[minigal]

hi duke,

i am totally satisfied so far with my S.
only problem was a disconnected washer jet under the hood. problem was fixed.
i now have 4500kms on the car and debating wether or not to have an oil change now or waiting another 12000 kms
that seems like an awful lot of kilometers with same oil in brand new car.
i am expecting driving lights soon and will post pics with " the new look".
come on duke, order one from MINI laval. the car is every bit what it is cracked up to be.
bonus point: you would probably get that new sports steering wheel
i think the S would look outstanding in that velvet red, top & bottom. chic yet racy.
damn, now i want one like that

[thegrommit]

Just picked up my Indi Blue/White at Mini Oakville.

The Deal

There was some unpleasantness over bonnet stripes that I didn't want (it was a car the dealer had specced), and we ended up splitting the cost. Other than that, I wasn't hit with any other inflated charges.

The Pickup

Bonus Points: I only had to deal with my salesguy (Brad) - no "Business Manager" was involved.

They obviously hadn't detailed the car, as there were stains on the sunvisors and no fluid in the headlamp washer reservoir. This was fixed quickly enough.

The car didn't come with carpet floor mats, so they threw in the cool rubber ones for free. I asked for an oil filter and touch up paint, and got those free after a little prompting (dealer survey was mentioned).

The Verdict

Brad was easy to deal with and I didn't feel I was being fed a line of bull. I'd feel comfortable going there again.

Of course, I may change my mind if I ever have to use their service department

[paulmon]

I'm getting my S at MINI Woodbridge. Anyone dealt with them for anything either service or your purchase? My car is on the Hual Triton arriving in Halifax Tomorrow (Sept 1st). So I expect the car sometime the week of September 9th. Just trying to get a feel for what I can expect from my dealer when we finally make this all final.

Would also like to know if anyone has had their car serviced at MINI Woodbridge? I believe they get serviced at Maranello BMW. Which is also the Ferrari dealer for Toronto.

It's been 6 months, the next week is going to be SOOOO long!



Paul

[noahe]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ronster


Noahe, MINI Markham is good as I think that's the only dealer around GTA (?) which offer free loaner service if you arrange with them ahead of time. But their service department (basically Town & Country) was not up to par. Last time I had to complain to MINI Canada to straight something out... But yeah I believe they should be better. So what did they do to disappoint you?

I don't really want to dump on them here. I think my problems were with one individual in the service department, as once other people were involved, things got better.

But I will say that I wasted a significant amount of my own time, was without a car for 5 days, and never received an apology until day 5.

There's only one first impression, and for me, it was plain awful. I am giving them another chance, and am confident it will go much better, and they are making monitary and convenience offers the next go 'round, which makes me feel a bit better, that they really do not intend to offer poor service.

To be clear, I'm giving them another chance. Only one. They really blew it the first time. I hope things go better.

Now, in all fairness, the MINI is a wonderful car, the service eventually performed was flawless, and the initial buying experience was great. Hopefully things will turn around.

P.S. No free loaner. $30/day.

[janinax@Ottawa]

Quote:

Originally posted by janinax@Ottawa


Ottawa Mini service department is still not ready for MINIs (August 2002).
Long wait for appointments and only one truely qualified mechanic for MINIs - and he's away at present
Not impressed with client-relations either "leave car with us and we will let you know when fault is fixed!!"
See thread below for background
http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...pagenum ber=2

Well at last (August 30th) dealer fixed problem. Apears the DSC sensor was defective.
Now, no more DCSIII and Tire pressure amber lights on dash. (especially at night)

[spadsept]

Mini-Laval is the way, over Mt-Royal... Even if i live 5 min. from Mt-Royal. Yeap, they seems pretty mess up with some of their saleman... I wonder why they have such problems, MCS are so easy to sell... But The salewoman there, Annie i think, is really helpfull... She gave great service over some parts that i needed like winter carpets and wheels.

Also Mt-Royal doesn't service the car yet on location... I hope they do eventually... Laval is a bit far away!

[Silvercooper]

I can say that I am very satisfied with MINI LAVAL and it's only 10 minutes away from my home. I guess I'm lucky I ended up in Laval.

[Mr Grean]

MINI Victoria have been great. Alex Colville has been our sales rep. and he has had info whenever needed. Placed deposit May 4th and, as of last Saturday our BRG/white Cooper S is "status released to transporter". Looks like delivery in about 3 weeks. Alex has been very helpful and has searched for a lot of extra info for us. Price was MSRP with no pressure to add unneeded extras. We did order heated seats and the metallic BRG...but that's it. They did have 2 cars in the showroom and about 5 on the lot...1 "S" and rest Coopers...all ready for delivery.

[friedbacon]

hey noahe, any updates on the issue with the markham mini dealership? I might be going there for a test drive, did you pay higher than msrp?

