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As my dealer is a bit shy on the information front (and insists on treating me like a mushroom - you know the deal), I've put down a second deposit with another dealer. Both deposits are 100% refundable, and both dealers reckon they can sell my car several times over if I don't want it (no surprise there). Interestingly I wasn't that far 0down the list at the second dealers compared to the first, despite the 6 months gap - presumably, despite the unwillingness of no.1 to keep me informed, thy've ben a lot more aggressive/successful at getting people to sign up to the S (certainly they were taking deposits at a time when many dealers seemed to no nothing about the S at all).
Anyway - you lot want some hard facts about the cars, not my profligacy. So here it is. Just don't ask where I got this from, right? Someone might get into trouble.
Dealers will send their advance orders in to BMW at the end of Feb. In early March BMW will work out each dealership's allocation of cars - from that, your dealership will be able to give you a reasonable estimate of *your* delivery date. Customers will also have to specify their cars in March.
April through to May sees them slowly building up S production at the factory - although the big month is either July or August (I tried to peek but only got a glance) when 33% of cars produced will be Cooper S models. After that bumper month, production falls back to around 15% - the plan being 3,000 cars per year for the UK.
Dealerships receive two cars in May - one for the showroom, one for the test drives (book 'em early!). They come in two standard specifications - an electric blue car on 16" wheels with manual aircon and a few toys, and a dark silver one on 17" rubber with absolutely every option - climate control, leather, sat-nav, DSC, multi-function steering wheel etc etc. The dealers are *not* allowed to sel these cars no matter how much we beg or whine (and we can't afford the dark silver one anyway)!
The customer cars will be available from June onwards. The plan is to have 500 S models on the road and in customer hands in the first month, with dealerships getting 2 or 3 of these first cars based on the size of their order books and allocations.
Then the bad news. Those first customer cars will *only* be available in EB or DS, and only customiseable to a very limited degree - you will probably be able to specify aircon, satnav, leather and a few other options, but most options will *not* be available. So the best place to be on the waiting list is top ten, but not top three, if you want to be able to choose your own extras.
Standard on all cars *will* be a radio (despite my concerns to the contrary), but it's the bottom of the range WAVE. Sports seats (probably cloth, just may be 1/2 leather), SSP+, and a factory-fitted category 1 Thatcham alarm are included as standard. Aircon, foglamps and DSC will *not* be standard equipment.
And two new colours will be announced for all models of the MINI, available from around May (and therefore yet another choice for the customer-specified S after the initial launch). OK, so most of you know that already. The colours are metallic red and "pepper white" - a sort of off-white according to the dealer. My guess is something akin to Old English White from the BMC paint catalogue of the 60s, and the colour of the very first Mini off the production line.
Bugger. Just when I think I'm getting somewhere on the colour choice, I have Old English White with a black roof dangled in front of me! And I can't see any of my preferred options until *after* I've signed the order - aarrrggghhhh! ANyone got any better ideas than me as to exactly how Pepper White will look - with or without a black roof?
Anyway - you lot want some hard facts about the cars, not my profligacy. So here it is. Just don't ask where I got this from, right? Someone might get into trouble.
Dealers will send their advance orders in to BMW at the end of Feb. In early March BMW will work out each dealership's allocation of cars - from that, your dealership will be able to give you a reasonable estimate of *your* delivery date. Customers will also have to specify their cars in March.
April through to May sees them slowly building up S production at the factory - although the big month is either July or August (I tried to peek but only got a glance) when 33% of cars produced will be Cooper S models. After that bumper month, production falls back to around 15% - the plan being 3,000 cars per year for the UK.
Dealerships receive two cars in May - one for the showroom, one for the test drives (book 'em early!). They come in two standard specifications - an electric blue car on 16" wheels with manual aircon and a few toys, and a dark silver one on 17" rubber with absolutely every option - climate control, leather, sat-nav, DSC, multi-function steering wheel etc etc. The dealers are *not* allowed to sel these cars no matter how much we beg or whine (and we can't afford the dark silver one anyway)!
The customer cars will be available from June onwards. The plan is to have 500 S models on the road and in customer hands in the first month, with dealerships getting 2 or 3 of these first cars based on the size of their order books and allocations.
Then the bad news. Those first customer cars will *only* be available in EB or DS, and only customiseable to a very limited degree - you will probably be able to specify aircon, satnav, leather and a few other options, but most options will *not* be available. So the best place to be on the waiting list is top ten, but not top three, if you want to be able to choose your own extras.
Standard on all cars *will* be a radio (despite my concerns to the contrary), but it's the bottom of the range WAVE. Sports seats (probably cloth, just may be 1/2 leather), SSP+, and a factory-fitted category 1 Thatcham alarm are included as standard. Aircon, foglamps and DSC will *not* be standard equipment.
And two new colours will be announced for all models of the MINI, available from around May (and therefore yet another choice for the customer-specified S after the initial launch). OK, so most of you know that already. The colours are metallic red and "pepper white" - a sort of off-white according to the dealer. My guess is something akin to Old English White from the BMC paint catalogue of the 60s, and the colour of the very first Mini off the production line.
Bugger. Just when I think I'm getting somewhere on the colour choice, I have Old English White with a black roof dangled in front of me! And I can't see any of my preferred options until *after* I've signed the order - aarrrggghhhh! ANyone got any better ideas than me as to exactly how Pepper White will look - with or without a black roof?
