In answer to some recent questions about deliveries to the Southern US through Charleston, here's the timeline on my S.


Scheduled for Production: Actual 4/19, Owner's Lounge 4/19
Awaiting Transport: Actual 5/3-5/4, OL 5/7
Enroute: Actual 5/5, OL 5/12 Lucky too--if it had missed this ship, it would have waited 2 weeks for the next one! Unloaded at Charleston 5/15.:eek:
At VDC: Actual 5/16, OL 5/21 with est. delivery 5/26 Left VDC by truck on 5/20.
At Dealer: Actual 5/22, OL-No update, still shown as at VDC but est. delivery changed to 5/23!?:rolleyes:
Delivery: Actual 5/24 Yikes, I'd better get going!!:D

As you can see, the OL dates have been up to a week behind.

BTW, The WW shipping site still hasn't updated to show Isolde unloaded at Charleston on 5/15.:confused:

kshapiro, I did vote in your "How long at VPC " poll.:)

fpsprite--Have you got your S yet? This is a real puzzle, yours was at the VDC on 5/10 and still there when mine rolled out?! If it had a production related cold start problem, mine should have too. I don't wish to cause additional worry, but under the circumstances and in view of my dates, I'd demand an honest explanation for the delay. Please give it a thorough checkout when it arrives to make sure some major screw-up like last minute bodywork wasn't the reason.

Hey Sealevel,

Congrats on getting your S! I don't suppose you'll be checking the Board for a while what with all of the motoring you'll be doing.

I did get a response today to my e-mail to MINIUSA regarding the status of my S. While they agreed that I must be quite frustrated, all they could offer was to suggest I call my dealership to see if they could find out what was going on.

Late this afternoon, I left a message for my sales person at the dealership asking why my car was still at the VDC - after all, it has been there since May 10 (it didn't take that long to ship it from Southampton via Baltimore, MD and Brunswick, GA). Alas, no answer yet.

I know many of the dealerships are "short staffed" and are very busy, but I would think that they would somehow make a concerted effort to find out as best they can the status of their cars after they hit the VDC. After all, they are Mini's customers too. I know what my company's customers would say if they called my customer service department and were told that they had no idea what was going on with their order, when it would ship, how it would be shipped, and when it would arrive. To quote John Boy & Billy, it would be "not too good!"

If the VDC is truly a "black hole," they need to put some light on the subject and figure out a way to track their cars.

Well, who knows. As it stands now, the earliest I would be able to get my car is May 31, since I will be out of town on business May 28 through the 30th.

I'll advise the Board whenever I get an update. And I will take your advice and give it a thorough going over whenever I finally can get my hands on it (and vote too, Ken).

Happy Motoring!

Steve,

Thanks for the info of SC.
btw, does your 'S' have an alarm system? if it does, what kind if I may know?

Originally posted by Sealevel
In answer to some recent questions about deliveries to the Southern US through Charleston, here's the timeline on my S.


Scheduled for Production: Actual 4/19, Owner's Lounge 4/19
Awaiting Transport: Actual 5/3-5/4, OL 5/7
Enroute: Actual 5/5, OL 5/12 Lucky too--if it had missed this ship, it would have waited 2 weeks for the next one! Unloaded at Charleston 5/15.:eek:
At VDC: Actual 5/16, OL 5/21 with est. delivery 5/26 Left VDC by truck on 5/20.
At Dealer: Actual 5/22, OL-No update, still shown as at VDC but est. delivery changed to 5/23!?:rolleyes:
Delivery: Actual 5/24 Yikes, I'd better get going!!:D

As you can see, the OL dates have been up to a week behind.

BTW, The WW shipping site still hasn't updated to show Isolde unloaded at Charleston on 5/15.:confused:

kshapiro, I did vote in your "How long at VPC " poll.:)

I have a pre-spec PS and Black S on order - would it be possible to post or describe photos of the following:

Front bumper - is it a nice flowing shape without licence plate molding stuck in center ?
What is in the holes in lower front spoiler where UK has small fog-lamps ? is there a molding or is it smooth ?

