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I just talked to my BMW dealer - and he mentioned almost casually that the Mini Cooper S maybe never will be built...
I am in total disorder - has anyone heard similar rumors anywhere?
Based on information found throughout this board, it seems that most of the BMW dealers don't know a whole lot about what's going on with the MINI, i.e. some don't know if they will be a dealer and most don't know any specs about the car, in general. In addition, many automotive salespeople, sadly enough, don't know much about what they are selling at all.
I can't tell you how many dealerships I've gone to where I actually knew more about the product than the people that were trying to sell it to me.
Just my $.02, but I find it hard to believe that this would be true.
Yeah, surely this dealer does know a lot less about the new MINI than we do - but my problem is: I ordered a Cooper S already, so commercially I'm on the safe side for him. So why the hell should he try to sell me an 'ordinary' Cooper if he hasn't some information we haven't?
I may be mistaken, but aren't the Cooper's due out before the release of the "S"? Maybe the salesperson just wants to cash in his chips early and take the earliest sale possible. Maybe the salesperson is planning to switch jobs before the official release of the "S". Who knows. I've heard all kinds of things from dealerships, including one where a local dealer explained to me that they no longer produced a certain model because they were out of stock. Needless to say, I purchased it from another local dealer and then took it by to show him that they must have produced one especially for me.
Just a postscript to my above problem - I phoned the central BMW/MINI info line in germany this morning, and they assured me that the 'S' surely will be available... but when, they couldn't or wouldn't say exactly, but most probably it will not be the 1st quarter of 2002.
Some ghostly voice in the back of my head whispered 'Hams Hall, 2.0l engine'. I really rather had that motor than a supercharged 1.6 that blows up after 14 days of autobahn.
I read somewhere that the 'S' wouldn't be available in the UK until Spring 2002 ... which is pushed back from the original 'end of year' availability.
Where did you hear that the supercharged Tritec engines are blowing up?
I read that the Ham's Hall engines are already in production. I think this engine will replace the Tritec eventually, so it wouldn't be a bad thing to have the 'S' delayed a little while (but no later than Summer 2002) if it came with a 2.0l engine.
The 'S' is supposed to debut at the Tokyo Auto Show later this year. We'll probably know more by then.
That 'blowing up' is just a faint rumor which I heard from a friend who works for a car parts supplier, who heard it from someone else in the same business, who heard it from someone else... maybe he meant just to tease me. You know, I maybe talking a bit too much about MINIs recently... 8)7
What is the Ham's Hall engine? I recall reading somewhere about a 200+ h.p. BMW built 4 cyl. for the new 2-series (now being called the "1 series"), but that was supposed to be in 2004.
I've wondered about the Tritec, and would probably wait another year for a BMW built engine. I wonder if BMW could power the MINI for the same price as Chrysler?
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