Is MINI crazy for making me wait this long to take delivery??? Well, no matter. I placed my deposit back in October of '06, and today, I finally picked it up . After six months of waiting impatiently and frantically tracking, the day has come. My MA, Rich Tran at Herb Chambers MINI in Boston, was the best! Since the beginning, he had been very patient with all the additions to my options list, helpful with inside info, and enthusiastic about the whole thing. Because of him and Kerry, the manager, my purchase experience has been very fun and pleasant. If you're in New England, I highly recommend them . Now, on to my MINI.

I was one of the few that was in the first batch of Sat Navs in the US. Many of the issues that were brought up by Europeans on other forums have been solved, such as split screen now showing map and arrow directions simultaneously. There is no British accent, but there is both a man and woman's voice, depending on what you're doing. The voice control is soo convenient! There were many times when I got frustrated with using the joystick to do things that I just used voice control for it instead. So far, I've found the voice control to control the functions of the Sat Nav, radio, cd, basically everything in entertainment. The manual that the Sat Nav comes with is very VERY basic in instructions, so you will have to just play around with it. It's actually fairly easy to get the hang of it, but the hard part is finding where every function is. There needs to be a site map of some kind! I took a 5 min. video of the Nav and voice control in use, and as soon as I edit it down to a postable size, will provide the link here.

So my specs, again, are as follows:
-Pepper White/Black roof/Black Bonnet Stripes
-Premium Package
-Sport Package
-Cold Weather Package
-Sat Nav
-White Turn Signals
-Rear Fog Lamps
-Chromeline Exterior
-Piano Black dash
-Cream Colorline
And soon to come - Driving Lamps, tinted windows, custom roof graphics!

My first day impressions were Wow this thing’s fast! I was going 80 before I knew it. The seats were very comfortable, and the headrest was the perfect height. I liked my secret compartment! The NOISELESS sunroof was so big, I felt like I was in a convertible! There was no turbo lag! *breathless* Just a joy to drive !

Enough typing – here are some pics. And stay tuned tomorrow for pics AND VIDEOS of the Sat Nav and lights at night !!!

UPDATED-VIDEO LINKS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMveKNx99HQ

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q17lXod0XKg

 

I just ran out and took more pics. As you can see, my camera is awful at night.

 

awsome great pics.... congrats!

 

All I can say is: WOW. What's the name???

Congrats....it's gorgeous!
dpmini

 

Looks fabulous! Congratulations!

I hope to be making a post just like this one very soon.

Cheers!

 

nice color choice it looks really good

 

Congrats!!!
It worth every min. of your wait time, isn't it?

How's your FX? I like the smoke/white tail light of the new FXs.
We have same cars in the family!
Mine: 04 FX35, 03 MC

Now, put your big FX 'box' key away, just enjoy your MINI!
I take my MC over FX35 any day. It helps on my gas bill as well. Now when I think about it, My Infiniti is shinned and sit in garage for about 3 weeks. Poor guy

Just don't show your HUGE SUV on here very often, somebody might give your FX an egg or two.

Enjoy the new ride! It's very nice

 

that is a nice ride!

 

Congrats! I know that you have been waiting a long time for your MINI, and it looks great! You took some great pictures, too.

 

your camera is great at night!

Wow! I envy your car. All the options that I wanted plus the convenience of Automatic tranny

 

I abhor the thought of dropping $2K for Nav, but that looks SO nice, I'd have to do it if I were getting an R56. Sweet!
Enjoy the new MINI!

 

Thanks for all the compliments. So here is one of the videos of the NAV I've recorded with my camera. It was very hard to hold the camera still. The video shows that after taking a turn, the Sat Nav map can reposition itself to always face the direction it's travelling in.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q17lXod0XKg

More to come..

 

Great posts! Love seeing the pictures and the video.

It looks very cool. I'm glad I decided to get the nav. Now, I just have to wait another 10 days or so until I can pick it up. I hope I can wait that long.

 

Wow this is one nicely loaded Mini. How much did you spend?

Also, I noticed that you have the same keychain as me and had to put in a thinner ring as the one that came with it wouldn't fit the R56 fob properly

 

Great photos, Glad that I ordered NAV with mine too. I cant wait.

 

Thanks Az,
The next 6 days going to be very painful
One quick question: Can you change the color of the Navi? Some Navi has a daytime and a nighttime mode with white and black background respectively.

 

Sweet!! Congrats.

 

Where is the radio readout on the Nav?

 

Dude!

Sweet ride..........great build choices........many happy miles to ya!!!!

 

Nice preview of the NAV that I'm expecting about 2 weeks behind you. Have you had a chance to scope out the real-time traffic info yet?

 

Very nice. Thanks for the photos, esp of the hidden storage and sun roofs open.
Enjoy.

 

OMG NICE RIDE! I am very jealous!!!!!!!!
The Sat Nav has to be one of the best designed in the market right now~ It looks amazing with that speedometer! Looks like one of the cars from the future or something~ haha

 

Az thank you so much for the pics. it makes my three week or so wait a little easier. and alittle harder too. like colea said, any traffic info yet? I really hope they bring back the british voice

 

That sat nav looks f'ing sweet!!! Congrats! Welcome to the R56 Family.

 

Yes, there is traffic info. When there is a traffic jam ahead, the voice will say something about a detour. It really is live. Today, I was about to hit a traffic jam, like the nav told me. It didn't seem like it, so I didn't take the detour. Two minutes later, there it was. If you choose not to take the detour, the voice prompt will repeatedly ask you to up until you hit the traffic, which can get annoying.

It doesn't seem like we will get a British voice. The voice control prompts are spoken by a man, but the directions are given by a woman. Strange, but adds variety. I just wish there was a way to choose one or the other.

No, you can't change the color of the Nav, only the brightness. I guess this is what's different about the MINI Nav from others - its color map lines against black, while others are the opposite.

When you are in the radio display there is a curved horizontal line for you to select the frequencies manually. Once you set your preset stations, they appear on a straight line with call-outs.

Here is a pic of the radio display:


I went all-out on this one because I plan to motor for quite some time in it. The total including tax was over $30k!

It's great! I just detailed it today, while admiring the MINI out of the corner of my eye. I think I will take some pictures soon of both, because there are many similarities in the bulldog stance of both.

Good question, I haven't decided yet. I'm having a hard time telling if it's a guy or girl, because both voices are present in the Sat Nav. Maybe I'll go by whichever one is more helpful...?