Thanks

hi,
what's your last 7 digits of VIN?
I am wondering if yours in the same boat as mine.

fpsprite--I'm very sorry to hear there's been no further progress. You're a person of infinite patience compared to me. I'd be climbing the walls at this point! I've been putting some gentle break-in mileage on the S, all's well so far. I hope you can get out on the road soon in your own S soon, keep us posted.

foxcasper--the S bumper doesn't have a front license mounting bracket attached, like the Coopers do. A much simpler bracket is supplied loose with every S, and there are two inconspicuous "dimples" in the bumper to indicate where to drill for direct attachment of the bracket, license and frame if required.

What I have in the foglight holes are--foglights! Not helpful, I know. Every S at my dealer has had them, so I don't know what happens if they're ordered without. The Cooper has a little vent-like trim piece to fill each hole in the absence of foglights, and that looks fine. But an S bumper has each foglight mounted in a recessed area, which accentuates them. If that same bumper is used without the foglights, either with no openings or with vents in the openings, I think the impression would be that something was lacking.

aerodragon--I hope you'll understand why I'm hesitant to post information in a public forum linking a vehicle with a known description and location with part of its VIN number and what alarm it's equipped with!!

Suffice to say that to my knowledge MINIs for the US don't come with alarms as standard or optional equipent, and if you'll enter your VIN # in the WW shipping site, it will show you which vessel yours is aboard.

Originally posted by Sealevel

What I have in the foglight holes are--foglights! Not helpful, I know. Every S at my dealer has had them, so I don't know what happens if they're ordered without. The Cooper has a little vent-like trim piece to fill each hole in the absence of foglights, and that looks fine. But an S bumper has each foglight mounted in a recessed area, which accentuates them. If that same bumper is used without the foglights, either with no openings or with vents in the openings, I think the impression would be that something was lacking.

Thanks for your time to reply .
- interesting I didn't know front foglamps were part of the US spec.
So is the switch amongst the toggle switches under radio ?

Thanks again. - any pics yet ?

Originally posted by foxcasper


Thanks for your time to reply .
- interesting I didn't know front foglamps were part of the US spec.
So is the switch amongst the toggle switches under radio ?

Thanks again. - any pics yet ?

Sorry I'm being stupid - fog lamps are part of sport pack - something that was deleted on my pre-spec.

I have ordered the driving lamps as an accessory though - not sure whetehr to fit them myself though as it sounds like a bit of BCM reprogramming is needed.

Has any one seen where the driving lamps switch is put ? I have read in other threads that it ends up in the drivers footwell area - and not as another toggle switch under the radio.

Sealevel,
I did not ask you actually. It was for foxcasper, since I was trying to help him to locate his car on the WW website. :D


[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sealevel
[B]aerodragon--I hope you'll understand why I'm hesitant to post information in a public forum linking a vehicle with a known description and location with part of its VIN number and what alarm it's equipped with!!

Steve,

Based on your S delivery, I was wondering if you can give suggestions on why my Cooper S did not show up as of today.
it's shown at VDC with estimated delivery of June 13.
It was at the SC port since June 2....

it's been a while... :D

WW was well out of date - still is as far as I know regarding my CS that arrived on Tellus on 2nd June.

The WW site was not updated all last week - and I coundn't access it last night.

Miniusa however (by phone) told me 13th June at Dealer was scheduled, and car was at the VPC.

I checked owners lounge and it agreed - although said car was still on the ship.

This last weekend however, they must have been paying weekend overtime at owners lounge as my status updated 3 or 4 times - and now said car was delivered on Saturday 8th June to Dealer.

Now I am planning the huge 'motoring' trip to go pick it up and take it on its first vacation, before returning to my home state - get it Thursday...

