Proud new MINI owner. (Since 2008-Jan-30) b(^_^)d
#1
02-12-2008, 09:20 PM
Proud new MINI owner. (Since 2008-Jan-30) b(^_^)d
Hi everyone. I'm 28 from Philly, PA. I've recently picked up my first car to actually pay for and take care of --on my own--. She's been home for two weeks (since Jan 30). We left the dealer lot with 121 miles -- test drive miles -- Now she has like 509 miles after 13 days.
Haven't named her yet, but thinking of Evangeline (or Eva for short).
Specs include 2007 MCSa, Sparkling Silver, Premium + Cold Packages, Piano Black interior, Black roof/mirrors/bonnet stripes.
Eva-01 - Eva-02 - Eva-03
Sticker price on her was $25,850 and a 4.9% APR promo because she's a 2007 model. Managed to have dealer bring the price down to $25,100 (not including tax, titles, tags, extended warranty, etc), but does include free rubber floor mats [standard freebie I suppose]... oh well.
I had spent many countless hours with the online configurator and pieced together a spec to my liking, but I grew impatient and didn't want to wait six weeks. I've been wanting to purchase a MINI since 2002. That and my birthday was a few days after, haha... so it was like an impulsive buy as an early birthday present for myself. (Hmm, do I wait another year now? ah what the hell... screw it, buy it now.) yay.
First destination after leaving the lot was to work. Figured I put in some overtime hours since Weds and Thurs are my weekends (I work Sats/Suns) and that I now have an additional something to pay off. The following few days, the new wheels in the parking lot was the talk of the workplace.
It was quite fun since they would be saying it's so small/cute/awesome/brilliant/insert-compliment-here and at the same time, they'll nickname it "Matchbox", "Tiny", "Small Fry" compared to the other beasts in the lot (Mustang, Expedition, X3's, CR-V's, 5/6/7-series, Camry's, etc). They adore the fact that the MINI fits into the smallest of parking spots and even being educated on Phantom parking etiquette.
So during lunch breaks for the past week, I made a list for people to test drive the vehicle on the open road. They pay for tips and gas for the duration of where they drive. One of our back streets have a long stretch with S curves that are pretty much vacant/deserted after 5pm work hours daily. Now THAT is fun to flee around and corner into. \(^_^)/
Anyway... back at the homefront on day 1, drove it home, already placed 30 miles from dealership to work to home. I still live with parents and siblings. The area we have to park our cars is behind a gate. We have a Maxima, Rav4, and 4Runner. That space can fit up to 6 cars (2 rows of 3 cars) but would have to play tetris to move them out each morning. Since I'm usually the last to leave, last to come home, I'd park in the little back corner of the lot. Considering there's only 3 other cars, I had plenty of room to manuever into any area. It fit snuggly in the back corner (as shown in the pictures). haha.
So no one knew I drove the MINI home until morning when they started heading to work. Then came the jokes, jabs, and puns from siblings and relatives alike later that following night into the week. For $26k, they say they could've gotten a bigger *cough*accord*cough*, safer *cough*camry*cough*, cheaper *cough*prius*cough* car... But I keep telling them, those are not a MINI.
I won't be converting (or ever be able to convert) their mindset anyway, so I'm just dealing with it on a case by case, day by day basis.
Fast forward to today, Philadelphia received its first snow fall for 2008. The snow actually stuck to the ground and froze. I was let out of work early around 7pm and it's a 10 mile drive back home. I usually get off work around 10pm. By the time I got to the driveway, there was about a 1/8" of snow and it was hard and icey, such that I leave no footprints while walking on the ice.
I didn't want to push the MINI too far going over 25mph on ice and ruin the treads of new tires, but she experienced her first 10 mile stretch snow drive. Though I'm pretty sure the dealership wouldn't've test drove 10 miles around 2007 in snow weather, I don't think.
Took me about 45 minutes to get home, otherwise on average, it would take me 15-20 minutes.
In any case, enough rambling. I'm a newbie here. I'm just a little kid again giggling with glee with a new toy. Hope to read up and learn many things from everyone with MINI projects and events. Thank you all. (^_^)/
Haven't named her yet, but thinking of Evangeline (or Eva for short).
Specs include 2007 MCSa, Sparkling Silver, Premium + Cold Packages, Piano Black interior, Black roof/mirrors/bonnet stripes.
Eva-01 - Eva-02 - Eva-03
Sticker price on her was $25,850 and a 4.9% APR promo because she's a 2007 model. Managed to have dealer bring the price down to $25,100 (not including tax, titles, tags, extended warranty, etc), but does include free rubber floor mats [standard freebie I suppose]... oh well.
