[sdmidget]

Just checked the Wallenius Wilhelmsen website (Cargo Status).

Car with the last 7 digits of my VIN was received at Southampton Terminal Friday afternoon. It's booked on the Jingu Maru - destination is Port of New York.

[Nowhere]

Hi everyone,
this is my first post on the board. I stopped by Don Rosen yesterday to test drive a Cooper and had a lot of fun. Everyone there was nice I'm going back Monday night to test the Cooper S and see if I'm willing to wait that long to get one
Either way, if I do end up ordering a Mini, I'm gonna have a hard time giving up my Miata. I guess I'll have at least a few more months with my car considering that there is still a backlog of orders. Time do do some serious top down motoring this summer!

Tony, congrats on the new job. Maybe I'll see you there tomorrow.

Chris

[sdmidget]

Welcome aboard Chris.

If you've had a chance to search around on the MINI2 forum, you'll find several threads discussing Miata vs MINI. A few other Miata owners are (or are considering) giving up their Miatas for a MINI.

[ArticM3]

Chris, who did you go on the test drive with? I was there all day yesterday!

Tony

[Nowhere]

Tony -
Ha! I read that you were getting the job there but I didn't even realize you started already until I logged onto the message boards today. I test drove with Chris yesterday - cool guy. I'll be coming in at 6:30p tomorrow to drive the S so when I come in I'll ask if you're around. It'll be cool to meet another person on the message boards

Chris

[ArticM3]

Chris is in training there and in two weeks I think is going to Audi. After that, I volunteer to be your motoring advisor!
See you tomorrow.

Tony

[jlivingood]

ArticM3 / Tony:

Congrats again on the new job - sounds like you are settling into it just fine!

I wondered if you could answer some basic questions for us just to kind of keep us in the loop.

For the Cooper list, are there still a lot of people waiting or could someone theoretically walk into the dealership today and drive home with a pre-spec Cooper? I get asked this question all the time at work. Basically, people want to know how long the wait is for a Cooper if they are not too picky on color, etc. Also, I am curious how far through your Cooper list you are. I'd guess a lot of people want to wait for their specific order.

As for the 'S' list - how far through that are you? I think you are getting 30 Cooper S models in June. Is that late or early June? I have heard that some of the people in the first 30 slots have dropped out (bought other cars, no interest, etc.) and some have turned down the pre-spec cars. How far into that list are you and what other details can you give us?

A couple of us who have posted here are in the 60s and 70s on the Cooper S list. Is it realistic (be honest) to expect to get an S before end of August or beginning of September?

Also, we've heard a bunch about many options being unavailable for a time (heated windscreen, Harmon Kardon, etc.). Any sense of when those are set for production? Any other known running changes?

Thanks for any info you can provide. I don't think I am looking for some kind of "official" pronouncement - I am just dying for any tidbit of info on the object of my automotive lust!

Also, you mention a Chris starting. Is he new to the business? (I knew a Chris that used to work with Alex before in Reading - small world, never know.)

Thanks!!
Jason

[MadAboutMINI]

Tony,
Count me in with Jason on the same questions. When I put my deposit down I was 70 on the S list. When I last spoke to Amos he said that he couldn't say for sure where I was on the list now since people had dropped out, switched to the Cooper list, etc. I was planning to call him next week for an update, but any info you have will be helpful.

He told me to expect a call in May to spec out my car for "late summer" delivery. Does that still seem right to you?

Thanks!

[sdmidget]

Tony

If you're working this Friday - I have an appointment with Alex @ 10 AM to discuss OTR costs/etc.

Steve

[ArticM3]

Just got home from a long night of MINI Q&A downtown. It was tons of fun though. The cars draws so much attention. I don't go into work until 1pm tomorrow, so I will answer these questions in the morning. Thanks!

Tony

[ArticM3]

Let me do the best I can to answer these questions.

Congrats again on the new job - sounds like you are settling into it just fine!-------- Thank you. Loving it.

I wondered if you could answer some basic questions for us just to kind of keep us in the loop.

For the Cooper list, are there still a lot of people waiting or could someone theoretically walk into the dealership today and drive home with a pre-spec Cooper? I get asked this question all the time at work. Basically, people want to know how long the wait is for a Cooper if they are not too picky on color, etc. Also, I am curious how far through your Cooper list you are. I'd guess a lot of people want to wait for their specific order.------------------ We do not have any coopers in stock. We are getting some at teh end of may (hopefully) that are not sold yet. Others that we have taken orders on will be here July/auguest.

As for the 'S' list - how far through that are you? I think you are getting 30 Cooper S models in June. Is that late or early June? I have heard that some of the people in the first 30 slots have dropped out (bought other cars, no interest, etc.) and some have turned down the pre-spec cars. How far into that list are you and what other details can you give us?-------We won't really know anything unti the S comes in. Yes, some people will probably drop off the list.

