Brian delivered my Mini today from Classic Mini in Ohio in my new hometown of Auburn, CA! We met just around the corner of Albertsons in a big vacant lot were I accepted delivery of my Chili Red MCS JCW at 7:30AM. I was stop number 1 out of 3 for 8 Mini deliveries. Check out the pictures!!! I had my digital camera batteries with me but forgot the camera at home (typical). So I used my Nokia for the photo shoot (sorry about the lame resolution). I drove my new Mini to a smog station just down the street where they told me that I needed to put at least 60 miles on the car in order for them to do the test. The onboard computer apparently hadn't made the appropriate adjustments yet to allow the test to be performed. I went to the DMV anyways only to find out that their entire computer network was down. So what does this mean? What else! An all day drive through the back roads of the Sierra Nevada foothills!!!

 

macaid - Congrats! Your MINI looks great! I like the JCW exhaust. Happy Motoring to put the miles on for the smog check. Now my HB/B MINI looks awfully lonely in the back of the truck. Must have been hard for the two of them to split.

 

I asked Brian to unload the HB/B on top instead because I figured it would get me in less trouble! Enjoy your Mini!

 

Congrats on the new delivery! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the cars in Santa Clara this afternoon!

 

And to think with this kind of delivery you don't have to listen to the MA explain all the things you already know about the car.

 

cool

I bought my mini out of state too. but when returning to Lincoln Ca we opted to fly out to pick up the car and motor home. Make sure you point out the carb sticker to the dmv lady. she almost didn't let me register my mini because she couldn't find it. luckily someone saw it just in time and pointed out to her.

 

Thanks for the tip! What the heck is a carb sticker and where do I find it? I just figured out the iPod interface and I must say, iTunes music sounds wonderful on the HK system. Much better than the BOSE systems that I am use to! I will head over to DMV next week after I put some more miles on mine and stop obsessing about having to drive everywhere...

 

Hi mcaid: Mine was somewhere in that enormous truck. When the truck left Classic I thought there were 2 dark cars in back. If yours was in back at Auburn then maybe they switched positions midway? Can't be sure what those MINIs will do when you leave them alone together in the dark! Congratulations and thanks for the info about emissions testing.

 

CARB sticker - California Air Resources Board - certifies that the MINI meets strict emissions regulations.

DMV found mine under the bonnet on the driver's side, near the edge of the door. It's on a vertical surface.

 

It was nice to finally take delivery of my MINI. Everyone's MINIs looked great. I got the MINI smogged and registered today. Got to pick up my personalized plates. Will share photos later, haven't had the chance to upload them yet.

 

I usually don't register much excitement. I enjoyed driving my MINI home from Santa Clara last night, but primarily because it felt so solid. However I felt as though I did not fit in the car. I regretted not having test driven one first--especially to find out that the inside mirror obscured my line of sight. A potential hazard. I was glad I had not dumped my old car.

This morning when coworkers asked how I liked my MINI I had to admit it was OK, but that I did not fit comfortably in it. I had the seat moved as far back as it would go and reclined it, but it was still uncomfortable. Ew. Would I have to sell it? Another expensive lesson for me.

This evening after a meeting several people wanted to sit in my MINI. I apologized to one taller fellow and told him he might not fit. He got in and adjusted the seat height and pronounced it perfect. When I got in to drive it was like a different car. I had to move the seat forward and I was no longer staring directly at the mirror. The driving position was excellent. Such a difference.

What a GREAT car! I won't tell anyone though. That would be out of character.

 

Dang crazyfornians! Smog a brand new car? Why? It's stupid that we have to smog a 2 year old car here, but not a 20yr old, but to have to do a new one, that's crazy!


My ex wife (who was from cali) had it right, cali is the breakfast bowl of the world, home of the fruits, nuts, and flakes (all in government apparently)
Nice car, glad you got it in good condition!