I had spent many countless hours with the online configurator and pieced together a spec to my liking, but I grew impatient and didn't want to wait six weeks. I've been wanting to purchase a MINI since 2002. That and my birthday was a few days after, haha... so it was like an impulsive buy as an early birthday present for myself. (Hmm, do I wait another year now? ah what the hell... screw it, buy it now.) yay.
First destination after leaving the lot was to work. Figured I put in some overtime hours since Weds and Thurs are my weekends (I work Sats/Suns) and that I now have an additional something to pay off. The following few days, the new wheels in the parking lot was the talk of the workplace.
It was quite fun since they would be saying it's so small/cute/awesome/brilliant/insert-compliment-here and at the same time, they'll nickname it "Matchbox", "Tiny", "Small Fry" compared to the other beasts in the lot (Mustang, Expedition, X3's, CR-V's, 5/6/7-series, Camry's, etc). They adore the fact that the MINI fits into the smallest of parking spots and even being educated on Phantom parking etiquette.
So during lunch breaks for the past week, I made a list for people to test drive the vehicle on the open road. They pay for tips and gas for the duration of where they drive. One of our back streets have a long stretch with S curves that are pretty much vacant/deserted after 5pm work hours daily. Now THAT is fun to flee around and corner into. \(^_^)/Anyway... back at the homefront on day 1, drove it home, already placed 30 miles from dealership to work to home. I still live with parents and siblings. The area we have to park our cars is behind a gate. We have a Maxima, Rav4, and 4Runner. That space can fit up to 6 cars (2 rows of 3 cars) but would have to play tetris to move them out each morning. Since I'm usually the last to leave, last to come home, I'd park in the little back corner of the lot. Considering there's only 3 other cars, I had plenty of room to manuever into any area. It fit snuggly in the back corner (as shown in the pictures). haha.
So no one knew I drove the MINI home until morning when they started heading to work. Then came the jokes, jabs, and puns from siblings and relatives alike later that following night into the week. For $26k, they say they could've gotten a bigger *cough*accord*cough*, safer *cough*camry*cough*, cheaper *cough*prius*cough* car... But I keep telling them, those are not a MINI.
I won't be converting (or ever be able to convert) their mindset anyway, so I'm just dealing with it on a case by case, day by day basis.Fast forward to today, Philadelphia received its first snow fall for 2008. The snow actually stuck to the ground and froze. I was let out of work early around 7pm and it's a 10 mile drive back home. I usually get off work around 10pm. By the time I got to the driveway, there was about a 1/8" of snow and it was hard and icey, such that I leave no footprints while walking on the ice.
I didn't want to push the MINI too far going over 25mph on ice and ruin the treads of new tires, but she experienced her first 10 mile stretch snow drive. Though I'm pretty sure the dealership wouldn't've test drove 10 miles around 2007 in snow weather, I don't think.
Took me about 45 minutes to get home, otherwise on average, it would take me 15-20 minutes.In any case, enough rambling. I'm a newbie here. I'm just a little kid again giggling with glee with a new toy. Hope to read up and learn many things from everyone with MINI projects and events. Thank you all. (^_^)/
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02-12-2008, 10:04 PM
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02-13-2008, 01:46 PM
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Congrats and welcome 
Our cars are almost identical, except for the wheels and sport stripes on mine, and I just got mine on 1/31.
Kudos for being able to talk down on MSRP. My dealer offered a $1k dealer installed accessory incentive since it was a 2007 and I of course could not talk them down on MSRP. At least I was able to get an alarm, sport stripes and driving lamps ...and some floor mats
How'd you decide on the sparkling silver color?
Glad to hear your co workers are enjoying the car....just tell them to be gentle during her break-in period!
Our cars are almost identical, except for the wheels and sport stripes on mine, and I just got mine on 1/31.
Kudos for being able to talk down on MSRP. My dealer offered a $1k dealer installed accessory incentive since it was a 2007 and I of course could not talk them down on MSRP. At least I was able to get an alarm, sport stripes and driving lamps ...and some floor mats
How'd you decide on the sparkling silver color?
Glad to hear your co workers are enjoying the car....just tell them to be gentle during her break-in period!
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02-13-2008, 06:42 PM
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Hi everyone. I'm 28 from Philly, PA. I've recently picked up my first car to actually pay for and take care of --on my own--. She's been home for two weeks (since Jan 30). We left the dealer lot with 121 miles -- test drive miles -- Now she has like 509 miles after 13 days.
Haven't named her yet, but thinking of Evangeline (or Eva for short).
Specs include 2007 MCSa, Sparkling Silver, Premium + Cold Packages, Piano Black interior, Black roof/mirrors/bonnet stripes.
