Just took delivery of a 'new' MY2011 JCW Hardtop!
#1
01-04-2012, 01:08 PM
Just took delivery of a 'new' MY2011 JCW Hardtop!
Last Saturday, December 31st, I took delivery of a new MY2011 JCW Hardtop. It was one of the few 'Left-Over' '11 JCW still in dealership stock and unsold. This particular JCW was built in June of 2011 and it arrived at Bergstrom's 'Mini of the Fox Valley' in Appleton, Wisconsin in August. It is 'Eclipse Gray', including the roof. It has a MSRP of $35,900. The options include a factory JCW Aero kit, Cold Weather Package (heated seats, mirrors and washer jets & power folding mirrors), Premium Package (Dual Panoramic, Auto Climate, Harman-Kardon), Challenge Wheels in Black, Comfort Access Keyless Entry, Color Line Rooster Red & Carbon Black, Xenons, Rear Fog & Center Armrest. Before delivery, I had the dealer paint the exterior rear view mirrors 'Chili Red', apply the black/red pinstripe bonnet stripes and do a full frontal clear bra. Given the winter setting, I also had Tirerack ship to them a set of Kumho Ecsta 4X 'All Season' Non-Run Flats which were promptly installed. Thus, I have a set of 'Dunlop SP Sport O1' Run Flats 'take-offs' with delivery miles available for sale. If anyone here is interested in them, please make me an offer via private message.
This has been a year where I shuffled the cars in my garages. In September, I took delivery of a MY2012 Boxster Spyder that I custom-ordered from the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen. For my purposes, this is a special-use vehicle, usually top-down in good weather and not a daily driver. At 61, I know myself quite well and accept all of my car idiosyncrasies. I am that guy that parks his car the farthest place on the lot, looking for the perfect spot and is a worrywart about door dings, etc. Yes, I could use the Spyder for the same purposes as this JCW and save me a bundle...but it would be too stressing! At least, that is what I told my wife, she bought it and I am sticking to my story. It have less than 800 miles on the Spyder since its arrival. Since I returned a leased MB 350E in 2011, our primary driver has been our 2007 Mercedes CL600 (v12 Bi-Turbo). This car is comfortable, fast & luxurious, but also too large for everyday chores and grocery runs. I decided to assign the MB the task of long-distance trip/highway cruiser. Thus, it became obvious to me (although not to my wife!) that we needed to buy another car - the perfect daily driver! I started reading up on Mini's last Spring (I rejoined NAM on 4/11) and went through all the threads posted on this forum. I seriously started looking for a Mini to buy in late October. That search led me eventually to this Mini Cooper JCW on New Year's Eve.
I am not new to Mini or the BMW Group in general. I recently owned a 2005 Mini S Cabriolet for 3 1/2 years. It was a car I ordered new from the factory at South Bay Mini in Los Angeles. It was Hyper Blue with a blue top, blue leather seats with orange deviating stitching, Limited Slip and most other options (except Nav). Total MSRP on that car was just over $31K and I had to pay sticker (many others were paying a premium over MSRP then!). In the past 11 years, I have ordered from BMW a '95 M3, a '04 745i Sport and a '07 650i Vert, all taken via European Delivery in Munchen. I also owned the future classic Z8 (a MY2001) for three years. All are gone now. I also recently had a 2007 997.1 coupe in a special paint-to-sample 'Signal Green' color, which is a color first introduced by Porsche in 1968. I have mostly been a Porsche sport car enthusiast since I graduated from college in 1972. So that is my most recent automotive experiences. What initially led me back to consider a Mini was the following consideration. Of all the cars we have owned in recent times, my wife ONLY remembers fondly the Mini Cooper S! So this weighted mightily in my thoughts as I started this vehicle search months ago.
This is a different market from when I ordered & bought my Mini in the spring of 2005. There are now various degrees of discounting going on and there is a wider pool of models from which to choose from. At the top of the wish list was a factory JCW, something that was not available back then. My first view of a factory JCW was seeing in person the group delivery of the special GP's Minis during the Historic Races at Laguna Seca in August of 2006. I have seen a few factory JCW since their well-publicized introduction as a MY2009. Being equally interested in both performance and aesthetics, I prefer the post-MY2011 look of the JCW - especially the darker anthracite-color gauges and the black interior accents that go so well with the standard anthracite headliner. Since we own already several convertibles (the 2012 Spyder, a 1970 911E Targa and 1974 VW Beetle Karmann), I eliminated the JCW cabriolet from consideration. That left the JCW Hardtop & Clubman. Since production of the MY2012 Hatch was delayed until October, there were only a few '12 JCW Clubman around for sale in the past few months. I decided to concentrate my search on the MY2011 JCW's to see what was the best deal I could find - used or 'left-over' new. And, after months of investigation & due-diligence, I negotiated a deal of a lifetime on this new '11 JCW Hardtop. I will tell that story in my next post.
