Super excited for my BRG SE - get me even more hyped by sharing some pics of your SE

Ok I'll bite, and I'll add to the whimsy factor with...well...corgis and canoes of course.

 

Because Minilite won't make their signature wheels for modern MINIs, I wish MINI would license the Minilite design. They could call it the Paddy Hopkirk (RIP, Paddy!) because that's who made those wheels famous.

 

Pretty much sold on removing the Energetic Yellow blob on the rear.

 

Winter and summer action shots.

 

Yesssss!

 

It is funny. My wife and I have considered moving and when we discuss anything in the north, she quickly reminds me that I would freak out having my car covered in salt. As soon as I saw these pictures and the salt, I definitely had a visceral reaction. Yeah, she is right. I can't do it.

 

I haven’t been too careful these last couple of winters, driving a 29 year old car while letting my wife take the newer car to the local touchless wash every few weeks. But with the new SE this winter I’ll likely go back to presoaking with a pump-sprayed solution of waterless car wash product like CarPro Ech2o, followed by a two-bucket rinseless wash with the same product and a stack of plush Eagle Edgeless 500 microfiber towels from The Rag Company. It’s a bit unnerving doing this to a salt-encrusted beauty the first time, but it’s extremely easy, eminently satisfying, and produces swirl-free results that equal those of a traditional two-bucket wash with running water and a mitt.

 

We meant to ask the detail shop if they could remove the E badge prior to ceramic coating but we forgot. We’re not sure if we’ll remove it now since it won’t have ceramic coat in that spot if we do. I like the yellow accents with the blue and almost went with yellow mirror caps too but hubby wouldn’t let me after I showed him who it reminded me of.

 

The key is if you live far enough north, you spend most of the winter below freezing so the salt can't do any damage since it's too cold. Once it gets near freezing I'm going through the car wash practically daily.

 

Last OT I promise — And if you park indoors, it’s a good idea to clear slush and frozen road snot out of the wheel arches and under the rockers before going inside.

 

I do what you do forever with all cars I own

 

love your doggie

 

The smoked markers and rear fogs are subtle but strong. I’ll likely do it the first weekend.

 

I've had the car for a few weeks now and absolutely love it. I was thinking a making a separate thread, but maybe better to post a few pictures here. Still a work in progress, but I've gotten quite a few things done so far:

• Ceramic tinted windows
• Chrome delete
  
• Parking light LEDs
• Bimmercode tweaks
• Bonnet stripes (my daughter was a big help installing these)

Caliper paint is next on the to-do list

 

I look at your gorgeous shots and think, “That can’t be what Island Blue looks like, there must be a filter or effect!” Then I look at how natural the sky’s blue looks, and I get excited all over again that I’ll be able to see my own Island Blue/Black SE in my driveway really soon!

 

I hate to say it, but it didn't look that way to me in real life (MA's car). After seeing it in person, I switched to Chili Red.

I will see if I still have the picture I took...

 

Yeah, my first demo test drive was Island Blue, but it was filthy — it was their only demo and is constantly on test drives — and coated with salt dust. It was bright, but I equated it more to our Crosstrek’s medium blue than the well-known WRX Rally Blue.