Hello all:
I ordered my mini a while back and it was completed on the 9th and has been waitng for a carrier. Now all of the sudden (according to ask-mini) it is back in quality assurance. It seems that others with similar production dates are on the boat already. Anyone else have this happen to their car while in production? Any ideas? Now it looks like the next boat will leave in 5 days . Now most of my sane friends think I am nuts and says five days is nothing...so I turn to you ,the MINI crowd, (a group that proudly teeters on insanity when it comes to MINIs) for info, help or understanding.

 

I have heard this happening only one time before. BMW tries to identify those MINIs that may cause trouble on the ship after departure. Back in May of 2003 there was an Electric Blue Cooper S that led an uprising halfway across the atlantic. A small but very persuasive group of MINIs tried to hijack the ship and redirect it to Key West. Communication was made to the ship's captain through the car's navigation system using a British accent. The captain was actually fooled into thinking that he was receiving new instructions from South Hampton. The plan was thwarted when for no apparent reason the accent changed to an American one and the captain became suspicious. The rebellion was over. It turns out that this rebel group was led by several MINIs heading to Minnesota and were unhappy about spending half the year on salt encrusted highways.

Your car was probably identified as a trouble maker and sent back for re-programming. You can confirm if this is what happened by checking for any tatoos on your MINI's body after arrival.

 

Hmm... My MCS was also completed on the 9th, but when I call ASK-MINI it tells me "Your vehicle is being transported to the port of exit". However, the Owner's Lounge switched my status to "Awaiting Transport" today and so I assume that my car is now at the Southampton docks waiting to get loaded onto a ship. How did you find out that your car was sent back to quality control?

As for quality control... I have read (but cannot confirm) that a certain number of all of the cars made are sent to a more rigorous quality control process (which can add up to 60 miles to the car) where the car is given a really good going over by MINI. If that's what has happened to your MINI, then you should definitly consider yourself lucky as you can be fairly certain that your car will be a good one. Our first 2005 MCS (September built) was a lemon and it had to be bought back by MINI. The one that I mentioned above is its replacement. I wish that other car would have been sent to the more rigorous quality control as maybe they would have caught the problems with the car before I got it and I wouldn't have had to go through that whole ordeal.

Also, another thought is that the January built cars have quite a number of new features on them (auto trans, LSD, etc.) and so maybe MINI is just being extra cautious with the first ones that roll off the assembly line.

Anyway, I'm sure that you'll get your car in due time and that it will be spectacular! If you're on the East coast, you should consider yourself lucky as at least your car doesn't have to make the looong voyage through the Panama Canal like mine does. You'll be enjoying your MINI while mine is still on the boat.


EDIT: Oops, I see that you are in California. Thus, you will be on the long boat from China too. More than likely, our cars will be loaded onto the same ship. This is the third MINI I've ordered and both of the others sat at the docs for at least 10 days before getting loaded onto a ship. So, I don't think that you'll miss the boat you're scheduled to be on.

 

Ok.... what you (future) MINI owners need to do at this stage, which is exactly what I did, is to never log into Owners Lounge until after you get the phonecall. You need to try and completely get the car out of your mind, go occupy yourself with something for a couple of weeks. Then all of a sudden out of the blue you will receive a phonecall, and because you had completely forgotten you'd be getting a car, you will feel this brief feeling of euphoria, as if you've found your long lost love (or equivalent), when the dealer calls. Good stuff.

 

I can't do it I have tried.

BTW OfficeMaven I ordered mine from a dealer on the east coast but mine has to take a train ride so yours will probably be here before mine.

 

Excuse me, I'll be right back, I think I laughed so hard I wet my pants!

 

When I spoke with an actual person at ASKMINI they said that changes do not appear in the Owners Lounge on line until after the action has actually taken place. So, any of the "in processes" will still show up as their previous real state. Don't worry, it will all work out in the end - uh at least that's what I keep telling myself!

 

BTW: JPIT Thanks for the explaination and for making me LMAO :smile: :smile: :smile: I could actually visualize it happening.

 

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