Saludos,
Eduardo
Currently in Colorado
This has been a year where I shuffled the cars in my garages. In September, I took delivery of a MY2012 Boxster Spyder that I custom-ordered from the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen. For my purposes, this is a special-use vehicle, usually top-down in good weather and not a daily driver. At 61, I know myself quite well and accept all of my car idiosyncrasies. I am that guy that parks his car the farthest place on the lot, looking for the perfect spot and is a worrywart about door dings, etc. Yes, I could use the Spyder for the same purposes as this JCW and save me a bundle...but it would be too stressing! At least, that is what I told my wife, she bought it and I am sticking to my story. It have less than 800 miles on the Spyder since its arrival. Since I returned a leased MB 350E in 2011, our primary driver has been our 2007 Mercedes CL600 (v12 Bi-Turbo). This car is comfortable, fast & luxurious, but also too large for everyday chores and grocery runs. I decided to assign the MB the task of long-distance trip/highway cruiser. Thus, it became obvious to me (although not to my wife!) that we needed to buy another car - the perfect daily driver! I started reading up on Mini's last Spring (I rejoined NAM on 4/11) and went through all the threads posted on this forum. I seriously started looking for a Mini to buy in late October. That search led me eventually to this Mini Cooper JCW on New Year's Eve.
I am not new to Mini or the BMW Group in general. I recently owned a 2005 Mini S Cabriolet for 3 1/2 years. It was a car I ordered new from the factory at South Bay Mini in Los Angeles. It was Hyper Blue with a blue top, blue leather seats with orange deviating stitching, Limited Slip and most other options (except Nav). Total MSRP on that car was just over $31K and I had to pay sticker (many others were paying a premium over MSRP then!). In the past 11 years, I have ordered from BMW a '95 M3, a '04 745i Sport and a '07 650i Vert, all taken via European Delivery in Munchen. I also owned the future classic Z8 (a MY2001) for three years. All are gone now. I also recently had a 2007 997.1 coupe in a special paint-to-sample 'Signal Green' color, which is a color first introduced by Porsche in 1968. I have mostly been a Porsche sport car enthusiast since I graduated from college in 1972. So that is my most recent automotive experiences. What initially led me back to consider a Mini was the following consideration. Of all the cars we have owned in recent times, my wife ONLY remembers fondly the Mini Cooper S! So this weighted mightily in my thoughts as I started this vehicle search months ago.
This is a different market from when I ordered & bought my Mini in the spring of 2005. There are now various degrees of discounting going on and there is a wider pool of models from which to choose from. At the top of the wish list was a factory JCW, something that was not available back then. My first view of a factory JCW was seeing in person the group delivery of the special GP's Minis during the Historic Races at Laguna Seca in August of 2006. I have seen a few factory JCW since their well-publicized introduction as a MY2009. Being equally interested in both performance and aesthetics, I prefer the post-MY2011 look of the JCW - especially the darker anthracite-color gauges and the black interior accents that go so well with the standard anthracite headliner. Since we own already several convertibles (the 2012 Spyder, a 1970 911E Targa and 1974 VW Beetle Karmann), I eliminated the JCW cabriolet from consideration. That left the JCW Hardtop & Clubman. Since production of the MY2012 Hatch was delayed until October, there were only a few '12 JCW Clubman around for sale in the past few months. I decided to concentrate my search on the MY2011 JCW's to see what was the best deal I could find - used or 'left-over' new. And, after months of investigation & due-diligence, I negotiated a deal of a lifetime on this new '11 JCW Hardtop. I will tell that story in my next post.
Saludos,
Eduardo
Currently in Colorado
#3
01-04-2012, 01:28 PM
What a sweet looking car. It sounds like you did a GOOD deal.
It should be very fun for you and it sounds like you got what you wanted.
You never can have too many cars is my motto. I think you will still find yourself parking way in the back parking lot. I do with my cars and it drives my wife nuts. She just takes an umbrella now.
Congratulations on a nice addition to your stable.
It should be very fun for you and it sounds like you got what you wanted.
