Pacific NW and am willing to make a road trip of it if worth it to get a "fair" price from the right dealer somewhere other than the Seattle area. Any advice, recommendations or encouragement will be appreciated and provide good karma.

Yours in owners lounge potential,

KC

 

Trixien,

Do you mind telling me if you paid MSRP? If Niello charges MSRP *and* can give me a production number immediately, maybe I'll go there. I'm in the south bay area and was considering going through Classic MINI in Ohio just to get the car in a reasonable amount of time for MSRP.

-mike

 

Soooo cooool. Purple Haze and black should be lookin' good! Sport seats are real good. Have fun!

 

KC,

Julie Saxa at Classic MINI has sold about 10 cars to folks in the Pacific Northwest, including davescumini and early_apex on NAM. Both of them flew to Cleveland and drove home. Several others have had their cars shipped by Concours Transport right to their door.

miebeau,

Several months ago, Niello was charging $2,500 over MSRP for a MCS and $750 over MSRP for the MC. Things may have changed, but I doubt it. The only Northern CA dealer selling at MSRP is East Bay in Pleasanton, and for a MCS you'll wait 8 to 10 months or more. Call Niello and ask what their "premium" over MSRP is. They'll tell you. Remember, you pay sales tax on it when you buy the car, and VLF every year that you own it.

I've purchased 3 MINIs from Classic and Julie. Email her at Julie@driveclassic.com or call 440 266-6700. A $500 deposit on your credit card is all you need to order a car from her.

Charlie

 

Funny you say that... I've been dealing with Julie and I think I'm going to buy from her. Concours Transport sounds great (although I wish it were cheaper! but it's worth it if they do a good job which it definitely sounds like they do), and Julie seems like a great salesperson.

I have a question about the guys who flew out to Ohio. I would happily do this and it saves a lot of shipping money, but it seems like it would be a bad thing to drive a Mini on about 99% highway miles in one straight shot for the first 2000 miles of the engine... Were the other guys not concerned about this?

-mike

 

Charlie, another question for you. What did you mean by this? You still have to pay sales tax on a MINI bought in Ohio don't you? I was under the impression that you don't pay the sales tax to Classic MINI but you do when you register the car in CA. Was I mistaken on this point?

Mike

 

Mike,

Send a PM to Early_Apex and to Davescumini. Both are regular contributors on NAM, especially Dave. Both purchased a car from Julie at Classic, flew to Cleveland, and drove home.

Dave took his time, went through LA (LA Auto Show) and then home to Oregon. His MCS started life with a JCW Kit installed at Classic. Since then, it has been heavily modded---as Dave's hundreds of posts on NAM will attest to. He can tell you about the drive home and how he accomplished the break-in on the open road.

Mike (Early_Apex) took a somewhat different approach. He arrived in Cleveland during a snowstorm and Julie picked him up at the airport some 40 miles away, then took him to Classic, and delivered his car to him about 11 PM at night just as the snow was really starting to hit. He made a speed run to Washington, driving something like 60 hours straight (not my cup of tea) to get home . His MCS runs fine

The key to the break-in is not driving at the same rpm for an extended period and staying below a certain RPM until the break-in is complete.
All it takes is a little concentration for the first 1,250 miles to accomplish this---by varying your speed & frequently shifting between 5th & 6th gear on the interstates. You can also get off the interstates also, and through some towns to let the amount of traffic flow set your pace.

If you have the time to do it, then you can save the transportation costs of the enclosed transport. For me, when I added up the vacation time and cost for lodging, meals, etc, it made more sense for me to have the cars shipped and not worry about them.

Give my best to Fred at Concours when you talk to him. (One trick Fred taught me was that if you decide to drive, pick up a roll of clear contact (adheasive) shelf paper from K mart or Wal Mart and use it as a paint protectant for the front of your car out on the interstates. A little scissor work and you've got some extra protection for the painted surfaces on the bumper & hood and headlight covers for the drive home.)

With regard to the tax, I was referring to the dealer profit above MSRP that you pay sales tax on when you buy the car from a California dealer, and the VLF for every year it's registered in CA. So, if a CA dealer charges you $2,500 above sticker for the "privilege" of buying from them, you're gonna pay $206 in sales tax at the time of the sale and an additional $17 in license fees the first year.

When you buy through Classic, you don't pay any sales tax until you get the car to CA, and then you pay a "use tax" which is the equivalent of sales tax when you register the car at CA DMV. If you PM me, I can give you some more tips about saving additional $$ when purchasing accessories through Classic.

We've had 3 shipments from Classic delivered to Santa Clara University over the last 9 months. 7 in November of 03; 2 in Feb 04, and 6 in May 04.

Call or email me with any additional questions carolla@scu.edu

Charlie

 

Thanks Charlie, YGM.

 

Hey purple haze-

Just finished up a road trip across the country in my new S. of the 4000 miles we drove, there were 3 roads we hit that rate 5 star Mini quality driving, and one is in New Mexico. Hwy 64 between Taos and Bloomfield. A must! Beautiful. Lonesome. Not traffic'd. Fast curves. Quality asphalt. Be sure your baby's broken in before you get there for maximun driving pleasure!

BAT

 

My 04 will be here within 24 - 48 hours.

Now the fun begins for someone else. Enjoy it. I jumped so I could get IB, rather than wait for PH. I've seen a BMW in what may well be PH, it's a gorgeous blue with red/violet undertones. Very, very sweet and absolutely glorious in the sun. Went for the IB because that's what first grabbed me, 2 years ago (even if I did get LY in the mean time. :smile: ).