 

Funny that you mention the seat problem. I test drove 4 Mini's prior to purchase and thought the seats were just fine and ruled out the need for leather w/adjustable lumbar support. Now, after 20 minutes of driving, the built in lumbar support on the leatherette seats is annoying. It sticks out way to far and is quite uncomfortable. I hope that it will mold to my back soon but am not sure if they do that. I've got my seat in a perfect position where I have head clearance (im 6'4") and a good view out of all windows. Yes, the rear view mirror is an obstical but doesn't bother me. We'll just have to see if the lumbar adjusts and is form fitting. Because of my height, I cannot read the top 1/4 of the RMP dial. The steering wheel blocks it from my sight. Bummer, I'd much rather have a clear view of the RPMs than the MPH.

It took a little bit for me to figure out the iPod connection. I created 5 playlists named "MINI1" through "MINI5" but the head unit did not recognize the iPod regardless of whether I turned on the stero first or the iPod first. Finally after two days the head unit recognized it. The manual says to use the "MODE" button until CD is displayed and then the iPod will function. This, however, is not the case. I have a "TR" option (along with AM/FM & CD) which allows me to pick which iPod track I want to listen to. The "TR" option only appears when the head unit recognizes the iPod regarless of whether the iPod screen says "MINI" on it or not. The sound is fantastic. My 6GB iPod Mini has a thousand songs on it encoded in 192. It lives in a purple iPod sock in the glove box. I love that I am not limited to a dozen tracks on a CD. It is very cool to go to track TR98 or whatever and shuffle through an entire playlist!

 

Jens,
I was reading your post about the lumbar support (or lack thereof) and I was thinking that I felt uncomfortable in the seats of the new cabrio; that they weren't as comfortable as my leatherette (non-lumbar support) seats in the 04 MCS....and then I remembered, that the cabrio has leather. No wonder I felt the seat pushing into my back! When I get home, I'll have to dial out some support.
Charlie

 

It was fun meeting everyone. Here are a few photos.

 

A few more pics -
Kelly in her new HB/B (nice web spokes, eh?!)
Robin in his new PW/B
Robin's nose to nose with JCampos' highly modified PW

Interesting that the three new cars that I saw there were all MCSa. I may have to drop by the dealer and give one a spin...the 'paddles' look neat and seem very functional. Just in case we become a two MINI family.

 

I wondered why we saw so many MINI's in the Auburn/Grass Valley/Amador area this weekend! In fact, we waved at 6 MINI's on our drive from Grass Valley to Jackson on the twistie HWY 49. In fact, one gent followed us all the way from Auburn to Jackson, as we didn't waste any curves. As we pulled into the casino parking lot, he asked us if we were going to follow him all the way to San Francisco. We might have, if we didn't have tickets to a show.
BTW, if you ever get a chance to see Jim Belushi and his band The Sacred Hearts, by all means, GO! What a great show!

 

OK, how ya all gotta look us up at www.goldcountrymini.com and join us on our runs!

 

Sorry, we Santa Clara folks sort hijacked the original thread. (Put down the keyboard, and nobody gets hurt! )
All the latest pics were delivered at Santa Clara University, but I'll keep an eye on your runs - always nice to do the twisties up north!

 

Im originally from Cali (Los Gatos) but now living right ouside NYC. Curious.. why are you buying (still) your MINIs from out of state? Are they still charging premiums in CA? Does classic charge MSRP plus shipping?

BTW nice Chili Red/White. Looks almost like my 04 MCS that I just traded in to get a cabrio..

 

Yes and yes. Both in NorCal and SoCal.

MINI of Mtn View is still demanding $1000 for a Cooper and $2500 for an MCS. Folks would rather pay $1000 for shipping (and correspondingly lower sales tax and registration) than submit to the hiway robbery that is ADM.
Some CA dealers are charging MSRP, but most still have long waiting lists. That gravy train probably won't last much longer, but the dealers will ride it while it's still on the tracks...