[Snuffleupagus]

Could someone confirm the default (Fine White Silver) appearance of the door rings in the MCs currently being produced?

The one I test drove that compelled me to become a customer, I think didn't have any interior trim upgrades (the saleslady named very few options on it, but she might have forgotten that like she forgot about the armrest). I remember being very pleased with its interior, but since I had gone there thinking I was doing so to get the foolhardy notion of a MINI out of my system, I hadn't researched what sort of things to look at/for.

Since then, my (overly) extensive research online has revealed numerous people attacking the default appearance, because the door rings are a cheap-looking black that mixes unattractively into the rest of the door panel. Indeed, I've seen some pictures of that combo that haven't especially appealed to me.

However, the online MINI Configurator (for the US at least) shows silvery door rings as part of the default Fine White Silver interior trim. In fact, the Fluid Silver option almost doesn't appear to noticeably change the interior, according to the Configurator (it does brighten it up a little, and I assume in real life it's more discernible).

Is the Configurator wrong? If not, I like the Fine White Silver appearance just fine. Is the US default trim different in some ways from other locations? Mainly, Are there any recent American purchasers that bought one with the standard Fine White Silver trim, who would care to share pictures, or at least info one way or the other?

Many Thanks!

[beedeejay]

The Configurator does not give an accurate representation of the door rings. I ordered the standard spec Carbon Black/Fine White Silver with Dark Grey Colorline option. I thought, based on the configurator, that the door rings would also be silver. They are, in fact, a textured black very similar in appearance to the texture used on the top of the dash. Knowing what I know now I may very well have ordered the Fluid Silver or Brushed Alloy option to achieve the contrast I was expecting. But I don't believe that what i did receive is unattactive or a 'cheap-looking black'... It has growing on me quite quickly. I have some interior pictures posted in the northamericanmotoring.com website in the 'post your interior pictures here' link. Mine are currently on p2 under the same username as I use here. If you can get the new '07 MINI booklet from your dealer the first picture on p66 is what mine, with dark grey colorline, looks like.

[Snuffleupagus]

I was letting myself get more concerned than was reasonable over this issue (probably mostly just because I couldn't seem to find any pictures anywhere, only negative descriptions), so I greatly appreciated your posting. I couldn't actually look at your pictures for a while, because for some reason, NAmotoring won't let non-registered users look at pictures referenced in threads, but your comments were reassuring, and now that I've registered over there, I see that it does indeed not look half bad. Then I lost internet access at home for a couple days... but never mind that.

It's hard to say what I'd have picked now that I know the Configurator is a lying son-of-a-goat, but "thankfully" such decisions are out of my hands. I've tried hard from the get-go to resist adding all the nice little features that threatened to move a car that's really a steal into frighteningly pricey territory. It's so easy for the notion to add this here, and that there to keep creeping into one's head... I began so full of willpower, but I could only stand firm for so long, and had already upgraded the sound-system and indicator lights and seats by the time it mercifully switched to "scheduled for production,"