Hi guys!

It was last April that I saw a used MINI Cooper on the lot of a dealer while my mother and I were out doing errands. I had heard a bit about the car and wanted to try it out. My mother didn't. I convinced her to stop anyway, and darn near had to force her into the driver's seat. Before we got 200 yards away from the lot, she was giggling and I had a big ole smile. And then my problem was getting her to let me have a turn at the wheel. We zipped all over town and down back roads we knew. We almost bought the car that day, but the dealer was wanting $27k for it (a 2002 model with almost no options) and I knew that was too much.

I have talked about that drive almost nonstop in the past 11 months. I still smile to think about it. An MCS briefly appeared a couple months ago at another dealer, which my mother drove exclusively since no has successfully been able to teach me how to drive a manual transmission. It was just as much fun, perhaps even more so, than the first test drive.

I turned 22 this past Wednesday, and as my present, my mother told me she would buy me a Cooper, customized any way I wanted. I'm not one to react much to things but that had me floored and almost in tears. I love the MINI Cooper in a way I love very few other things.

Now that I got that bit of glurge out of the way, I have a question. We live about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis. I see there is a dealer in each city, but I am wondering, which one would be the best to order the car from? I'm aware that dealers mark up the cars, but I want to avoid those who do it unreasonably so. I also want to know how each is at servicing time, or if, heaven forbid, one needed work performed on a car under warranty. When placing an order (assuming there isn't a MINI on the lot exactly the way you want it) do you have to pay any money up front? Any advice about the whole ordering/buying experience would be appreciated.

That said, I cannot wait til I stop merely driving and start motoring! :D I started waving at MINIs months ago, though I'm sure the other drivers wonder why when I'm in a 10 year old Cirrus. hehe I expect to be around here a lot as I learn more about my new baby.

 

I would call each one and see if there is any markup, or "market adjustment" on their cars. Wouldn't want to drive all the way out there to find out there was a hefty markup

 

St. Louis actually contacted me once via email, totally unsolicited. The guy seemed nice if a little aggressive. I told him that I did't want to drive all the way out to St. Louis from California to buy a car (although he promised a March delivery). He emailed a couple of more times with a couple of quasi-incentives, and when I made it clear that I wasn't going to buy at St. Louis, he dropped the correspondence like a hot rock. Not even a "Thank you and good luck."

But I would do as WindMeUp says and call. Not all Motoring Advisors are the same!

So what are you gettin'?

 

Ok, I'll definitely call them both tomorrow, then. I just have a distrust of car dealers and mechanics, they tend to try and rip off young women, at least in my experience.

I'm surprised a StL MA was so aggressive. I thought MINIs sold very well with little or no effort on the part of MAs. Maybe his previous job was as a telemarketer?

I'm getting a MCSa with all packages, the HK sound system and the aux input plug. The only thing I can't decide on is color! I may go EB/B or HB/B or all black. Yellow/B is also a good possibility. In fact the only colors I don't like on a MINI is red and green. hah. I'll be going to either STL or Memphis this Friday to order. At least I will have school to keep me busy the next two months.

 

Before you take the plunge and place the order you should consider learning to drive a manual transmission. It really isn't difficult. You just need to find the right person to teach you. That way, you could test drive both versions and make your choice based on which version is more enjoyable to drive.


You might still choose to get an automatic, but this way YOU will make the choice actively instead of making it by default. Also consider getting the rear foglamp so you won't have any blanked-off places in your toggle switch panel.

I am a die-hard manual transmission guy, but I always test drive both manual and automatic versions of a car. I guess I have an overdeveloped sense of fairness.

Rawhyde

 

Congrats! Don't let them try to pull any mark-ups or shenanigans like adding things on that will increase your price - Minis at MSRP are available. To protect yourself have a contract with the price, etc stipulated as well as the amount of your deposit and the fact that it is fully refundable. Also, as someone who changed their mind on color and options, it helps if they give you a deadline for making changes to the order just in case.

Everything is subjective so I won't give you advice on what to get, I'll just say that IMHO experiencing everything in person is the key - it made a huge difference for me to go to the dealers a few times to really decide what I preferred vs what I thought from looking at pictures online and reading the forums.