[duke2mini]

After a first buying experience that went sour (abundantly depicted on this Forum), but still haunted by the MINI Cooper S after three months, I capitulated and bought (another?) one last friday. I should take delivery next week of a fine 2003 Dark Silver Cooper S. But this time the money will go to the dealer I should have chosen the first time, MINI Laval.

cu on the streets of Montreal, and everywhere else my MINI will take me to.

happy duke

[spadsept]

Congrad Duke!

See ya in my own full DS Coop S, downtown Montreal... also from Mini-laval...

I was in snow today... Mini hold well, but slip a lot... Upgrading to winter tires and wheels!!!

[duke2mini]

Quote:

Originally posted by spadsept
Upgrading to winter tires and wheels!!!

Thanks spadsept. This is not the subject of this thread but what wheels/tires set are you getting for winter?

[spadsept]

Same as winter package... 16" 5 star Mini-mags (coming from state 350.oo US the set) and dunlop winter runflat( 200.oo) or continentals (110.oo)...

The stock dunlop 5000 didn't do well in the snow on monday... my wheels were always spinning... My dealer told me also that the 5000 are more summer than 4 season...

Enjoy your new beast...

[micro_inim]

If you live on the west coast MINI Yaletown is the only way to go. Richmond guys are a bunch of scam artists. Salespeople have no idea what they are doing, one barely spoke english! The management is pretty shotty too, i had a question that i thought he would help me with but it turned out that he confused me more. I'm going downtown fom now on...

[DEye]

MINI Ottawa East have been quite pleasant to deal with but getting parts is another story,

I recently had some warranty work done, and it took almost 5 weeks for the parts to come in, luckily It was not something that prevented me from driving it.

Parts availability was a question I had for them when picked up the car and the indicated that they should be able to get parts in a couple of weeks if they had to be shipped from EU.
It seems that that's is not quite accurate...

Buying a "Foreign" car has risks involved - Can't go to Canadian Tire to pick up bits...
But then again CTC doesn't have parts for any car I'd *really* love to own

[TINMAN]

micro_inim,I agree with you totally in regards to MINI Yaletown,nothing but good things to say about them.I especially give top marks to the parts department.I have spent a small fortune there I did't buy my MINI there and do not really want to dis the dealer where I purchased(still giving them a chance to improve,hoping it just growing pains) but the difference between the two is night and day.

[tip]

Canadianmini.

You asked me a few questions. I left you a few personal messages. Please check your personal messages. If you would like to talk further please contact me.

Charles

[Weeber]

The salesperson didn't know all the features, the car was dirty. We did only pay MSRP and no waiting. We walked on the lot and the one S they had available was exactly as we would have ordered it (it was a sign). The salesperson out and out lied when it came to trade negotiations. When I called them on it they made up another lie (called them on that too).

The service department is a joke. No one knows anything about Minis. The Mini broke (no start) the first week we had it. My wife drove 1 1/2 hr to them, the service said he thought he know what the problem was. My wife said if it won't take long she'll just wait. He said he was busy and didn't know how long it would take. So she drove home in the Taurus (Yeckk) loaner. She walks through the door and Mini phones-the car is ready! unbelievable. The still haven't given us a satisfactory solution to the hatch latch, which first they say its broken and then they say it supposed to only half release by remote control

sorry for the rant, I feel better now.

[Valdiri]

I shopped at 3 dealers - Mt. Royal, Laval and Ottawa.
I HIGHLY encourage any potential Ottawa buyer to spend a day in Montreal checking out the two dealers there before buying a car at MINI Ottawa.
I spent months researching my decision to buy a MINI.
I have found that MINI Ottawa acts as a monopolist does; take it or leave it. Still, by and large, it appears Ottawa customers don't mind that attitude - maybe it is the conservative nature of Ottawans.
Once you experience the Montreal dealers, you won't look at MINI Ottawa the same way - trust me.
Both Mt. Royal and Laval (who appear to really dislike each other) were very open and friendly. They are hungry for sales and will negotiate! (a refreshing change from the Ottawa dealer)
I ended up at Laval because they had the car I liked the most.
I have read some bad comments about Mt. Royal, but in my experience there, I was treated very fairly and professionally.
*At no time* did I feel I was getting 'attitude' from either dealer in Montreal as I went through my (long!) buying process.
Ottawa? Well, if you aren't buying the car today, they aren't particularly interested in you.

Final comment : even if you want to buy in Ottawa, if you don't see what the price is in Montreal first and use that leverage with Ottawa, you are paying too much.

Final, Final comment -wherever you end up getting one, buying a MINI will be one of the best decisions you ever make!

[It's_Nimble!]

