[splease]

Great site, certainly provoked me into action.

I ordered my S last week and have been told I am 12th on my dealers list. He is talking about delivery in July time frame but I am sceptical.

Does anyone know the projected manufacturing capacity for the S. If they can produce 3000 current Minis per month for the UK market are they going to add a new production line or switch production?

Are some BMW dealers more equal than others. Mine claimed he will get a better allocation because he has done so well with the current model.

How do I get a factory visit.

splease, newbie with many questions.

 

[Rick]

did you have to pay a deposit and (infamous question) what colour are you going for

good to see you have joined the wait

 

[Paul]

Great site, certainly provoked me into action.

I ordered my S last week and have been told I am 12th on my dealers list. He is talking about delivery in July time frame but I am sceptical.

The latest I have had from MINI UK is that customers will start getting their cars in June.

Does anyone know the projected manufacturing capacity for the S. If they can produce 3000 current Minis per month for the UK market are they going to add a new production line or switch production?

I think that there will be about 120,000 cars produced a year at Oxford. I cannot remember the split, but I think it will be about 50% Coopers and the rest split between One's and S's. I THINK (anyone correct me here please).

Are some BMW dealers more equal than others. Mine claimed he will get a better allocation because he has done so well with the current model.

That is true, and of course bigger dealers will get more cars, also, some dealers will be victims of their own success and have longer waiting lists than other dealers.

How do I get a factory visit.

They MAY start these later this year or maybe even in 2003... All in the air at the moment as far as I can tell.

 

[splease]

I paid £1K and do not have to decide colour for a while. My deposit is refundable up to the point of the dealer ordering the car from the factory.

I like Black, BRG and Blue. I am also tempted by the works conversion and the cool looking way you can take it to the track and turn off the airbags and swap the seats. I am going to find out more tomorrow.

 

[Andrewfuzzy]

I paid £1K .

Ouch mine was 500 quid & i thought that was bad enough

I am also tempted by the works conversion and the cool looking way you can take it to the track and turn off the airbags and swap the seats. I am going to find out more tomorrow.

What cool way of swapping seats and turning airbags off?

 

[zoooooom]

my deposit was only £250

 

[splease]

Re: deposit

My dealer knows its punters will cough up. They claim to be taking the same deposits for Mini's as they do for BMW's. Also I thought it showed I was serious and may help when I drive them mad phoning about delivery

Re: Works conversion swapping seats and airbags

I got the works brochure and it says "On arrival at an event 15 minutes is all that is needed to change from the standard to the racing seat, immobilise the airbags, rig the five point harness. After competing the standard seat can be refitted and airbags reactivated for a return to the road".

Sounds good.

 

[An_S_4_Mutley]

I paid £100 deposit to cement my place on the list, but will need to give more when I fill out my build sheet.

Andy

 

[RedMini]

If splease's dealer is that successful how come he hasn't taken more deposits? Probably because he's asking for a grand!

I put my £500 down 2 months ago and I think was no. 13 with my dealer.

 

[splease]

As I said, I am sceptical of anything a dealer tells me. It is interesting that I seem to have paid the highest deposit. Maybe he saw me coming.

He claims to sell 20 mini's a month and that does seem reasonable as I have been there a few times and seen the cars waiting for collection. So I think that must be average for a BMW dealer.

He also said yesterday that he was told total S production will be 3000 this year.

 

[Andrewfuzzy]

Phew that means i should be ok gettin mine this year

No 3 at my dealers yey!!

 

[Viscount Charles]

3,000 Cooper S cars for the year sounds about right. The figures I saw leading up to the official launch in June showed S prodction running at around 10-15% from March (to provide the first delivery vehicles and showroom examples), a big blip in mid summer (when one third of cars rolling out of the factory gates will be our Cooper S models) presumably to fill a fair few advance orders, and then it drops back to 10-15% for the rest of the year.

Most dealerships are expecting 2 or 3 Cooper S cars per month, depending upon their allocation.

One dealer I know had 6 £500 deposits for the Cooper S in August last year! Another took number 12 on Sunday. £500 appears to be the going rate for a definate place in the queue, though. I'm hoping the dealer that got my money in August has managed to secure a fair few more sales between then and now, as the more advance orders they have, the higher their allocation is likely to be - in combination with sales of the current models of course.

 

[splease]

Thanks Viscount for the extra info. Its good that we all put these pieces together.

My dealer said that the pre orders have not officially been reported to BMW yet. They have not seen or checked the lists. BMW will not base allocation on how long dealers have had deposits but on how long their list is at the point of requesting it, which I believe will be mid march.

As the person who seems to have paid the highest deposit, I hope allocation is done on amount of deposit

 

[AER]

my dealer has just told me that if I was to place an order today, then he would expect the car to be in, around the end of July beginning of August.

 

[ricardo]

Dealers Ordering Strategy

If I'd ordered my second MINI from Lind (my local dealer in Norwich) I'd be still be waiting for it!! In late November/early December they told me my replacement MINI would be delivered in early March 2002.

I phoned round and ordered elsewhere and my car was ready for collection inside 3 weeks.

Some dealers seem to have the knack of getting cars allocated and delivered in a fraction of the time quoted by others. Perhaps the same thing will apply with the S.

Incidentally, Lind claimed that the delay was due to them being so successful at selling MINIs.

 

[Jango Fett]

Only 1200 or so 'S''s to be made available in the UK between June and Christmas 2002.

 

[curly27]

COOPER S DELIVERY TIMES

Ive recently been down to the Cooper Works Showroom in East Preston to have my Mini Cooper Classic serviced/tuned.
I got talking to the sales guy there, who informed me that even though Mike Cooper (the guvnor) is expecting 6 cars per month, he is being more realistic and is only expecting 3 cars per month.
Being that Coopers are only selling converted works cars, they told me that if I left a deposit of £500 now, I would get to see my car January next year.
This is for someone who had the first pre-delivery order form in on MINI at the motorshow 3 years ago. Not that it seems to mean anything!!!

By the way, the cars down there are terrific, and if anybody has a cooper now, I advise you go and by either the full works converstion, or if money is a little tight, buy the back box! Talk about a proper "cooper" exhaust note!

 

[coopercharged]

I put a deposit down on a Cooper S on the 20th Jan at Snows BMW in Portsmouth. At the time I was 15th on the list. He could only give a rough indication of when the car would arrive, but he thought it would be about September.

I think I'll burn myself out if I have to wait until 2003.