In the end I am really happy with my HB/w 6 speed paddle shifting auto MCS (this delivery day photo is all I have right now - picked it up a few weeks ago

 

eVal, your baby is gorgeous! In fact, I've set my mind for sure on the HB/B for color, in part due to that picture. I wasn't a big fan of the Indi Blue but I think HB is perfect.

Rawhyde, I'm not giving up on a manual transmission, we'll see how that goes.

I know just about every county road in this area and "getting lost" is one of my favorite things to do. So looking forward to doing that in a MINI. Of course I will get an invisi-bra, a lot of those roads are gravel.

Two more days to order.

 

Have you considered the convertible? Exploring back roads is so much more fun with the open top view. They are not for everyone but, personally, I can not imagine having one any other way.

Even Homer gets it:

 

It's great that you're actually planning to try a manual! You may find that you like it, then you'll be in the same boat as me when you buy a new car. Manuals are getting hard to find lately.

I got some good news...my MINI is on the ground in the USA! I don't know exactly when it'll be at my dealer, but ASK-MINI expects I'll be able to pick it up by next weekend (Apr 2)!!

BTW, Hyper Blue is really nice. It was my second choice! EVAL has a good looking car.

Rawhyde

 

When I turned 22 I was riding the bus to school, and probably got a couple CDs and some clothes for my birthday.

As Ferris Bueller said, "How's that for being born under the wrong sign?!"

 

The first car I ever bought was a '79 Honda Civic. It had a 4-speed, and I hadn't really much experience with manuals (just a fork lift!). I think if you really want to learn to drive one, just buy one; then you don't have a choice! You hafta learn!

All part of your Motoring experience!

 

About half way, around Miner, MO? Check out Classic in Cleveland, OH, only another 500 miles up (and back ) but back is in a new MCS (no ). No markup will pay for you motel

Earl

 

First off, grats to Rawhyde! How you ever gonna live down the wait now you know yours is on the continent? Things like this make me wish we had cryo-sleep technology. Good thing I have a lot of programming to do for class or I'd drive myself nuts. Still, I'd be out of school the last couple weeks or so of my wait.

I live a bit north of the Sikeston/Miner area. St. Louis is a bit closer but Memphis is quite doable to get there and back in a day (after eating some ribs). I don't know about driving farther than that, I'm just glad I have two dealers in fairly close proximity.

I am undecided on the convertible. I do love roofless driving, but I'm afraid of the ragtop getting torn or just falling apart after several years. I don't think I've ever seen a convertible older than about 5-6 years with a completely intact top. Plus convertibles are a real pain to drive with the top up. Visibility is very important to me. But on the other hand, MINIs are fairly uncommon for my area and I haven't seen a Cabrio around here yet. I don't know, I will probably be seduced by one anyway, lol.

Trust me, I didn't expect to get a car for my birthday, much less a brand new one. I was expecting, at the most, a couple of movies or ps2/pc games. We used to be poor enough that certain things had to be sacrificed in order to buy food, but I have to give mad props to my mother, she knuckled down and went back to school for 8 years to get away from this kind of life. And now it's like, wow, we can buy food, clothes, and just stuff we never had before. We're still just completely amazed by it. Besides, this will be my mom's car, too, I figure if she's paying for it she can drive it when she wants. Riding around in a MINI is almost as much fun as sitting behind the wheel, anyway.

Manual transmissions seem like a lot of fun to drive, and I've always wanted to learn. I usually pick up new things pretty quick, but it seems those who try to teach me are teaching impaired. I agree, I probably need to just take a car out and teach myself without someone yammering next to me confusing me with details that should be left till I actually have the basics down.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, I'm a wordy girl, heh.

 

When I turned 22, CD's hadn't yet been invented! I got a nice cassette tape case and a cassette player cleaning kit. :smile: I was driving a 1979 Ford Fairmont at the time, with a monthly payment of $89, including the insurance!

 

Just remember.... With the MCSa there is no LSD!

 

Welcome to the club!!! MINIs do seem to affect people in strange ways!!

I hesitate to say much here as my buying experience is several years old (...and things change) but I think in most places its still common to put $1K down to place an order. That's what I did...I think a lot of folks did it this way. That money goes totally toward your car when it arrives. Do pay MSRP if you're buying new...it still boggles my mind that there are dealers out there asking more.

Back in the Fall of '02 I saw my first MC (PS/B) up on a stand at a (not MINI) dealer...they wanted $28K for the car!!!! That's crazy!

