Please help. Fairly desperate to get a diesel Mini here in New York. Anyone have any advice about importing a diesel Mini?

As far as I know you can't. BMW has already stated they will not be offering a diesel version here in the states because of mpg ratings. Because the mini Cooper already gets 37 mpg it would have to be substantially more for it to be worth offering a diesel. That is the skinny on BMW's response to offering a diesel.

As far as purchasing one in another country (UK) and shipping it here, you are going to need to change many things on the car to get it to approve the DOT and EPA regulations.

But who knows maybe it could be done.

but the Dooper does have substantially better fuel consumption than 37mpg , shirley!

Move to a country where you can buy one.

It was just the MPG that was the issue. Until about 2 years ago the sulfur content in our diesel was too high and would damage the engines. There is still a lot of that fuel out there and many of the import diesels won't come over because of it.

That being said, money talks.... If you really want one, you need to buy it, pick it up and have it shipped on your dime which will include massive amounts of taxes. You will need to then fight with customs and the RMV to get it registered in the USA. It will likely also have to pass emissions (which it may not do) and if not be repaired so that it will. You may also have to do some work to the body and the gauges so that they meet DOT specs.... Basically it is a lot to do and you can look at about 5K to do it.