Well as of last thursday I'm officially a Mini owner. This car has re-ignited my passion for driving.

I got the mini sport with laser blue/white combo. Premium and sport packages. I'm not the greatest automotive photographer. I do professional portraiture, but hopefully I can hone in my skills on the mini. The background is pretty bland, but I wanted something to show off
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohicks/5629517349/
Plan on lurking the forums and learning more about these cars. I'm coming from owning 3 neons. All 1st generation, and one that was my pride and joy. A 98 r/t bright white neon. All N/A and completely overhauled, but I'm loving the mini cooper! I can't stay out of the driver's seat haha. Looks like my mom might be joining the mini family after seeing me purchase this. She loves it too, but might opt to get the countryman model instead.

I'm located in Jacksonville, FL btw if any of yall are around here and see me on the road honk and let me know!

Any advice on some small 'smart' mods to the car that will improve anything quickly? One on my list is to get a catch can here soon, and I've already purchased the 2" shorty antenna from alta and the BOV spring upgrade.

Thanks in advance.

 

Awesome car, awesome color!

 

It is an absolutely fabulous color. I really wish Coopers would have had that as an option. It was just a bit out of our budget's reach for the S.

 

Thanks.
The car seems to get getting a lot of looks from people. Big attention getter.
Blue is my favorite color so it was love at first sight The salesman had his own and it was a midnight blue i think he said? But i went out to the parking lot to look at his and it just wasn't as good as the laser option to me.

 

Yo NavyNUKE, are you regretting not sticking to laser blue now?

 

Nice ride...and most important of all, niceeee color! But of course I'm super-duper biased!

 

Nice color! Great lighting on your picture. You DO know what you are doing.

Good choice of first mods.
Another easy one is a pulsar 3rd tail light modual (flashes 3-6 times when putting on the brakes)

Not sure how much you want to spend initially, but lighter wheels are a popular first performance mod. Ceramic brake pads seem to be a good choice if the MINI brake dust drives you crazy.

The sky is literally the limit. ENJOY!

 

Not as much as I could be, hah, not saying I won't always like the Laser Blue

 

Thanks.
Not sure if I'll be doing a lot of exterior mods. I like the look of stock and the idea of a sleeper; although I will not be modding the engine as extensive as my last car was. I actually need the MPG to stay around 30+ ha; driving 70 miles round trip everyday. Most of my work will probably be suspension and engine for anything that I do on it.

Rims will be come within time. Mini lug pattern is 4x100 correct?

What is the pulsing 3rd brake light? Not sure if I like the idea of that. A video up i can see it in action?

Yes, I have noticed already the Mini likes to shed brake dust all over the rims quite frequently. Might have to get around to getting ceramics for the car.

Who is the leading third party performance manufacturer for mini? I see a lot of Alta Performance in and around this forum.

 

Congrats and I also want say great color choice. Anything for your new ride check out Outmotoring .com, I have gotten a ton of stuff from them and always the best price. Aaron is very into Minis and is a big help.

The first mod should be a shield for the hood scoop. Goes on the inside the of hood with 2 push pins and keep the scoop from warping. I think it was around $25 and is a Mini part. If yours melts the replacement scoop comes unpainted and matching the color is a hit or miss.
My $0.02 worth

 

So this is something i get from the local parts department? I have a 20% discount with them for buying the car for 30 days. So I do need to use that up.

My salesman mentioned about that hood scoop warping and I can see why because after I drive this car the hood gets incredibly hot near the turbo. He said that mini will replace the first one for free, but anything after is on me. Is there a picture I can see of the scoop shield? And this doesn't affect air flow at all from the scoop?

Thanks for the input gr8ful.

 

beautiful color!

good replacement for the electric blue! :D

 

The website for the 3rd brake light PULSAR: http://www.gominigo.com/PULSAR.html
It does draw attention of the drivers behind you. A nice feature is the lockout function that activates in close traffic so it doesn't keep flashing if you are creeping in traffic.

The MINI (+'07) comes with 4X100 bolt spacing and 14mm lugs. You lose A LOT of weight here. Ditch the run-flats and it becomes a different car.

The heat shied is available aftermarket: http://www.waymotorworks.com/mini-co...5-r56-r57.html
The dealership should have something too. I have not seen them, but I can't imagine the product would cut off the cool air supply (or rather the hot air escape )

Aftermarket..... Everybody has their own opinion. I pick and choose for most of the BIG stuff. I personally like Alta for some of the things they offer. (They are within driving distance.) They have given me good service and excellent quality. There are more distributors. I have not had a problem with any of the ones I've dealt with.

Goto the Gen2, Modifications section for researching any purchase.

Maybe research adding a catch can to your '11 engine. I know your engine PCV system has changed from '07, but it is still a direct injection engine. I just added the BSH catch can.

 

After my first scoop warped/melted, I talked my dealer into installing the aluminum one that Mini2na linked you to at www.waymotorworks at the time they replaced the scoop with a new one. It is a factory part that apparently they produced to "fix" the problem and looks exactly like the pic on the waymotorworks site. It installs right behind the "grille" part of the scoop and protects the upper portion of the scoop (aft of the grille part) from warping. It does not block the grille part....although there's little air that moves in/out of those tiny cutout holes anyway. If you're looking for a cheap mod to do right away, I'd go ahead and order one from Way or your dealer (whichever is cheaper) and install it now to save the scoop replacement later.

Or if you're handy/creative, get a short piece of aluminum flashing and make your own with a pair of tin snips or scissors. I probably would have just done that if I had known what this shield was beforehand (just a flimsy piece of thin aluminum)....and definitely would have done that if I had to pay for the shield myself. I'm cheap, though.

Have fun with your new car!

 

Edit*double post

 

Edit*double post

 

Congrats!!
Great picture!

 

Oh...I didn't know there's a hood scoop warpage issue due to heat. That sucks....I'll the dealer is they put one on for me, for free.

 

Edit*double post.

 

Thanks for all the input.

I ordered the one from waymotor and it should be here this week or monday.

BTW fastlane I'm a hoosier too. Born and raised in Indiana for 25 years and just recently moved to Florida this past January. Monticello (indiana beach) is my hometown. I also lived in West Lafayette for 5 years and graduated from Purdue in spring of 2010. Boiler up!

 

Hey, what a small world. I knew I liked you.... Purdue graduate also. GO BOILERS!

 

Indeed, when did you graduate and what major?


I love Purdue.

 

Just a LITTLE before your time.. .. '76 Education by way of CS and EE.

 

haha nice.

 

Congrats. Beautiful photo of the most gorgeous MINI color