Pulling the trigger: Color and Timing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Whosehouse
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 14
  • Views Views 2K
W

Whosehouse

New Member
Hello all, been lurking a while since I decided on getting a mini se. Now that I’m nearing the amount saved for the down deposit, I have a couple questions I’d love your feedback on.

1) Color
I’m a pretty normal person and not looking for flashy (I don’t think I can pull off a red or green). I’m torn between a White with black roof and the grey cloth seats OR a Black body and roof with the yellow-ish cloth seats. Both would have the black spokes. I live in the south so pollen and heat play a factor. Thoughts?

2) Timing
I’ve seen it taking about three months from reservation to pickup for an ordered car but maybe the chip shortage will delay it some. I’ll have my deposit fully saved in three months, should I reserve now or wait another month?

Appreciate it!
 
I'm my experience, the dealer wants the deposit at the time you order. How much is the dealer asking as a deposit?
 
chrunck said:
I'm my experience, the dealer wants the deposit at the time you order. How much is the dealer asking as a deposit?
Click to expand...
The reservation fee is only $250, I’m talking more about the amount of money I’ve decided I need to put down first to lower the amount I’ll finance.
 
Whosehouse said:
Hello all, been lurking a while since I decided on getting a mini se. Now that I’m nearing the amount saved for the down deposit, I have a couple questions I’d love your feedback on.

1) Color
I’m a pretty normal person and not looking for flashy (I don’t think I can pull off a red or green). I’m torn between a White with black roof and the grey cloth seats OR a Black body and roof with the yellow-ish cloth seats. Both would have the black spokes. I live in the south so pollen and heat play a factor. Thoughts?

2) Timing
I’ve seen it taking about three months from reservation to pickup for an ordered car but maybe the chip shortage will delay it some. I’ll have my deposit fully saved in three months, should I reserve now or wait another month?

Appreciate it!
Click to expand...
1) If you live in the South (like I do), I would get the white with black roof. Other than I think it looks much better than black, the black will show pollen immediately, while the white is very forgiving. You'll see that when the pollen is very visible on your black roof but not on the rest of the car. My current car is white, and when it's pollen season, I can see the pollen immediately on the black sunroof, but not on the white part of the roof. White will also be better for the heat.
2) If you expect to have your downpayment saved in three months, you should probably wait another month. From the spreadsheet, it seems most people are getting them in less than three months. It may take three months if you order now, but it may also take only eight weeks. So if that would be an issue, I would wait the extra month. I ordered mine four weeks ago, and production just completed. It seems usually it takes about a month from end of production to dealer, so that would be about 2 months.

Hope that helps!
 
Newkirk said:
. . . I ordered mine four weeks ago, and production just completed. It seems usually it takes about a month from end of production to dealer, so that would be about 2 months.

Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Looking at the spreadsheet, things seemed to have happened very quickly with your build (and a few others). Any idea why? I ask because it seems like my MINI is at a standstill; it appears to be making no progress at all at the moment. In fact, they keep pushing back the completion date. I can’t imagine it’s because there’s something about my build that’s making things more difficult. I ordered the Signature Plus with a couple of upgrades (leather seats and the head up display).
 
Whosehouse said:
Hello all, been lurking a while since I decided on getting a mini se. Now that I’m nearing the amount saved for the down deposit, I have a couple questions I’d love your feedback on.

1) Color
I’m a pretty normal person and not looking for flashy (I don’t think I can pull off a red or green). I’m torn between a White with black roof and the grey cloth seats OR a Black body and roof with the yellow-ish cloth seats. Both would have the black spokes. I live in the south so pollen and heat play a factor. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

For easiest to keep clean (i.e doesn't show dirt), the sliver or gray is better. White is OK, black is brutal, but looks great when clean. Try the leather seats, they just feel better to me than the mini cloth. As far as southern heat/humidity, I don't think color will mater much, but window tint may. You may want to avoid the moon roof, however. So which color looks best to you with heavily tinted windows?
 
HappyKafka said:
Looking at the spreadsheet, things seemed to have happened very quickly with your build (and a few others). Any idea why? I ask because it seems like my MINI is at a standstill; it appears to be making no progress at all at the moment. In fact, they keep pushing back the completion date. I can’t imagine it’s because there’s something about my build that’s making things more difficult. I ordered the Signature Plus with a couple of upgrades (leather seats and the head up display).
Click to expand...
Maybe it has something to do with the dealer where you ordered from. It seems that some dealers have a certain allotment of cars they can order for a certain time period (I think others have mentioned that somewhere in this forum), so it could be that that's why mine was built before yours (even though I ordered about five days later). Mine was in "Production Begins" for 15 days, and then it moved through all the steps in two days. The end of production date was moved once, but once they gave me the second date, they stuck to it.
 
About to pull the trigger too!

Mini Canada has increased the price by CAD1,000 for 2022 models. My dealer still has two 2021 and may be three 2022 in its inventory. All I know about the different between the 2 model years are that for 2022 you get the bigger screen across the 3 trim levels and no fog lights. Mini Canada did a bad job (in their web site, at least) of letting us know what standard equipment there are even with the base trim.

As I am not picky with colors, buying from their inventory will have no wait time and I do not have to worry about shortage of micro chips affecting features. According to the sales, Mini Canada has yet to decide on how to compensate its clients for missed features.

Can someone shine some light on whether the CAD1,000 increase justify buying the 2022 model?

Thanks.
 
YellowDog said:
Can someone shine some light on whether the CAD1,000 increase justify buying the 2022 model?
Click to expand...

From what I gather the 2022 has a new front fascia (up to you whether you like the look), a few more miles EPA, a larger screen, and piano black steering wheel buttons (I don't like these as much).
 
Definitely with the 2022 LCI you get the 8.8" screen standard in all trim levels as well as some other new tech like heated steering wheel, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control. Not sure if those are all standard, but they are features not available in the 2020/2021 models.
 
Then, again, some 2022 models are unexpectedly missing the rear parking distance sensor system listed as being standard on the SE. This mystery is attributed by one dealer to the "chip shortage." A retrofit, if possible, would require different rear fender surrounds that include the sensors (is there a sensor shortage too?).

The 2022 models have extra "bad weather" lights in the headlight nacelles that MINI claims perform the same function as the low-mounted fog lights on the older models.
 
insightman said:
The 2022 models have extra "bad weather" lights in the headlight nacelles that MINI claims perform the same function as the low-mounted fog lights on the older models.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen the old style fog lights but the bad weather lights are actually pretty good! I thought they were kinda gimmicky but they definitely surprised me. They create a bright and wide spread that's noticably different than the headlights
 
The 2022 headlights are absolutely insanely great. Even on regular low beams, the spread and distance of light is really good. With high beams, it looks like you are lighting up the entire world. And the corning lights are fantastic.
 
The first night I had my SE, it was parked in our driveway facing the street and I flicked the high beams on for a second. I was astounded at how bright they were! I hoped I hadn't disturbed our neighbor across the street. The next day I found out she did wonder why there was no thunder following a lightning strike that must have been nearby to be so bright!

Our Honda Clarity's LED headlights are pathetic compared to even old-tech incandescent bulbs. The SE's headlights changed my opinion of this new breed. I can't imagine what BMW's laser headlights are like--why would anyone need headlights brighter than ours?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top