You never can have too many cars is my motto. I think you will still find yourself parking way in the back parking lot. I do with my cars and it drives my wife nuts. She just takes an umbrella now.
Congratulations on a nice addition to your stable.
#6
01-04-2012, 03:18 PM
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What a sweet looking car. It sounds like you did a GOOD deal.
It should be very fun for you and it sounds like you got what you wanted.
You never can have too many cars is my motto. I think you will still find yourself parking way in the back parking lot. I do with my cars and it drives my wife nuts. She just takes an umbrella now.
Congratulations on a nice addition to your stable.
It should be very fun for you and it sounds like you got what you wanted.
You never can have too many cars is my motto. I think you will still find yourself parking way in the back parking lot. I do with my cars and it drives my wife nuts. She just takes an umbrella now.
Congratulations on a nice addition to your stable.
@ PatM - have you considered dropping her off wherever you're going and then parking the car in the nether reaches of the parking lot?
#7
01-04-2012, 04:18 PM
The story continues...
The greatest depreciation on any new vehicle usually happens on the first few years after you drive off the lot. That might be true...but it seems to be benefiting dealers selling the few slightly used '11 JCW's in the market today. They are buying low and selling high. Private sellers are mimicking the prices dealers set, so they are not being very competitive. Most '11 JCW's I have seen for sale are still in the $30K's, with a few in the high $20K's. I found one low option Hardtop in Texas (black with red roof) that seemed well-priced at $26K. So it seems that the best I could hope for used was in the high $20's. I concentrated my search in Autotrader.com and Cars.com, setting up alerts which informed me daily of any new offerings in the market. As Thanksgiving approached, I decided to investigate if any left-over '11 JCW were still in US dealer inventory. I have found from experience that between these two major holidays (Thanksgiving & Christmas/New Years), one can usually negotiate the best deals of the year. Simply, most car buyers are too busy with the Holiday Season, and with too many expenses, to allocate resources to a major new car acquisition. The combination of any 'trunk money' incentives from the manufacturers on unsold left-overs, plus the usual end of fiscal year sales pressures, gives a wise consumer the best hand in any negotiations with a dealer. I used this strategy with my CL600 in 2007 and got an incredible deal. I also used it, in this case in the Spring of 2004, on a left-over 'new' Audi '03 RS6, where I negotiated invoice pricing minus almost all trunk money the dealer got from Audi.
So in early November I broaden my search and visited each Mini dealer's website in the United States west of Chicago. I am based in Oregon & Northern California and spend summers in Colorado, so I have some latitude in my buying area. I am also a cash buyer, so I don't complicate any deals with trade-ins or financing, where savings in one place could cost you at the other end. I found a few '11 JCWs in inventory - including Hardtops, Clubman and Cabriolets. Only a few dealers were aggressive enough to publish the discount they would give on these cars...and these were the dealers that caught my attention. I did a supplemental study at Cars.com, which allows you to search for new cars from the previous model year, in this case MY2011. Not all dealers list with Cars.com so you need to do both to make sure you know everything that is out there. For example, Mini of Reno had a nice '11 JCW left-over that is not listed in Cars.com. But in any case, within a short period of time, I had identified almost all 'new' left-over '11 JCW's in the US. I made a priority list of my favorites and formulated an email with a low ball offer to send to each General Manager & Sales Manager using their direct email. These folks are all listed at each Mini dealer's web page and can be easily found under 'About Us' and 'Our People'. Here was the key phrase I included in my email, so that they knew this was not my first 'Rodeo': "As you well know, buying a leftover '11 will cost me an additional year of depreciation at the back-end when I sell. So some of it is a 'false' savings! I will also have to factor-in the additional shipping cost of the Mini to the West Coast. So it has to be an exceptional great discount for me to even consider a MY'11 from you in (name the state where dealer is located)." So I went in with my eyes wide-open re: buying a '11 left-over vs a '12 JCW.
On December 10th, I sent out my first email to the dealer that had listed my #1 choice of left-over '11 JCW in the country. As it turned out, this was the only email I had to send for this is the car I eventually purchased. This car had almost all the options I would have custom ordered anyway. It had the factory JCW Aero kit which is now standard on all MY2012 JCW Hardtops. And it had the color combination I found most desirable in the palette of colors currently offered by Mini.
