First of all, great forum. I have learned tons in my research phase of buying a new car.
My wife's 1997 e320 has been a great car, tons of room, luxurious and comfy. It now has 220,000 miles on it and time for a new auto. Her criteria was: something with good mileage, sporty, fun to drive, unique and cute. She wanted a MINI.
We looked at the Countryman but decided that it was too much like a lots of crossovers. We looked at the Hardtop and decided that it didn't have quite enough back room when she has to haul our son and his friends around.

Perfect solution: 2011- CLUBMAN "S"
Again the wifey has certain "must haves"
AUTO, MOON ROOF, heated seats and preferably leather seats. Mini connect and Navi, cool but not make or break. Initially she wanted the Pepper White with the black roof. Now as you know, all the dealers are whining about inventory and transmissions and supply and taking this to mean that you better buy now, its only will get worse.

I was lucky as we have several dealer from NOrth LA to San Diego that I could choose from. I scoured, browsed websites and really had a hard time finding the perfect one. I wanted to take advantage of the current Factory incentive of a "free" option package and I also attended the Irvine Mini "Mini Rocks" test drive promotion which gave me a certificate of a $1,000 rebate if I purchased and took delivery by July 5th.

Fate is funny and I stopped by the Irvine lot last week and spoke with the MA who I had met at the Mini Rocks event. We walked the lot and nothing really stood out. BUT she did state that she has a "Ice BLue" CLubman coming in soon. She showed me the color and I must admit, I wasn't too keen on it, but it grew on me as it seemed a little more unique than the Pepper White and I figured my wife would like it. I sent her a photo of it and promptly received a "I love it, get it response".

Here are the specs:
Clubman "S", Ice Blue with Black top
Auto
Premium Package
Heat seats
Sports package, 17 " wheels
Mini Connect
Leatherette seats, which we can live with...
Zenon headlights with the black interior

The only hiccup was the MA insisted that it comes with a $600 dealer accessory package that consisted of floor mats, Nitrogen in the tires, and a exterior protection package. It took about an hour of management approval to get them to drop this off the car. Since the car was not even in the dealer's possession, they had not incurred any costs adding this, so I insisted no thanks to the 600 floor mats. That was a lot better than Crevier's manager that insisted that their car "has to have" the $2K lo-jack on it.

Everyone in the family is excited to get the car. I was up in the Bay Area this week and had to drop by the Concord Mini just to look at colors, schemes etc. All their stickers show between $750 to 2,200 of "Dealer Markup". Seems the Bay Area Mini Market is a little tighter.

Can wait to learn more from this forum. I will post pictures when she arrives. I am now looking for a new Fender Stratocaster in the same retro color. That would be cool.

My questions now are 1) do I quickly get rid of the run flats 2) tinting and 3) Do I want to add any striping. I also saw a clubman with the factory rear spoiler and I kind of liked they way it broke up the site lines of the roof. 4) Has any one added a chrome, carbon fiber or black hood air scoop



Thanks,

Richard

 

Welcome and congratulations on the Mini.

I would definitely recommend getting rid of the run-flats. Can't answer tinting since mine isn't. There's a few pics here of Minis with diff hood scoops. You should check em out.

 

Ice Blue is a GREAT color...congrats.

 

Congratulations on your purchase.

Welcome to the Ice Blue Owner's Club

Please post pictures of your car on the Ice Blue Owner's thread.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ners-club.html

 

Quite a story. I don't understand why Crevier insisted on the Lo Jack. I was given the option to include, which I didn't do.

My view of the run flats is they are worth including. They run a little harsh, but when it comes to getting a flat tire, you will be glad they are there.

 

Welcome Richard!

 

Welcome.

I would say keep the runflats for a while as buying tires for a new car seems like an unnecessary expense unless you can afford it.

Tint is a must. I vote for 15-20%, looks great.

Do you plan on blacking out the chrome?

I painted my stock hoodscoop with Plastidip and it gave the car a meaner look. The CF one is nice but not worth the cost and then it doesn't match any other CF unless you buy more (more money)