A couple of us who have posted here are in the 60s and 70s on the Cooper S list. Is it realistic (be honest) to expect to get an S before end of August or beginning of September?------Anything is possible. I don't have an answer. I guess it depends on what/how many MINI gives us.

Also, we've heard a bunch about many options being unavailable for a time (heated windscreen, Harmon Kardon, etc.). Any sense of when those are set for production? Any other known running changes?-----We hear september for those options, rain sensing wipers and the factory alarm. Navigation is available now and so are Xenon headlights.

Thanks for any info you can provide. I don't think I am looking for some kind of "official" pronouncement - I am just dying for any tidbit of info on the object of my automotive lust!-------I'm trying.....

Also, you mention a Chris starting. Is he new to the business? (I knew a Chris that used to work with Alex before in Reading - small world, never know.----Chris is in training with us. Soon he will be moving on to our Porsche/Audi showroom in Plymouth Meeting.

[jlivingood]

Thanks for the response. The alarm not being available until September confuses me. What is the difference between the immobilizer and the alarm? Does the immobilizer make the end of that turn signal stalk flash when it is activated? And with the immobilizer if you open a door when the car is locked does anything happen?

Confused...

Jason

[ArticM3]

The immobilizer is just the mircochip in the key, making it so that the engine will only start with that key. I don't know about a light in the stalk. Haven't really looked at a locked car in the dark!
I canceld my trip for this weekend, so I will be at MINI on friday and Sat.

Tony

[MadAboutMINI]

I read over at the other forum that dealers are supposed to find out about their allocations today. Tony, can you give us any updates regarding what you guys will get for pre-specs and on an ongoing basis?

Thanks!

[ArticM3]

I haven't heard anthing yet. As soon as I have info.......


Sorry, I know this wasn't the answer you were looking for.

Tony

[jodathmorr]

Yay! I got to visit the Don Rosen Dealership today. I talked to Tony whos a great guy. I took some propaganda (booklets, ect) to show my dad. The place is really cool. The Minis they have on display are really comfortable. I was supprised that I could get into the front and even the back! The back is actually pretty comfortable. I don't think i could stay back there for a long trip but driving around town or the city would be great. They have an information vending machine which is really cool and I even looked in their trinkets case. I want a 1:18 scale model and the watch .

I hope to get a nice lil car for myself there. Thanks for helping us Tony!

PS: I was the teenager with the dog .

[MadAboutMINI]

Quote:

I haven't heard anthing yet. As soon as I have info.......

Tony, no worries. We appreciate anything you can tell us, but don't expect an immediate or definitive answer.

Thanks for being such an active member and trying to answer all our questions!

Cheers!

[ArticM3]

Thanks for stopping in. I love meeting people from the message boards. It puts a face to the user name!
Amos and I are going to 2 days of training this week at BMW N/A (so I guess it's MINI N/A). So hopefully I will have more info after that. See you all soon!

Tony
Let's Motor

[MattK]

Hey guys. Thought I'd chime in. Benn following the site religiously for some time now and haven't posted yet. For the record, great discussion around Don Rosen. Stopped in on Saturday to get a look for myself and am now more geeked than ever. I thought the environment was very cool and low key, not the usual car dealer aura. I talked to Alex, who seemed cool, but was surprised to find that I had dropped from 84 to 85 on the list for an S (based on a previous email from him). No big deal but it does shake my confidence a bit. Anyway, I came in dead set on a black S with red as my second choice and maybe silver as #3 and left thinking DS was the bomb. I hung around until the test car came back and thought the DS was stunning and blended best with the black moldings. Hard to tell if the black on the Coopers on hand would look better on the S. Alex did say that they got 20 cars in the recent allocation so that bumps up my delivery spreadsheet a tad. Tony, any word on the onset of new dealers and how rapidly the "over-allocations" will diminish?

[MattK]

Hey guys. Thought I'd chime in. Been following the site religiously for some time now and haven't posted yet. For the record, great discussion around Don Rosen. Stopped in on Saturday to get a look for myself and am now more geeked than ever. I thought the environment was very cool and low key, not the usual car dealer aura. I talked to Alex, who seemed cool, but was surprised to find that I had dropped from 84 to 85 on the list for an S (based on a previous email from him). No big deal but it does shake my confidence a bit. Anyway, I came in dead set on a black S with red as my second choice and maybe silver as #3 and left thinking DS was the bomb. I hung around until the test car came back and thought the DS was stunning and blended best with the black moldings. Hard to tell if the black on the Coopers on hand would look better on the S. Alex did say that they got 20 cars in the recent allocation so that bumps up my delivery spreadsheet a tad. Tony, any word on the onset of new dealers and how rapidly the "over-allocations" will diminish?