Equally important, this dealership - Bergstrom's Mini of the Fox Vallley - had not been shy about announcing a large discount on their website on this particular vehicle. You would think most Mini dealers would make that known on their left-over cars...but few actually do. Bergstrom had a published a hefty discount of $4,050 on this car in their November website, although it was surprisingly missing on their updated December listing. Nevertheless, I could see they still had it for sale. So I decided to take my chances and send them an aggressive offer. I figure anyone brave enough to publish that kind of $4K+ discount might be a realistic partner in a final negotiation! And that is exactly what happened. To my amazement, I got an email back that same night from their sales manager Justin Stambuk telling me that he and Jim Weiss, his General Manager, would indeed entertain my offer. Two days later I wired the funds to complete the sale and two weeks later I picked up the car at their dealership in Wisconsin.
I am not going to disclose the exact amount I paid for the car, but suffice to say it's much better than the $4,050 they originally offered anyone back in November. I paid well under their invoice pricing and probably beyond whatever trunk money MiniUSA might have rebated the dealer to incentivize buyers to take left-over '11's from their lots. But I can tell you the following...they have a left-over '11 JCW Clubman that I think they will also make you a killer deal! And if your interest is in standard Minis, they have several left-over '11 S's that had a published discount of $4,500 back in November and they probably can do better now. So if you are in the market for a new Mini, don't mind owning a left-over '11 model to get the extra savings and are willing to buy out-of-state, seize the moment and contact these folks in Appleton, Wisconsin. Everything they said they would do, they did. It was a very simple, straight forward transaction and I would strongly recommend them to anyone here at NAM. http://www.miniofthefoxvalley.com/HoursAndDirections
Needless to say, this is quite the contrast from my last Mini purchase. In that case, I had to pay full MSRP for a 2005 Mini S Cab! I will tell the story of my the delivery next. My normal transport companies couldn't pick up for a month because of the Holidays and we decided to fly out to pick it up in person & make a road trip out of it!
Saludos,
Eduardo
Still in Colorado
PS Not only do I offer to drop my wife off before I park, she insists on it!
So in early November I broaden my search and visited each Mini dealer's website in the United States west of Chicago. I am based in Oregon & Northern California and spend summers in Colorado, so I have some latitude in my buying area. I am also a cash buyer, so I don't complicate any deals with trade-ins or financing, where savings in one place could cost you at the other end. I found a few '11 JCWs in inventory - including Hardtops, Clubman and Cabriolets. Only a few dealers were aggressive enough to publish the discount they would give on these cars...and these were the dealers that caught my attention. I did a supplemental study at Cars.com, which allows you to search for new cars from the previous model year, in this case MY2011. Not all dealers list with Cars.com so you need to do both to make sure you know everything that is out there. For example, Mini of Reno had a nice '11 JCW left-over that is not listed in Cars.com. But in any case, within a short period of time, I had identified almost all 'new' left-over '11 JCW's in the US. I made a priority list of my favorites and formulated an email with a low ball offer to send to each General Manager & Sales Manager using their direct email. These folks are all listed at each Mini dealer's web page and can be easily found under 'About Us' and 'Our People'. Here was the key phrase I included in my email, so that they knew this was not my first 'Rodeo': "As you well know, buying a leftover '11 will cost me an additional year of depreciation at the back-end when I sell. So some of it is a 'false' savings! I will also have to factor-in the additional shipping cost of the Mini to the West Coast. So it has to be an exceptional great discount for me to even consider a MY'11 from you in (name the state where dealer is located)." So I went in with my eyes wide-open re: buying a '11 left-over vs a '12 JCW.
On December 10th, I sent out my first email to the dealer that had listed my #1 choice of left-over '11 JCW in the country. As it turned out, this was the only email I had to send for this is the car I eventually purchased. This car had almost all the options I would have custom ordered anyway. It had the factory JCW Aero kit which is now standard on all MY2012 JCW Hardtops. And it had the color combination I found most desirable in the palette of colors currently offered by Mini.
Equally important, this dealership - Bergstrom's Mini of the Fox Vallley - had not been shy about announcing a large discount on their website on this particular vehicle. You would think most Mini dealers would make that known on their left-over cars...but few actually do. Bergstrom had a published a hefty discount of $4,050 on this car in their November website, although it was surprisingly missing on their updated December listing. Nevertheless, I could see they still had it for sale. So I decided to take my chances and send them an aggressive offer. I figure anyone brave enough to publish that kind of $4K+ discount might be a realistic partner in a final negotiation! And that is exactly what happened. To my amazement, I got an email back that same night from their sales manager Justin Stambuk telling me that he and Jim Weiss, his General Manager, would indeed entertain my offer. Two days later I wired the funds to complete the sale and two weeks later I picked up the car at their dealership in Wisconsin.
