Hi All,

I'm stoked that I found north american motoring the day before I'm going to the dealership to order my Clubman! My wife and I are previous owners of a 2004 Cooper S that was chili red and we loved it but got rid of it last year after realizing we needed more room for the kids etc.

Well, now I'm getting sick of my car and my wife has a Honda CR-V so I'm dying to get back into the world of Mini and while I prefer the coupe, the Clubman is a nice compromise with her on space and utility.

I've optioned out the car and we decided to stay with the Clubman and not the S so we could fill it out with the "good stuff" and stay on budget

Below are all the options etc. Now, I know this is very big aesthetic question but we can't for the life of us decide on the damn color of the car!

We are trying to decide between Pepper white with black roof and black sport stripes and Lightning Blue with sliver roof and silver sport stripes. The issue really comes down to the fact that I currently have a black car and HATE the way it shows scratches, swirls etc. The Pepper white is attractive to me because its not your typical white and I hope it will show less imperfections from normal where and tear. But the other side of that coin is that its white and kinda plain.

So, we decided we'd make decision partly based on responses here so please chime in!


'09 Clubman

Premium Package
Cold Weather Package
Connivence Plus Package
Fog lights and Xenon Lamps
Nav System
HD Radio
Smartphone Prep
Leatherette and Standard Dash

 

Scroll through the Flickr Clubman pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mini_clubman/ to your heart's delight...and check out the PW and LB threads here for photos, too. Pepper White is a very classic looking color, in my opinion while Lightning Blue is a great blue - both are really nice. You could always go PW/PW or PW/Silver, too.

Does your "smartphone prep" mean the Bluetooth/iPod factory install plus the arm rest that will hold the phone?

Welcome back, or almost back, into the MINI clan.

 

Well.. I just love the pepper white...check out my gallery to see the pics... I've seen the BRG/Silver and Silver Bonnets..beautiful in person...Not a fan of HC..no offense to HC owners...although LadyG's is the best I've seen...checkout the clubman capture contest thread..you can get a feel for some of the color combos out there! Good Luck!!

 

i just took delivery of an 09 clubman lightning blue with silver top (no stripes) and couldn't be happier. i got the Xzilon exterior treatment and its so shiny and smooth... like glass!

http://gallery.mac.com/bryangcook#10...lack&view=grid

cheers!

 

I struggled with a similar decision. Both are great, but I will say that while I've seen several PW MINIs around, I have yet to meet a Lightning Blue 'in the wild'. (MINIs are not too thick on the ground here in SW Michigan, tho...) From reading NAM and looking around the dealerships, as well as the used cars, I would say that Chili Red is definitely the most popular color, followed closely by Pepper White and various shades of silver. Blues are definitely on the rare side, and add to that the fact that the LiB will be going away in December (replaced by a much lighter shade of 'Horizon Blue'), there just never will be many of them out there.

So, I guess it comes down to what you like best and whether you're looking at popularity for resale or uniqueness.

You can see what choice I made! Hoping mine will arrive this week sometime so I'll be able to see if I made the right choice!

Good luck - you really can't go wrong either way!

 

I may be a little prejudiced but next to my C/R my other choice would have been the blue. I saw a CR / Silver Clubman today and that combination works well too!!

Good Luck with your decision.

 

The blue is FAST! It well get you tickets! (See Bryans new ride..awesome color). The White is stately and clean looking, and you'll never get a speeding ticket! The two silvers are considered the 'classy' colors, for us older geezers. I'm also covinced the Sparkling Silver is ticket-proof, having averaged over 80mph on several trips and CHP has blown right past me!

 

Make sure you get a rear fog light as well. As for color, I'm cheap so I'd go with Pepper White. My wife said spend the extra $500 and get the metallic paint.

 

You are going to love your Clubman! Of your 2 choices, I would go with Pepper White.

(and thanks, Wolfeee!)

 

Nice build! Both color choices are good however I think I would lean toward the P/W probably with silver. I think my choice is mainly conditioning because of where I live. Although I did recently run into a couple with a Nightfire Red Clubman and I was surprised at how good it looked! Had I seen one before I purchased I would have been giving that color some serious thought.

 

We finally decided on and ordered the BRG (not even in production yet) but we seriously considered the Pepper White. Wouldn't normally have looked at the white color, but with the black trim it really pops.

But in the end we dedicded to commit to the extra time in car washing, beside the clubman is so much smaller then the Liberty it can't take as much time

 

I'll leave the color choice to you and the others. I'll give my 0.02 on the options.

I'd agree on the CW and Premium packages. I'm not a fan of the Xenons, both due to cost, replacement cost, and the auto aiming system. You can read elsewhere about that and decide. I had fogs on my VW and rarely used them so I saved that $$ as well. I have a portable GPS, which lets me do things that the factory system can't do, as well as not filling the console with a vid screen, so I passed on that (and saved that $1k). We got the standard interior, and are very happy with it.