Good luck speccing your new MINI!!!!!

 

Thanks for the compliments on my HB Mini

It's funny, I'm not really a blue car person but after seeing the HB in person a few times I was won over in spite of not wanting to pay extra for the metallic paint. I was also orginally set on a black roof and that also changed after visiting a few Mini dealerships I am very lucky I didnt run out of time for changes in my production status like the dealer hoped I would :smile: Aside from all the color stuff have you picked all the little details? If you haven't seen a car with the black headliner you might want to consider it, it really unifies the interior of the car and you don't need to worry about it showing dirt like the light grey can.

As for the transmission, drive them both and of course evaluate how/where you live. I did, and can honestly say the paddle shifting auto is awesome - even the S.O. agrees that its a lot of fun and doesnt miss the clutch in this car at all. It really is the perfect daily driver city car (esp if you live in a hilly city and/or have traffic issues to contend with).

Anyway, I'm sure you'll love whatever combo you get - I'm glad if my photo helped at all :smile:

 

I bought my Mini with out knowing how to drive a manual transmission, the first few days I can honestly say were hell and I was really scared, but now it has come to be second nature kind of, I'm not a racecar driver and I still have to take my time. I'm still scared of going up hills when there are cars behing me.

 

Congrats on your gift-MINI! I bet you would like the body-color interior option...

 

I did the same thing when I got my Jetta in 2001. The first couple of weeks I was totally scared to drive to work in the morning. My MINI is easier on hills for some reason. Doesn't seem to roll back as much as the Jetta. Maybe because the clutch pedal travel is a lot shorter in the MINI.

It's kind of interesting to look back on learning to shift, though - as an adult, there aren't many times where you are really learning something from scratch.

 

Oh yes, I do plan on getting body color interior, I think that's a neat idea. I like the default leatherette seats so I'll keep those. As far as I'm concerned if you're looking at your seats there's something wrong. :p

I've never named a car, but I want to name this one. I'll be thinking on that a while.

 

I just bought a MCS from Mini of St. Louis. The markup was $500, which didn't bother me since the dealership is about three minutes from my house. The transactions costs of getting the car anywhere else would eat up the price difference.

As dealerships go, the sales and service experience is pretty ordinary; not objectionably bad, not really great. If you can get a killer deal or a magnificent buying experience in Memphis you should go for it, but the St. Louis dealer is fine.

My car is HB/B. It is MUCH easier to keep clean than the all-black 2003 MCS I used to have. Black is really pretty, but it's never clean.

Good luck.

 

Just got back in from Memphis. Boy, do they have a lot of MINIs or what?! I think our MA told us they had 44. Well, with such a large selection, they had a car with everything I wanted on it, plus leather seats and navigation sytem. So, we are getting a few things taken care of in the morning before heading back down to pick it up. 400 miles round trip, yeesh...at least half that will be in my new car! I called my dad and he wants to see it, so he'll be going down with us, lol.

No dealer markup on the cars, btw, beyond what they charge for dealer installed options. As far as I could tell, they weren't much than what miniusa.com has them listed for. These guys in Memphis seemed to be just as excited as I was. Within 10 minutes of walking in, my mother turned to me and said "Oh, we're definitely getting a car from here, I don't want to go back to the guys in St. Louis." Pretty telling considering St. Louis is only 90 miles away.

Now, a name! I will be getting the license plates and stuff taken care of Wednesday, so I got a couple days.

HB/B MCSa with sports, premium, convenience, cold packages, H/K sound, black leather seats, navigation system, aux input, stubby antenna and other assorted extras like parcel box, wind deflector for the sun roof and floor mats, front and back. It has anthracite headliners and anthracite interior, rather than body color, but I rather like that dark, moody look. No rear fog light though.

 

GRATZ!

 

Congratulations on the MINI! Post some pics when you get it home! Hopefully I'll have mine next weekend. If the missing rear fog light bothers you, the dealer can add it. It's about $100 or thereabouts plus whatever they charge for installation. The wires are already there. Just needs a light popped in the bumper, a new switch panel, and activation. That's one LOADED MINI. You'll love it. Mine is similar, but I have Park Distance Control and no navigation system. Did you get the chrome packages? It'd look good with the dark interior. The exterior chrome looks really good on the Hyper Blue.

I bet you're having trouble sleeping now!

Rawhyde