I am not going to disclose the exact amount I paid for the car, but suffice to say it's much better than the $4,050 they originally offered anyone back in November. I paid well under their invoice pricing and probably beyond whatever trunk money MiniUSA might have rebated the dealer to incentivize buyers to take left-over '11's from their lots. But I can tell you the following...they have a left-over '11 JCW Clubman that I think they will also make you a killer deal! And if your interest is in standard Minis, they have several left-over '11 S's that had a published discount of $4,500 back in November and they probably can do better now. So if you are in the market for a new Mini, don't mind owning a left-over '11 model to get the extra savings and are willing to buy out-of-state, seize the moment and contact these folks in Appleton, Wisconsin. Everything they said they would do, they did. It was a very simple, straight forward transaction and I would strongly recommend them to anyone here at NAM. http://www.miniofthefoxvalley.com/HoursAndDirections
Needless to say, this is quite the contrast from my last Mini purchase. In that case, I had to pay full MSRP for a 2005 Mini S Cab! I will tell the story of my the delivery next. My normal transport companies couldn't pick up for a month because of the Holidays and we decided to fly out to pick it up in person & make a road trip out of it!
Saludos,
Eduardo
Still in Colorado
PS Not only do I offer to drop my wife off before I park, she insists on it!
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#8
01-04-2012, 08:28 PM
All the time. 99% of the time she says no. If she has the umbrella she uses it if not she has a coat with a hood on it. It's just the way she is. Truthfully I don't think she minds. She is a car person so deep down I really don't think she cares. She parks her Mini wherever she can. Not mine though. 30 years of marriage and we kind of know each other and each others foibles. The cold is what gets her. If it's REALLY cold she will take the drop off. It doesn't get that cold around here very often thus the 1%.
Last edited by PatM; 01-04-2012 at 08:35 PM.
#9
01-04-2012, 08:34 PM
Great looking JCW!
First thing I would do is remove the air dam blocking up the hood scoop. This will let cool air in (and turbo heat out!) and prevent your hood scoop from warping in approx 20k miles. Just my experience. Take it or leave it, up to you.
Again, Congrats on the great looking JCW!
First thing I would do is remove the air dam blocking up the hood scoop. This will let cool air in (and turbo heat out!) and prevent your hood scoop from warping in approx 20k miles. Just my experience. Take it or leave it, up to you.
Again, Congrats on the great looking JCW!
#10
01-04-2012, 09:43 PM
Thanks for the tip. Let me investigate this to see if I should do it too. Regards, z911
#13
01-09-2012, 08:46 PM
The story continues...
The only problem we faced with this late December purchase of the JCW was lining up a carrier to transport the car back to the West Coast. Given than most drivers were spending the Holidays at their homes, I couldn't get a spot on my traditional carrier - Intercity - until mid-January. The price I was quoted was $1700, which I felt was a bit high. But my wife suggested that we pick the Mini up ourselves in Wisconsin and make a road trip out of it. It would also give us a chance to make a stop at our mountain home in the Vail Valley of Colorado and check out the winter ski scene. We got an incredible low price to Milwaukee on US Airways ($150@one way) and prepared the car for the winter trip by having the Mini dealer install all-season tires and clear bra to protect the front of the car from road debris! Jim Weiss, the General Manager at 'Mini of the Fox Valley', offered to pick us up at the airport and take us back to Appleton to collect our car, which was a very nice gesture on his part!
We arrived at the Mini dealership in Northern Wisconsin on Saturday morning on Dec. 31st, the last day of the year. The JCW was on display inside the showroom and looked grand! Its 'Eclipse Gray' color is truly outstanding when you see it in person. All the extras we had ordered for it had been expertly installed by the dealer- the bonnet stripes, the Chili Red rear view mirrors, the clear bra, a set of rubber mats and the Kumho's 'All Seasons' (which I had Tirerack shipped to the dealer the week before). After a quick look around, the salesman at Mini of the Fox Valley assigned to our transaction (Brandon Riska) give us a quick primer re: the operation of our vehicle. As the weather was getting colder and there were a few snow flurries dancing about, we decided to hit the road without further delay. So at about noon we gave our thanks & bid farewell to the good folks at this Bergstrom Mini dealership and started on our adventure road trip back to the West Coast!
