$500 sounds very low to me. When I contacted Sterling in Virginia, by the way I am not a Costco member, but the woman that I talked to said that to finalize the deal, I would have to show a car. No big deal, if I had gone that route. But, when I contacted my dealer in the Chicago area, she immediately offered me the $1500 off with $600 of that in the Xenon and Adaptive headlights, which I wanted anyway.

But, the Sterling dealer immediately offered $1000 before I mentioned JCW. All that matters in the end is that we all are satisfied, with the deal. And, mine was/is on a 2011 not a 2010, that was $1750. not including free goods. Yes wahoo-shoe, I'm getting the rubber floor mats too. Actually I prefer them to the carpet type, they don't wear out so quickly.

 

Yes, my $550 does sound low versus what you got on the East coast. However, I've been seeing that some 2011 Mini purchasers are getting zero flexibility from their dealer and paying full MSRP - so, maybe i didn't do so bad.

I failed to mention the dealer also agreed to free installation on the Mini accessories I ordered for my MCS. I supposed at a ~$80hr shop labor fee, that's another few hundred bucks that I'm saving.

Total savings around ~$900 at the Utah dealer. (pretty good service too!)

 

Just got off the phone with a real person at the Mini Lounge. Nothing new yet, it is still scheduled for production. He did mention that there was something that was changing with the JCW, and that is probably why it hasn't received a date for production. I tried to get out of him what that addition was, but he wouldn't speculate. I have some ideas, but then again, maybe I'm just dreaming.

 

tvan: Not all that bad. We have had the same problem around here with dealers sticking to MSRP, and in some cases making extra dealer added options mandatory. My closest dealer is Omaha Mini, and they wouldn't budge one red cent. KC wasn't any better, as was Bloomington, MN. It wasn't until I contacted the Chicago area that I got anything and did that ever surprise me. Granted it's 4 1/2 hours to Schaumburg, but well, it's worth it. What options are you getting put on your MCS? My signature tells what my Lil Guy is being equipped with.

 

Hemisedan: Please speculate a bit, share your ideas, I would like to hear more. Mini Connected? JCW related? Engine?

 

Ok, I just updated my signature with the deets...

"2011 MCS / Eclipse / Blk Roof / 17” Web Spoke / Carbon Lounge Leather / Prem. Pack / Sport Pack / Adaptive Xenons / H&K / 9.10.10 order"

 

tvan: Just noticed the 9/23 date for production. I guess that you did order your 10 days before me, but I am getting antsy about this. My MA keeps telling me that it takes about two weeks before they set the date. Anyway, we'll see. I'd like to know if any others out there have JCW's ordered and HAVE been given a production date. The guy that I talked to at Miniusa this morning seemed very nervous when I asked if there was something going on with the JCW's. All he would say is that there are some changes with the JCW that weren't previously included in the JCW from the factory. Who knows.

 

+1 Much easier to keep clean too!

 

It's quite possible the new red roof is a hang up. Think about it...they may have one paint shop for body colored, one for alternate roof. They may have to install new paint-bots or paint tanks or whatever. And while red roofs already technically exist (CR body&matching roof on regular Coops..duh), they were completed in the body paint shop.

Just a speculation. Seems not-legit to change a model in some major way after orders have been placed. Or maybe they're adding black light housings, or upgrading the engine software..

 

Just received new info. My MCS is going to be on:

TAMESIS
Voyage # CF026-TAM
SOUTHAMPTON 20-09-2010
BALTIMORE, MD 29-09-2010

Received At Terminal 13-09-2010 15:42:00
Booked 12-09-2010 20:56:50

Which is Fantastico.

Anybody else on the same boat?

You can check yours: https://att.2wglobal.com/gstattweb/
Cargo ID = VIN

 

I don't know if it's changed, but in the production video available from the owners lounge they show them manually taping off the roof and adding an additional coat of paint when contrasting colors are needed. Again, you may be right (the video is old--it shows them starting the cars with a key! ).

I'm just jealous of all you east coasters. Your cars are built, shipped, and received in less time than it take mine to get from Southampton through Panama and up to California! :(

I'm waiting to hear that some 2011's are at the local dealers so I can go take a look. I figure patience is easier if I break this down into smaller pieces.

 

wahoo_shoe: kto zniyoo, who knows. I don't think that the Red roof has anything to do with it, like you said, they already do that with the Chili Red body, but like I said in Russian and English, who knows.

 

Dodgy: I saw that Naperville, in Illinois has a bunch of 2011's. Believe this though, no manual Mini S's though, all automatics. That really surprised me. Now, if they had changed to a DGS transmission, then I could have understood that.

 

Orm: My MINI and your MINI will be cruise mates!! WOO! Booked on TAMESIS. My dealer is only about 1.5hours from port, so I'm guessing I could have mine about 3-4 days after the 29th. Too bad it's only the 17th Thanks for letting me know to check WW site though!

Hemi: my point was if they have a separate paint booth for the roof, which they probably do, then they'd have to get red paint over there. Before, if you have a body colored roof, I assume they just painted it all in the body paint shop. Just a guess...