Eva-01 - Eva-02 - Eva-03
Sticker price on her was $25,850 and a 4.9% APR promo because she's a 2007 model. Managed to have dealer bring the price down to $25,100 (not including tax, titles, tags, extended warranty, etc), but does include free rubber floor mats [standard freebie I suppose]... oh well.
I had spent many countless hours with the online configurator and pieced together a spec to my liking, but I grew impatient and didn't want to wait six weeks. I've been wanting to purchase a MINI since 2002. That and my birthday was a few days after, haha... so it was like an impulsive buy as an early birthday present for myself. (Hmm, do I wait another year now? ah what the hell... screw it, buy it now.) yay.
First destination after leaving the lot was to work. Figured I put in some overtime hours since Weds and Thurs are my weekends (I work Sats/Suns) and that I now have an additional something to pay off. The following few days, the new wheels in the parking lot was the talk of the workplace.
It was quite fun since they would be saying it's so small/cute/awesome/brilliant/insert-compliment-here and at the same time, they'll nickname it "Matchbox", "Tiny", "Small Fry" compared to the other beasts in the lot (Mustang, Expedition, X3's, CR-V's, 5/6/7-series, Camry's, etc). They adore the fact that the MINI fits into the smallest of parking spots and even being educated on Phantom parking etiquette. So during lunch breaks for the past week, I made a list for people to test drive the vehicle on the open road. They pay for tips and gas for the duration of where they drive. One of our back streets have a long stretch with S curves that are pretty much vacant/deserted after 5pm work hours daily. Now THAT is fun to flee around and corner into. \(^_^)/
Anyway... back at the homefront on day 1, drove it home, already placed 30 miles from dealership to work to home. I still live with parents and siblings. The area we have to park our cars is behind a gate. We have a Maxima, Rav4, and 4Runner. That space can fit up to 6 cars (2 rows of 3 cars) but would have to play tetris to move them out each morning. Since I'm usually the last to leave, last to come home, I'd park in the little back corner of the lot. Considering there's only 3 other cars, I had plenty of room to manuever into any area. It fit snuggly in the back corner (as shown in the pictures). haha.
So no one knew I drove the MINI home until morning when they started heading to work. Then came the jokes, jabs, and puns from siblings and relatives alike later that following night into the week. For $26k, they say they could've gotten a bigger *cough*accord*cough*, safer *cough*camry*cough*, cheaper *cough*prius*cough* car... But I keep telling them, those are not a MINI. I won't be converting (or ever be able to convert) their mindset anyway, so I'm just dealing with it on a case by case, day by day basis.
Fast forward to today, Philadelphia received its first snow fall for 2008. The snow actually stuck to the ground and froze. I was let out of work early around 7pm and it's a 10 mile drive back home. I usually get off work around 10pm. By the time I got to the driveway, there was about a 1/8" of snow and it was hard and icey, such that I leave no footprints while walking on the ice.
I didn't want to push the MINI too far going over 25mph on ice and ruin the treads of new tires, but she experienced her first 10 mile stretch snow drive. Though I'm pretty sure the dealership wouldn't've test drove 10 miles around 2007 in snow weather, I don't think. Took me about 45 minutes to get home, otherwise on average, it would take me 15-20 minutes.
In any case, enough rambling. I'm a newbie here. I'm just a little kid again giggling with glee with a new toy. Hope to read up and learn many things from everyone with MINI projects and events. Thank you all. (^_^)/
Haven't named her yet, but thinking of Evangeline (or Eva for short).
Specs include 2007 MCSa, Sparkling Silver, Premium + Cold Packages, Piano Black interior, Black roof/mirrors/bonnet stripes.
Eva-01 - Eva-02 - Eva-03
Sticker price on her was $25,850 and a 4.9% APR promo because she's a 2007 model. Managed to have dealer bring the price down to $25,100 (not including tax, titles, tags, extended warranty, etc), but does include free rubber floor mats [standard freebie I suppose]... oh well.
I had spent many countless hours with the online configurator and pieced together a spec to my liking, but I grew impatient and didn't want to wait six weeks. I've been wanting to purchase a MINI since 2002. That and my birthday was a few days after, haha... so it was like an impulsive buy as an early birthday present for myself. (Hmm, do I wait another year now? ah what the hell... screw it, buy it now.) yay.
First destination after leaving the lot was to work. Figured I put in some overtime hours since Weds and Thurs are my weekends (I work Sats/Suns) and that I now have an additional something to pay off. The following few days, the new wheels in the parking lot was the talk of the workplace.
It was quite fun since they would be saying it's so small/cute/awesome/brilliant/insert-compliment-here and at the same time, they'll nickname it "Matchbox", "Tiny", "Small Fry" compared to the other beasts in the lot (Mustang, Expedition, X3's, CR-V's, 5/6/7-series, Camry's, etc). They adore the fact that the MINI fits into the smallest of parking spots and even being educated on Phantom parking etiquette.