First we headed west through Madison towards Iowa, where we stopped for dinner at a great gourmet restaurant (Zins) in Cedar Rapids. On Sunday we spent the day mostly in Iowa and stopped at several locations to greet & meet some of the presidential candidates competing in the Iowa Caucuses. These impromptu encounters added a historical context to our Mini JCW roadtrip of the Mid-West that was totally unexpected and which will always be remembered! We spent the next day driving through Nebraska and eastern Colorado without having any adverse weather to contend with. We had a great dinner in Denver and we arrived safely at our mountain home in Colorado that night. One thing we truly appreciated on this inter-state travel was the complimentary SiriusXM satellite radio subscription included by Mini on all new cars! And our Apple Ipad 3G served us well as our Navigation tool and GPS guide.
There isn't much snow in the Rocky Mountains, although we got 4" of fresh powder two days ago here in Vail Valley. As you may have guessed, this lack of snow is very bad for the local ski economy. However, it is perfect for us since we don't have a all-wheel-drive vehicle with dedicated snow tires! The Mini, however, can be very effective in light snow. We had snow tires on our previous 2005 S Cabrio and it was unstoppable even the nastiest of winter storms in Vail! We are thankful, however, that we decided a few weeks ago to replace the 'performance' run-flats that came from factory on this JCW. Our new Kumho Ecsta 4X 'All Season' non-runflats tires have done well in the light snow we got here a few days ago. And importantly, the rubber is not turning to to hard-plastic in this cold weather, which is what would have happened had we kept the OEM summer tires!
We are resting here for a few more days before we head out to the West Coast. Attached are photos taken of the JCW at our garage in Colorado. The other vehicle you can see is our vintage 1970 911E Targa in a rare color called 'Crystal Blue', which was a special custom order back in its day.
Saludos, z911
We arrived at the Mini dealership in Northern Wisconsin on Saturday morning on Dec. 31st, the last day of the year. The JCW was on display inside the showroom and looked grand! Its 'Eclipse Gray' color is truly outstanding when you see it in person. All the extras we had ordered for it had been expertly installed by the dealer- the bonnet stripes, the Chili Red rear view mirrors, the clear bra, a set of rubber mats and the Kumho's 'All Seasons' (which I had Tirerack shipped to the dealer the week before). After a quick look around, the salesman at Mini of the Fox Valley assigned to our transaction (Brandon Riska) give us a quick primer re: the operation of our vehicle. As the weather was getting colder and there were a few snow flurries dancing about, we decided to hit the road without further delay. So at about noon we gave our thanks & bid farewell to the good folks at this Bergstrom Mini dealership and started on our adventure road trip back to the West Coast!
First we headed west through Madison towards Iowa, where we stopped for dinner at a great gourmet restaurant (Zins) in Cedar Rapids. On Sunday we spent the day mostly in Iowa and stopped at several locations to greet & meet some of the presidential candidates competing in the Iowa Caucuses. These impromptu encounters added a historical context to our Mini JCW roadtrip of the Mid-West that was totally unexpected and which will always be remembered! We spent the next day driving through Nebraska and eastern Colorado without having any adverse weather to contend with. We had a great dinner in Denver and we arrived safely at our mountain home in Colorado that night. One thing we truly appreciated on this inter-state travel was the complimentary SiriusXM satellite radio subscription included by Mini on all new cars! And our Apple Ipad 3G served us well as our Navigation tool and GPS guide.
There isn't much snow in the Rocky Mountains, although we got 4" of fresh powder two days ago here in Vail Valley. As you may have guessed, this lack of snow is very bad for the local ski economy. However, it is perfect for us since we don't have a all-wheel-drive vehicle with dedicated snow tires! The Mini, however, can be very effective in light snow. We had snow tires on our previous 2005 S Cabrio and it was unstoppable even the nastiest of winter storms in Vail! We are thankful, however, that we decided a few weeks ago to replace the 'performance' run-flats that came from factory on this JCW. Our new Kumho Ecsta 4X 'All Season' non-runflats tires have done well in the light snow we got here a few days ago. And importantly, the rubber is not turning to to hard-plastic in this cold weather, which is what would have happened had we kept the OEM summer tires!
We are resting here for a few more days before we head out to the West Coast. Attached are photos taken of the JCW at our garage in Colorado. The other vehicle you can see is our vintage 1970 911E Targa in a rare color called 'Crystal Blue', which was a special custom order back in its day.
Saludos, z911
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