Dodgy: it's coming man! I guess it's cheaper than railing them across the country. It sucks here because we're literally across the pond, yet it takes over a week, and we're the first USA port.

What's cool is that I've been booked since the 12th, yet I didn't even finish till the 14th. I guess by then they know if they'll get it out in time or not. Also means that if a MINI is behind a bit for some reason, or is the last one off the line for a particular ship, they'll make sure it gets on that ship!

 

Dodgy

dont know if you are in Nor cal or So Cal but Pleasanton and Sacramento both have 2011's I spoke with MA's at both locations today.

I am waiting on connected to put in my order.

 

Ordered mine JCW Cabrio over a week ago. All is still quiet at the western front...

I dont think the red roof is delaying it though as mines a cab

 

My local dealer in the bay area alluded to MINI trying to bring the JCW aero kit in-factory. You guys waiting for your JCW builds, maybe that's something? Dunno.

 

Thanks for the tip! I'm in SoCal (which means we should definitely have them down here). My MA has been very responsive--so responsive she told me she'd be on vacation until next week--so I may just stop by a dealership this weekend!

Yeah, Connected looks awesome but just wasn't necessary for me. Looking forward to seeing the details, though!

 

Same for me on the Mini Connected. Really sounds like a neat deal, but with no Iphone, it's useless for me. I've kind of wondered about the JCW Aero kit being either, made available or standard as it is in England. But, it's probably that they just the dealers don't have the options, or slots for the JCW yet. Kind of far fetched that the roof color would hold up things, unless they are waiting to do a number of chili red roofs all at once. We'll see.

 

No iPhone anymore for me either, so not considering Mini Connect either. They say they will eventually add Android to it, but I'm paying money ahead of time on somethign I can't use and gambling on it.

If they added the JCW aero kit as standard, then that would instantly make my decision on ordering a JCW over an MCS. Right now, I'm completely undecided and completely confused. I change my mind daily on that.

 

I know that feeling well. I bounced around on the color of the new roof (PW/W vs PW/B) and the color of the webs... Daily. For weeks. Even after the order was made, I still had niggling doubts. Ha

 

Yeah, I did that too. In the beginning I wanted a Chili Red body and Black top. Then the 2011's started showing on Motoringfile and I saw the opposite: Black body and Chili Red roof. I looked at the Pepper White, but here in my area there are many of those, so the black.

NYKWAN: I wouldn't turn down the JCW Aero, but I may be in the minority here, but I actually like the standard 2011 style, almost better than the JCW. One thing that I don't like about the JCW Aero is the back up light, only one. You'd have thought that they would have put one in each rear fog light, but no, only one. Looks hinky to me.

 

The paint issue was just a speculation that seemed more reasonable then something like an engine switch because it's not a major change but affects the process line at the factory. However, the aero kit seems to be the best reason because it's not a major change that affects orders, but it does make a big difference at the factory.

I decided against MINI Connect for two reasons: a) the wait (let's not kid ourselves, this is the biggest reason in my book hahaha) b) I'm technologically advanced (i'm early 20s and an engineer..duh) and I'd either be dissapointed in it or way too distracted by it. I'm not an easily distracted driver, I've driven clutch from Day 1 and my Clubby will be a six speed ( ) so I'm not on the phone very much in the car, it's just too hard. I get in, pop in some music, and drive, and only pay attention to changing the music, nothing else. Connect would just be too tempting and there are too many idiots in DC I'm trying to dodge. Plus, I hate GPS units gabbering at me to take a turn, I plug it into GoogleMaps on my phone before I go and don't mind taking a few U-turns

Lastly, I too got torn over colors. I've liked LsB from day 1, when I built a MINI back months ago, it was the color I chose. I found a 2010 DS earlier this summer that I adored, had everything I'm getting now except the roof rail, and was perfect. But it got sold out from under me and I went back to "LsB only!!". Then I was all bent out of shape over the roof, whether to rock the beautiful LsB or go a different color. I had seen a LsB/S Clubby on the lot and didn't like the tri-tone look in the back, especially with the glits of chrome, despite loving the silver from the front. The black had a great contrast to the bright blue and just took the bite out of it enough to make it look like a beautiful color, not a cheap color as it looked with silver. But swore I would never own a black roofed car. In the end, I picked black because I wanted the pillars that color and I knew a MINI is supposed to have a contrasting roof color, that's what sets us apart! That and all that blue...kinda annoying...
*Sigh* colors are always the hardest part. I'm perfectly content with my choice. Every time I see pictures of what he'll look like, I smile and check whether it's the 29th yet

 

PS- It's Sept 18th!! http://www.motoringfile.com/2010/09/...ge/#more-13271

I love in the comments: "Auto-Climate buttons now stupid-proof" exciting changes all around

 

So the 18th was just another press announcement? Has anyone heard what financing MINI is offering on 2011's?

And that is a great sentence, but what's the background? What does it mean to say "auto-climate buttons now stupid-proof?" Is it in reference to something like the volume dial on pre-2011's?