So during lunch breaks for the past week, I made a list for people to test drive the vehicle on the open road. They pay for tips and gas for the duration of where they drive. One of our back streets have a long stretch with S curves that are pretty much vacant/deserted after 5pm work hours daily. Now THAT is fun to flee around and corner into. \(^_^)/Anyway... back at the homefront on day 1, drove it home, already placed 30 miles from dealership to work to home. I still live with parents and siblings. The area we have to park our cars is behind a gate. We have a Maxima, Rav4, and 4Runner. That space can fit up to 6 cars (2 rows of 3 cars) but would have to play tetris to move them out each morning. Since I'm usually the last to leave, last to come home, I'd park in the little back corner of the lot. Considering there's only 3 other cars, I had plenty of room to manuever into any area. It fit snuggly in the back corner (as shown in the pictures). haha.
So no one knew I drove the MINI home until morning when they started heading to work. Then came the jokes, jabs, and puns from siblings and relatives alike later that following night into the week. For $26k, they say they could've gotten a bigger *cough*accord*cough*, safer *cough*camry*cough*, cheaper *cough*prius*cough* car... But I keep telling them, those are not a MINI.
I won't be converting (or ever be able to convert) their mindset anyway, so I'm just dealing with it on a case by case, day by day basis.Fast forward to today, Philadelphia received its first snow fall for 2008. The snow actually stuck to the ground and froze. I was let out of work early around 7pm and it's a 10 mile drive back home. I usually get off work around 10pm. By the time I got to the driveway, there was about a 1/8" of snow and it was hard and icey, such that I leave no footprints while walking on the ice.
I didn't want to push the MINI too far going over 25mph on ice and ruin the treads of new tires, but she experienced her first 10 mile stretch snow drive. Though I'm pretty sure the dealership wouldn't've test drove 10 miles around 2007 in snow weather, I don't think.
Took me about 45 minutes to get home, otherwise on average, it would take me 15-20 minutes.In any case, enough rambling. I'm a newbie here. I'm just a little kid again giggling with glee with a new toy. Hope to read up and learn many things from everyone with MINI projects and events. Thank you all. (^_^)/
Ambrosia... love your stripes~
#7
02-13-2008, 08:16 PM
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#8
02-13-2008, 08:20 PM
tony1athome: Thank you.
Ambrosia: Love the stripes! Great to know Eva has a twin in DC.
Sparkling Silver wasn't my first choice. It was the cheaper of the two '07's left on the lot and the reps worked out a deal for me. The other choice was an '07 MCSa British Racing Green w/ White roof, Premium/Cold/Audio Pkg., Xenon headlights for $27,300.00. Wasn't fond of the Green color as much as the Sparkling Silver though. That's the story.
Sboord: Congrats on Watson! When is Watsons' arrival date?
Laser-Red: Congrats and Hurray for month end purchases!
T8rChick: Love the leather seats and wooden interior in Daphne!!! Eva only has checkered cloth seats. I set a rule to my co-workers "No eating or drinking in the vehicle. Ever!" without thinking twice. Haha Then again, the heated seats makes me forget about the seats altogether for the time being.
Ambrosia: Love the stripes! Great to know Eva has a twin in DC.
Sparkling Silver wasn't my first choice. It was the cheaper of the two '07's left on the lot and the reps worked out a deal for me. The other choice was an '07 MCSa British Racing Green w/ White roof, Premium/Cold/Audio Pkg., Xenon headlights for $27,300.00. Wasn't fond of the Green color as much as the Sparkling Silver though. That's the story.
Sboord: Congrats on Watson! When is Watsons' arrival date?
Laser-Red: Congrats and Hurray for month end purchases!
T8rChick: Love the leather seats and wooden interior in Daphne!!! Eva only has checkered cloth seats. I set a rule to my co-workers "No eating or drinking in the vehicle. Ever!" without thinking twice. Haha
Then again, the heated seats makes me forget about the seats altogether for the time being.
#11
02-14-2008, 11:24 AM
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Ambrosia: Love the stripes! Great to know Eva has a twin in DC.
Sparkling Silver wasn't my first choice. It was the cheaper of the two '07's left on the lot and the reps worked out a deal for me. The other choice was an '07 MCSa British Racing Green w/ White roof, Premium/Cold/Audio Pkg., Xenon headlights for $27,300.00. Wasn't fond of the Green color as much as the Sparkling Silver though. That's the story.
I also had to pretty much pick a car off of the lot and after visiting the 3 area dealers and calling all the other dealers on the east coast, little Ambrosia was the best car for me.
I also doubt I could have put up with the waiting for the new car... would have driven me nuts!
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