Delivery Stories

After a long wait, my MINI finally made it home on July 10. What an amazing car! I had to go out of town shortly after getting it, so I’ve only had a chance to drive it three times, but in that time I’ve driven 70 miles and used only 44% of the battery (efficiency says 5.1 mi/kWh). The best part is that I haven’t tried to drive conservatively at all. It’s all been in Mid mode and usually accelerating pretty hard, though I’ve been driving a lot on back roads at 35-45mph.

When I was growing up in the mid 1980s, my dad had a classic white Mini, like the one below. We all loved it, but my dad had to sell it after we moved to another country. My dad still feels sad about it.



I’ve wanted a MINI ever since, but for various reasons, buying one never made sense and wasn’t practical until now that my family needs a second car. When I found out about the SE, I knew this would be our next car!



I love the BRG with white roof, as well as the Roulette Spoke wheels! I test drove a MINI after BMW introduced the new MINI in 2001, and I loved it. I must have talked about it a lot because when I left my job two years later, my co-workers gave me this little MINI RC car. I even ended up with the same color combination!



By the way, if anybody in Florida is looking for an SE, I highly recommend Ferman MINI of Tampa Bay. Everyone there was great to deal with, especially my sales advisor, Dallas Crider. They even delivered the car to me! The dealer is almost 300 miles away, and I would have had to stop to charge at least 3-4 times, so it saved me a whole day of driving and a lot of headaches, especially since my wife and kids would have had to take me there. They seem to have an Iconic in BRG with black roof in stock, and possibly another BRG and an Electric Collection.


I’m looking forward to many miles in this beautiful car!

 

Congratulations - your car looks great!

 

@Newkirk, congrats!

I’ve actually tried to buy that Iconic BRG from them, and they told me they’re keeping it to use for test drives until they are allowed to order for stock again. I get it, but it’s a bit frustrating for me as I wait for my order with no clear timeline for receiving a production number.

 

There are a couple BRG in signature trim on Boston area lots, if you wanted to fly and pick one up. That would be an interesting road trip back to Atlanta that we all would like to hear about.

 

I’ve actually talked to a Boston dealer with a BRG Sig+, too! Unfortunately, one of my must-haves is the adaptive cruise control, and this one didn’t have it.

I think I’d love a Boston-Atlanta electric road trip.

 

If you haven't already, you should ask them to let you know as soon as they're willing to sell it. I was looking at their inventory a couple of weeks ago, and that one showed up but without pictures and it said it was for test drives. It doesn't say that anymore, so maybe you should ask again. Also, that one has the harman/kardon system, which new orders may not have.

 

Oh, I did! And it was just a few days ago. They implied then that they’d likely hold onto it until the of the year, but it may be worth double checking.

The HK system is my other must-have. I went to the dealer and asked to sit in a standard stereo equipped car just to listen and see if I could stand it. It might be adequate for some, but it wasn’t for me. I would regret not having it, and I don’t want to have regrets about buying a new car.

 

Here is an update to my saga. I called ASK-MINI and asked why my car has taken so long when others ordered theirs after April and have received their cars. The answer was the options. I guess ordering the crocodile leather for the seats was a little much.

The tentative delivery date is mid-September!

 

Do you have a production number yet? It's been about a month since I ordered and I haven't really heard anything. Though we did stop by a week or two ago and my MA said she checks every day. What info do they ask for when you call ASK-MINI?

 

I have a VIN! ASK-MINI asks for either the production number or the last seven digits of your VIN. One thing I am learning is patience. Good luck!

 

I got my SE about a month ago and I have about 1K miles on her now. I'm having fun and the only problem I've had so far is that my wife keeps running off with my car. This is what Red Pepper looks like now:

 

Nice! I really like the stripe going all the way to the back. What wheels are those? I don't recall seeing those as options.

 

The wheels are 18" Petrol P3A with a little customizing of the Mini SE caps to fit into the center hubs.

And BTW, I have a set of stock 16" Revolite spoke wheels in gray if anybody is interested. Maybe for snow tires?

 

What part of the country are you in?

 

I am in Northern Colorado. I also have the original set of Hankook Ventus Prime 3 tires size 195/55R16 with only 550 miles on them.

 

They are a great choice for winter wheels! I ordered a set of spectre grey revolites last winter for my SE and they were excellent partnered with Hakkapeliitta R3 snow tires.

 

Ooof, would be $$$ to ship I bet. I am planning on getting 16s for snow tires and wouldn't say no to a set like this tbh. If you really are interested in selling, message me. I'm in Ohio though which is the tricky part. I nearly got the Revolite myself but went for 17" for about 3/4 of the year.

 

If the sender and receiver each live reasonably close to a Greyhound Bus station, that can be a more cost-effective solution: https://www.shipgreyhound.com

I sold a seat of wheels to someone a few years ago and they clued me in on this service.

 

That's pretty cool! There is one downtown. Or so I think.... used to go there all the time as a kid with my grandma since there were a lot of food options there.

 

Just an update on our previous conversation: Our new SE is still on track to be at Scottsdale Mini by the end of the first week of August Also, my reservations about long term issues with sunroofs were just reinforced by a neighbor three doors away. We had a rare heavy rain over the weekend and he developed a big leak around the seal of his late model Buick SUV's sunroof. A large amount of water accumulated in his SUV before he discovered the leak the next morning. My neighbor had to tie a tarp over the top of his SUV the rest of the weekend. He's praying the leak hasn't damaged any wiring or caused any permanent damage.