Well - Hopefully this wont be a problem for other shipments. I ordered my MCS Convertible in February and is due for delivery in early September.

Did Keith say when they thought they would come in? I am buying my MINI from MOP and when I talked to my sales guy yesterday he said he had received an email recently that said they might be held up just until August 1st. My MINI is sitting in NY/NJ right now! It wasn't so bad waiting 3 months but now I am getting antsy! :red:

Way to go mini! You would think they would have all this sorted out before the first shipment of 05's arrived. Now how are the various convertible demo cars that are here in the states allowed on roads?

Imagine the chaos when all those July and August built cars are all piled up at the ports to be released to the dealers at the same time. Not only has the federalization caused delays but there will be additional delays with having to try to transport all these vehicles at the same time when there are more coming into the ports on a daily basis.

Dont dealers still have to do final prep of these vehicles when they finally get them as well as process loan info and mail or sign contract and other offical documents to the buyers before the vehicles can be picked up of shipped (if purchased out of state)?

Demo cars can always be on the road, because they don't have to pass the same laws. It makes sense there are different laws for cars that need to be sold.

And are there really demo convertibles around? I haven't heard of any except the one or two that are the MINIUSA demo ones that have been making the rounds, not the normal dealership ones.

Aug 1 is definetly looking promising it seems.

It looks like Mini is holding back ALL convertibles until early September for an official launch so all dealers (east, west, and everyone in between) will have their convertibles at the same time (call you dealer to verify this if you are in doubt).

While this official launch might just be a cover-up for delays in federalizing the convertible but either way they dont plan on getting you convertible until early September in the US at the soonest.

The other question is if these delays in the convertible are also delaying 05 hartops as well.

There's at least one convertible out there. I saw one at my local dealer (Midwestern Mini of Columbus, OH) on Saturday- a BRG with a black top. Interestingly, it had Illinois plates- I'm not sure if they were dealer plates or not.

With IL plates it definetly sounds like one of the MINIUSA cars, since there's no reason for it to not have local dealer plates if its the local dealer's.

I spoke to my dealer today and he told me that he has received info from the VPC that the 2005 cars are being delayed for:

1) CARB certification
2) New Cup Holder retrofit

He hopes to have an update by end of this week...His 1st MCS arrived on 7/22 at South Carolina...and My MCS arrived on 7/24 at South Carolina...and they are just all sitting there.

DCC
Houston, Texas

DCC
Are you getting your Mini at Momentum Mini? That is where my boyfriend ordered his at, it's currently awaiting shipment across the ocean though.

I ordered a 05 MCS today and had the choice of leatherette or cloth seats. Any comments or suggestions? Is the cloth seat a dark or light silver/gray? Is the leatherette comfortable - does it got hot and sticky in the summer time. Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!!!

Welcome to MINI2.

Here's a good thread amongst lots on leatherette vs. leather

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64047&highlight=leather+leatherette

Also at the top of the interior + ice forum is a stickey thread with some pictures of the various options

i had some issues with my '05 mini that i ordered in May. They forgot my navigation :(
anyways, i then had to speak to the sales manager at MinI Peabody...he said the cars should have already been here by now and that they were being held up because of stickers. :confused:

Looks like from the news board that the cars are now being released from the VPC - whatever data/info needed to be updated is now in place.

I can't see why anyone would drop over $27K for a Mini...just doesn't seem rational to me...
I know its loaded to the gills but damn that's expensive :rolleyes:
Once you load up an S and then add a JCW, you'll be way over that. Just the other day a co-worker listed all of the "other cars" I could have gotten for that kind of money. My only answer was that I wanted MINI because it was different from the other cars he listed, which I had already owned in some variant or another at some point in my life (eg, two seat roadster, 4 door japanese sedan, etc.). Plus its fast and handles well.

picking her up tomorrow (Friday 7/30). the dealer will be prepping today. (cleaning, alarm install, aux input install).

i'll be posting this same info in the 2 or 3 relevant threads on here.

now how do go about faking a sick day tomorrow...

I should be getting mine on wednesday next week Aug 4th :)

pure_mcs - did you track your Mini from loading at Southampton to when it was ready for pick up? I'm curious as to how long it took. Mine ships today out of Southampton and I'd like an estimate as to when It will be ready :)

Does anyone know if Mini of Peabody has received and 05's yet? I hate to call and bug them again and my MA doesn't respond to email. Thanks!

kg I can sometimes get an email from Joel at MOP several times a day, try emailing him. check the website for everyone's email addresses.

Poisonedwell,

My Mini has been sitting in Charleston S.C. since last Friday. The trip from Southampton to Charleston took 9 days. My dealer told me they are starting to release the 2005 Mini's, so I hope mine is one of them.

There are 11 '05 MINIs in MINI Peabody (http://www.minipeabody.com) that arrived this morning. I have lots of pics on my website - click the pic to link to them:
http://gbmini.net/images/albums/2005arrival/PICT0063.sized.jpg (http://www.gbmini.net/mtblog/archive/000429.shtml)

Brig says they should have the "Certificate Of Origin" delivered to them by Saturday - they cannot release any car until then, but hopefully they will get it and release at least some of these new cars over the weekend.

Not very sure about the new Purple Haze - a lot like Velvet Red in that it is very dark and changes color dramatically depending on the light. I love the new xenon headlights, very cool. Don't like the huge new rearview mirror, and losing the clock is a big negative for me as well.

PS:
None of the stereos were the new design as featured on Gabes site, but apparently they *are* the new spec (I did not have an MP3 CDR to test). They did have the new bigger knob.

Welcome, 2005 MINIs! http://www.jwardell.com/emoticons/party.gif

That good news about the hardtops since only the converitbles will be delayed until early September.

No Hyper Blue ones at all GBMINI?

There's good pictures of UK delivered HB's in the S forum and in general discussion if you can't wait to see the US versions.

No Hyper Blue ones at all GBMINI?
None at MINI Peabody - not yet anyway. I am looking forward to seeing that color ...

pure_mcs - did you track your Mini from loading at Southampton to when it was ready for pick up? I'm curious as to how long it took. Mine ships today out of Southampton and I'd like an estimate as to when It will be ready :)

I tracked everything using all the online tools such as the Owners Lounge site, then the WW site, then finally the Marine tracking site. once it looked like the ship was at the port, I jumped back to the WW site to see if the autos were unloaded. Then I checked the owner's lounge once more, and saw that it had been updated with an estimated delivery date to the dealer of July 15th. My dealer called me to tell me the ship was in, and gave me an estimate for the 20nd. The next call was to report the delay.. and that brings me up to today when she called to say it was in her posession. I only made two calls to ask mini whenever the sites didn't look like they were up to date. But had there been no delays, it looks like the wait would only have been about 5 solid days.

short version:
production finished July 1st.
loaded onto ship July 2nd.
arrival to NJ port either July 10th or 12th (ww site did not update for a few days around this period)

I am soooo bummed!!!! :( My Mini isn't in Peabody yet. I have a red one but I don't have a sunroof or chrome mirrors.

I am soooo bummed!!!! :( My Mini isn't in Peabody yet. I have a red one but I don't have a sunroof or chrome mirrors.
Sorry for you ... will you come as a passenger on Saturday?