I'd strongly recommend against HD radio. Search here and go online and read info from sources other than the HD radio consortium. My read is that it's a dead end technology that has the potential to hurt local radio while not offering that much in sound quality improvement. Even though it's a subscription, Sirius is a much better investment, IMO. I've said more on HD; if you search for "HD Radio" and my username, you'll find it. (Not that I know anything, but I've probably explained my thinking better on those threads). Congrats on the Clubman and good luck with the decisions.

 

Heyyy.. keeping it real sistah!

 

We wanted to add other colors to the car such as a flag overlay on the moon roof- so Pw/Pw was our best choice. If you don't desire to add colors of your own selection then a more colorful base color may be the best choice. Also in our area the CR is #1 and the PW is #2 for resale.

 

I know the NAV system has been debated before, but since you asked here's my take.

I really wanted the NAV system from the get go, partly because i liked that it "fixed" the big *** speedo cosmetically and partly because I thought the added functionality would be worth it.

Having lived with it for two months I am convinced it was not worth the $2,000 price and $500 for auto climate. Here is why:

• It basically only uses about five colors with the orange font on black background most of the time. It is not colorful and impressive like other NAV systems (Hondas for example). I am not sure why this is the case as it should have the capability to show thousands, if not millions, of colors.
• Unlike other NAV systems I have seen, the radio interface is very basic, nothing sexy and very DOS 5.1 esque to make a tech reference. With all of this fancy hardware, I should be able to custom name stations instead of Local 1, Local 2 or whatever the RDS picks up.
• The joystick interface is wonky to use. Although you can master it with time, it will never be as efficient as a touchscreen. It also does not allow you to easily scroll along the route ahead as you can only move in four directions? What if your destination is NW, for example.
• The traffic info is helpful, but that can be found by listening to your radio or seeking that utility in a third party NAV unit for much less money.
• I will not expound upon the theft issue as there are solutions to mitigate theft of a third party unit and not everyone lives or travels in an area where this is a major concern.
• Most of the other functions like trip computer stuff and personalization settings is mostly redundant with the standard car and gets used very infrequently to justify its cost.

I think the $2,000 plus cost is better spent on other things such as leather or mods.

What I really think they should offer is a chrono pick that uses the speedo rim that you get with the NAV system and then a nice set of temp and pressure guages in the center.

 

I'd recommend trying out the nav system before spending the $2k. While I didn't try it my MA strongly urged us to think twice about it & try it before before buying it. The joystick interface looks like a real pain & personally I think it messes up the look of the dash. I agree with moclubman, the $2000 cost is better spent on other goodies - a good Garmin unit & leather, for example. Good luck with your Mini either way.

 

I'll agree on the Nav system. Go with an aftermarket. QVC just had a great deal on the Garmin 255W. Like the others, I'm not a big fan of that bog ol' Nav screen in the middle of the dash. I like the other options, same as I got mostly. Our MCS has the Xenon's they're great. I would also suggest either Sirrius or XM (what I have) over HD radio. Other than that, enjoy that thing!

 

I love my 'portable' Garmin! I agree...spend the money on something else and buy a GPS you can move around with you. I use mine in rental cars when I travel...and I couldn't do that with a fixed nav system.

 

Hi All.

Thanks for all the awesome replies. So in the end (or rather the start of the process) when I ordered the Clubman here is what i did

PW with Black
Black Bonnett Stripes
Premium Package
Cold Weather Package
Front and Back Fog lights
Xenon Lamps
NAV
Comfort USB/iPod and SmartPhone prep
Sport seats
Blk/Gray Leatherette

What I decided in the end was the rain and auto wipers where not worth it and comfort access were not worth it. So i didn't due the connivence plus pkg

As far as the comments on the NAV go, here are my thoughts:

I own a nuvi 770 and love it, but I have had to replace it twice, both from break ins to the car. Also, I prefer the built in look even it is not quite a functional. Take those two factors and I have a plus for the built in NAV.

I'm stoked to see my baby!

 

Excellent Choice!

 

Post pics when you can!

 

In line with many including Lady G and Wolfeee - I would select the PW. We had a lovely all black car and it showed EVERYTHING. We picked up our new 2009 PW 5 days ago and it is super sharp. I'm posting a few pictures here...We're getting stripes put on the bonnet and boot tomorrow. Chosing a color for your Clubman will probably be the hardest decision! Honestly, they all look great! Good luck!!

 

HT..the shine looks GREAT! Ras did a wonderful job..what does he charge?
There's a reflection of another car in the barn doors.

 

He'll work with you on price . Yes, our Honda Pilot is reflecting in the back window. It's being neglected now that our Clubman is here...oh well. He just jumped right in with the clay/detailing activity...I chose to stay inside and enjoy my morning coffee ! You can understand!!

 

BTDT. Clubbie has changed even my concept of keeping a 'grocery-getter'...face it..we're go'in motor'in to the store..the LOOOOONG way...



Totally!