Way to go! You probably saved yourself a whole dollar, shopping all 3 dealers too. So you live in Ottawa, but you buy in Montreal, Quebec...hmmm....thanks for supporting your province, city, local economy etc. etc....Guys like you are the reason car dealers started ripping off people years and years ago. And I see from your other posts that you do alot of complaining about your Mini...hmmm...must be a long drive to Montreal just to get an oil change...oh wait...you probably go and cry your eyes out at the local dealer...where you should have bought the damn car from in the first place...expect top notch service too...even though you screwed the dealer already...no...not you...you wanted to save some money...I see you're riddled with common sense and logic too. It really makes a alot of sense. Can you put a price on the quality of service you'll receive when you support a dealer right from start to finish...NO. First of all I know what it's like to work in a dealer because I have. Not a glam job...for the most part. Then there's guys like you Mr. Isheet Madrawers Valdiri. You probably went and wasted alot of some girl's/guy's time by test driving...and test driving some more...getting all your price quotes...a little more test driving...and then you probably made all kinds of promises...oh yeah I'll be back...yep...you can count on me Mr. Sales Guy...and then...bang Mr. Moontreal gives you a 5 dollar discount and spends a whole 2.5 minutes writing up the sales contract...wow...all that work for what...I don't know, but, have you ever heard of morals, or ethics. that's a philosophy that can be found, I'm sure, at most bmw/mini dealers across the U.S.A and the rest of the world. That's the thing I know you didn't buy the Mini because you're a die hard Mini guy, You just thought, 'that car's cute honey, What is it called, a mini austin, oh whatever, who cares'. You thought maybe I can find some poor sucker to buy my Ford Focus I bought at Bob's Ford Dealer who told when I bought it that I was getting it for 100 bucks over invoice. Wow another smooth move on your part. And what the dealer didn't say or have to say was that he had factory credit for 2000 bucks on that Focus. Soooo.....you probably paid 700 over MSRP in the end...but hey...in your eyes you were the big hero...good job. And now you still owe $12000 and the cars worth 4000 bucks. That's why Mini's trying to keep a fixed price Mr Isheet Madrawers, because that will utimately determine the residual value for MINI, unlike Your previous Ford Focus Or Pontiac Sunfire Everyone that buys a mini, INCLUDING MYSELF, is paying the same price, maybe Joe Or Bob got a 200 dollar discount...whoopi dooo...I don't care...I didn't buy the car based the price...I bought it because It's a MINI, not a focus, civic, sunfire. There's substance to this car, and heritage, and history and it's all still there even though they changed a bit...oh yeah My dad had an original cooper and so did my uncles and my brother. I'm a die hard Mini Guy...and people like you make me ill...YOU DON"T DESERVE TO DRIVE A MINI. Plain and Simple. You're rocking the boat bonehead, we want our Minis to hold their value, but that takes alot, one thing would be to ban MORONS like you from even stepping foot into Mini Showrooms. Quit your whining, it's a mini. electrical problems, yeah there as common as guys like you. "oh no, I just washed my mini austin, and i can't open the door' well maybe that could be a problem bonehead, but it's -50 degrees celcius outside, I don't care what you're driving, locks will freeze, so don't wash your car in severely cold weather, it's common sense...oh yeah...I forgot...Your major in school was Sales Consultant Grinding with a minor in Pullling Your Pud and a I'm sure you wrote your thesis on Cross Dressing: The Do's And Don'ts, By Mr. Isheet Madrawes Valdiri. and That degree paid off too, because you saved yoursels A whole dollar by cross price shopping the Mini.

And I bet you're proud of saving that dollar, well go buy yourself a pack of gum give me a call, we'll set up an appointment, and I'll show ya how to chew it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdiri

I shopped at 3 dealers - Mt. Royal, Laval and Ottawa.
I HIGHLY encourage any potential Ottawa buyer to spend a day in Montreal checking out the two dealers there before buying a car at MINI Ottawa.
I spent months researching my decision to buy a MINI.
I have found that MINI Ottawa acts as a monopolist does; take it or leave it. Still, by and large, it appears Ottawa customers don't mind that attitude - maybe it is the conservative nature of Ottawans.
Once you experience the Montreal dealers, you won't look at MINI Ottawa the same way - trust me.
Both Mt. Royal and Laval (who appear to really dislike each other) were very open and friendly. They are hungry for sales and will negotiate! (a refreshing change from the Ottawa dealer)
I ended up at Laval because they had the car I liked the most.
I have read some bad comments about Mt. Royal, but in my experience there, I was treated very fairly and professionally.
*At no time* did I feel I was getting 'attitude' from either dealer in Montreal as I went through my (long!) buying process.
Ottawa? Well, if you aren't buying the car today, they aren't particularly interested in you.

Final comment : even if you want to buy in Ottawa, if you don't see what the price is in Montreal first and use that leverage with Ottawa, you are paying too much.

Final, Final comment -wherever you end up getting one, buying a MINI will be one of the best decisions you ever make!