Go with what your heart tells you. Spend some time looking at the two in the flesh - ideally in different lighting conditions. Photos say more about the photographer's abilities and the lighting conditions than the actual colour of the car. Decide on a colour. Decide if you're happy about your colour. Swap colours. Think about whether that makes you feel bad. Swap back again. Flip a coin. Buy what the mother-in-law tells you to buy. Ignore the mother-in-law, 'cos you know she has no taste. Pick what calls out to your heart.
Definately. There's too much there that you (and others in the unlikely event of ever selling the car) will want. Me, 'm not convinced about the 17" wheels, but at the current Chilli pack price, they are free
Count me a fan of the automatic version. Pick a temerature, and the car sorts it out, no fuss. Looks good too. I'd always thought that air-conditioning meant winding down the windows and driving faster.
Not seen it at work yet, but this was another must-have for me - anything that helps the car to go where I want it to is a Good Idea.
Standard in the UK, I wouldn't leave home without it.
My plans involve an after-market head unit and multi-changer. But again In Car Entertainment is such a personal thing, I don't think anyone else is really qualified to give YOU advice on this. Just remember to specify the CD prep -it's free, and is a bugger to retrofit if you do get a multichanger later on.
Looks good on a black roof, lightens the interior of the car, but weighs a fair bit. DOesn't look so good on a white roof, and the car doesn't need to be any porkier than it already is. Oh, and it ain't cheap. Personally, I didn't want any extra holes in my car where it might go rusty later on (OK, unlikely to happen, but I've seen some blooming awful sunroof jobs over the years).
And I hate noise. (Oooh, you fibber - until Monday you were driving a classic Mini with a loud exhaust and straight-cut gears - you couldn't hear yourself think once the speed went over 50! - ed)
Oooh, red leather and a DS Cooper S - nice.
I'm still undecided whether cancelling the full leather and going to half leather was the right move - but cash was tight. If I had a bit more leeway, I'd have been happy to stick with the full leather. Black/black makes the interior look a bit dark, IMHO.
Handy for dialing-in a speed along a stretch of GATSO cameras, or a dull bit of motorway. But what are you doing driving on motorways in a Cooper S?? I bought this car for ME to drive - not the boss, the wife, or a zarking computer!
I think I've said enough ...
The car already has 4 more airbags than anything else I've driven. Why have any more? If I hit something, it's ghoing to be head-on. If they hit me, it's going to hurt whatever.
But this is one of the gret things about MINI - it's your car, set it up the way YOU want it. What works for me might be another member's idea of insanity. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to spec. Just don't go mad and spec everything, unless you're loaded.