I'll get plenty of photos for an album.

hi,
just curious did you mean that your dealer had it on June8?
did yours come through Tellus (June 2 offloaded)
is it Cooper S or Cooper?
which dealer is yours?

Mine still said June13 delivery as of tonight...weird..

Originally posted by aerodragon
Steve...it's been a while... :D

Hi aerodragon, yes it has--I've been off the forum and behind the wheel! Florida to Wisconsin road trip, (including GA I-75 and side roads from Valdosta to Ringgold) then some serious "self-education" on the fine points of front wheel drive on country back-roads.:eek: :p :D :D

Got your PM too. I think I was lucky, 4/19 build to 5/24 pickup. Most take longer. At any rate, give it a couple more days before worrying much, all these dates are just estimates. Having no experience with delays, I can't shed any light on what might cause them. My dealer expected two other MINIs to arrive with mine. They didn't, and she couldn't find out why. When a MINI gets delayed at VPC there doesn't seem to be a way for anyone to get definite information. Let's hope that's not happening with yours. There can't be a hold up for the "cold-start" problem, mine has it and there's no software fix yet anyway (not a big deal, usually just 1st start of the day and starts on the second try.) I'm sorry I don't know what to suggest, any information from the forum is a guess really, MINIUSA doesn't yield anything either and your dealer won't fare any better. At the hardest time of all for expectant owners, the flow of information just dries up completely.

yes - dealer had it on 8th (originally scheduled by ol for 13, then 12, then 9 (sunday!), finally 8th. Dealer has to fit stripes and driving lamps - i'll get it Thurrsday.

Its an S - was to have Sports pack but xenons got deleted

wow, you are lucky...mine is somewhere in the US but not sure where :D

do you live in FL (my guess)? that even seems more strange since GA is closer to SC

what color?

Steve,
cool..thanks for your nice reply....
do you have pics of the long trips?

I have 2 S coming (twins) but my dealer has no info....hmmm..mmm

did you mean everyday you have cold start problem for 1st try?
how's the Xenon by the way? :(

aerodragon--Also, OL or MINIUSA customer service "delivery" dates mean delivery to the dealer, not the customer. And like foxcasper, I got several last minute revisions of the estimated delivery date, and they missed it by a day anyway. One bright spot, you'll likely have only 1 day of transport between VPC and your dealer.

steve,

thanks...hmm..even longer..it looks too long...:D
yes, that's mentioned by my dealer too this afternoon when I spoke to him.
I am expecting to have it to the dealer on Wednesday (depending on how long it will be prepared at the dealer, my expectation of getting it last week WAS way OFF)

well, it's probably worth the wait..although I still want those 'bright' eyes..on it..

aerodraagn--no digital camera, no scanner for the slides, so no pics--bummer:( :(

Yes, cold start problem every day on the 1st start. And cold is relative, it really means a "cold" engine, it's happened from 48-92 degrees air temp.

I like the xenons lots! It's my first experience with them, I'll never be without again. Illumination is much better, and it causes the reflective paint on the road striping and signs to show up much better.

Originally posted by aerodragon
wow, you are lucky...mine is somewhere in the US but not sure where :D

do you live in FL (my guess)? that even seems more strange since GA is closer to SC

what color?

PS & Black.

Coming from Motor City, Michigan!! Then going to go to Florida before driving back North...:-)

Steve,
that must be though for a brand new car especially if someone else see it..they may scratch their head and ask hmmm..the quality???
well, I am hoping yours is fixed soon...
any info from MINIUSA on this?

Yeah, but it's always "in the privacy of your own home" on the 1st start of the day, so you don't have to expose its flaws in public:p :p No word from MINIUSA yet on a fix, just that they're aware of it, it's software related and they're working on a fix. Jeez, what a pretty pass the world has come to--your car has problems and you run to a computer programmer instead of a mechanic. Should I sell all my tools yet? There's not a damned thing I can do for this car on my own anyway:rolleyes: :rolleyes: