My husband and I drove down to the Philly Auto Show this morning mainly for me to see the sparkling silver in person. My MA was waiting for me to call and give him my final color spec after I saw the SS. But it was not meant to be as it wasn't there! They had two pure silvers but no SS. One of the reps at the show told me that the SS had been damaged in transit so they had to substitute it with another car. Boy was I annoyed....but I'm going with the SS anyway. Here are my impressions:

1. The leatherette seats looked great...I actually thought they were real leather, but the rep told me they were leatherette. While I was talking to him, he showed me a 2007 full size brochure which showed that the leatherette is only available in black, no two tone. And he told me that that's what's being offered now. I don't know when that brochure was printed, but the USA configurator still says grey/black. So, if you wanted all black but didn't go with the leatherette because of the two tone, maybe you should talk to your MA about it.

2. The checkered cloth seats: I saw it in two cars. The first one looked nice. As was mentioned in another thread, the pattern is very subtle and the material was shiny and it's definitely black. But I also saw it on another car and the outside bolster on the passenger seat was all wrinkled. It looked very bad. I guess that's from all the people who have been getting into the car, but I don't think that should happen. My choice is definitely the leatherette...it looked great.

3. I do miss the curves on the bonnet. They made the front of the car appear prettier to me.

4. Please excuse me if I use incorrect terminology here, but I'm a girl who knows nothing about cars. I saw the gap that everyone has been discussing at the fender area...the plastic around the wheel well. I'd guess it was about a 1/8 - 1/4 " gap, but it was uniform all the way around so it didn't bother me. But what did bother me somewhat was that the areas where the fender meets the front bumper and side panel (?) were slightly misaligned; they were off about 1/8 of an inch maybe? I hope I worded this correctly so you can get a good idea of what I mean. Of course the cabrios had no gap.

5. Mellow yellow: can't say I liked that color. It was a very deep yellow. The laser blue was very nice, but it looked darker than the configurator on my monitor and on the color pallet in the small brochure.

6. I liked the interior once I got past the very large speedo. The different options looked quite nice as well.

That's about it.

 

Hot Dawg !!!!

I wanted all black seats and switched from leather to leatherette so that I could afford other options. I am so glad to hear the seats are not two-tone. This is great news !

Thanks for the report.

dean.

 

You're very welcome, but I still have my doubts about the all black as the configuator still says grey/black. But even if the only option is still two tone, it is very subtle and nothing like what appears at the configurator. Maybe you should check with your M.A. I should mention that the rep I was talking to was not from MINI, but an M.A. from a local dealership.

 

krut reported here...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=90401

...that at the show he attended it was a very slight two-tone. Either way, better than that cartoonish two-tone the configurator displays, at least in my opinion.

dean.