Sorry if I ramble but I need some help.

When I first saw the new clubman I fell in love with it. I love the looks and functionality of the extra room. Yesterday, I talked/begged my wife into going to the mini store here in Orlando to check out the car. I had no intentions of buying a car yesterday - I wanted to check out some of the colors (specifically Hot Chocolate and Pepper White). While I was at the store, the salesman told me that he had a loaded Hot Chocolate S. So I test drove it and wow what a great car. It had everything I wanted on it, plus a few things that weren't important but were nice. My wife saw the look in my eyes and knew what was going to happen. I told the salesman I would talk with him on Monday and went home. The grin on my face couldn't get wiped off.

Well, here is the problem - I get home and my wife goes to the Mini website and builds a Clubman and says to me that the Hot Chocolate S looked ugly. She wasn't a fan of a brown car. She then builds a Pepper White Clubman and a Dark Grey Clubman and said she would rather see me in either of those. Here's my problem - should I get what I want? Or should I get something that's close but not my favorite. I'm not sure if I'm making a decision because it is instant gratification (the Hot Chocolate S on site). I really like both the Hot Chocolate and Pepper White Clubman. I could see myself driving either car. So should I get this one (my wife wouldn't be happy) or build my own with a color that my wife finds appealing?

Help....

 

If Mama ain't happy, no one's happy. That's one way of looking at it. On the other hand, it is your car, right? Also, keep in mind that if you order one, it'll be four months before you get to drive it. If you buy one on the lot, you get it now.

So, I don't know what your wife is like, but don't jeopardize your marriage over it. I've been through this already. I abandoned an order for a Chili Red in favor of a Hot Chocolate to make my wife happy. Choose your battles wisely. Good luck!

 

find what you want at a local dealer and tell her you can't wait.

 

Did you pick out the color of her car? Put on your big girl panties & get what you want.

If she really hates the hot chocolate, maybe she won't want to drive it.
Win win deal.

 

Well, dark silver wouldn't be too bad......

 

The man is right.....'happy wife, happy life'.

 

The hot chocolate will grow on her.....

but then again... it will be one of the more popular colors..... so you will see it alot..

I wonder if they have published any color percentages yet??


I have a Pepper White and I think it's a great color for the car... very subdued....

 

The Hot Choc's at the lot, right?

Swing her by and let her see it in person. The configurator's notoriously terrible for show what the paint looks like. Maybe she'll see it with her own eyes and fall in love with the color.

 

Relax, take a deep breath, and think about which color you would be happier with over the life of ownership. That instant gratification thing is very tempting (and if you really like that one, then go for it) but in the end, IMO, you should buy the one that pleases you most longterm. I just spoke with an Orlando MA over the weekend and was told Clubman orders are currently running 2-2 1/2 months out. Ours is finally due in this week (after waiting about 5 wks. from order to delivery). Painful as the waiting is, in hindsight it's a very small part of the big picture when it comes to being satisfied. Go for the one you like best/want most!

Good Luck with your decision! (Maybe we'll spot each other on the streets of Orlando and wave once we both have our Clubmans!)

(P.S. Sounds like Pepper White is on both of your lists - Win/Win!)

 

Yeah. It came in last week. Was pulled off the floor for some special event and was at their BMW store. The thing was so sweet, but most of your guys already know the drive and feel of the Clubman.

She was there with me when I test drove it. I wanted her to go with us but she decided to stay back.

She actually asked me this morning "why I wanted to get a MINI?" It was like, what really draws you to a MINI? I love her but she doesn't understand.

She did show me a dark silver/black top clubman.

 

Heh - I know the feeling. I don't know if its a gender gap thing or a personality thing, or maybe both, but there are a lot of things my wife doesn't "get". The importance of surround sound, the difference a few minutes preparation and good lighting can make in photography, the awesomeness of Battlestar Galactica, etc.

When it comes to cars, all she cares about is how it looks. Driving feel, agility, even the ease of keeping one color clean over another, they just don't compute with her. Thankfully she lets me pick the colors I want (though she did put her foot down with the R53, which I almost ordered in Space Blue/Silver, and which she said made it look like a Cowboys (the football team) car)...my big compromise is the auto tranny. I'd LOVE to get the 6-speed manual, but she doesn't want to invest the effort to become proficient with the stick, and would probably kill me if I "forgot" to check the automatic on the order form.

 

So she didn't actually test drive it? Try to get her to test drive one herself. But not the Clubman... have her drive a regular MINI to get that real "go-kart" feel. Make sure she pushes it through the curves. Then, maybe, she'll understand. If not... then there's no hope.

BTW, what does she drive?

 

Take heart. 5 years ago I put a deposit down on an MCS sight unseen/wife unseen. I lost that battle and returned the deposit and have been happily driving a stickshift VW Passat wagon for the last 5 yrs.

FF 5yrs and it's car shopping time - for once I'm being sensible about the car buying and am happy to downsize for the sake of the family budget. I've lined up a shortlist of budget minded cars including the Mazda 3 and 5, Scion Xb, GTI 4 door, Audi A3 (used) and the Clubman. We only had to do 1 test drive and that was at the Mini dealership. We didn't even get to drive an S because there weren't any automatics in stock. She loved the Clubman and now I get to spec it the way I want it.

Good luck w/yours and yours ;-)

 

LOL.. gender gap goes both ways. My husband doesn't get the MINI thing either.. heheh

 

Very true. My mom gets it (and has a pretty nice MCSC), but my brother doesn't. Then again he's only ever ridden in one, never driven.

Curiously enough, it's friends from my offroading days that show the most enthusiasm for the wee beastie.

 

Here Here

My wife thought I lost my mind when I told her I wanted a Mini. Now that she's driven it a few times she likes it allot more. Can't argue the fuel angle I used to purchase it either. We traded one of 2 trucks in.

 

I'm lucky. My wife and I are both in love with them, though she claims I'm way more obsessed than she is.

 

When we car shop, I test drive her cars. I'm a car person and she drives them because she has to. Don't get me wrong she loves cars and has an eye for them. She just hates, loathes Hot Chocolate. She would rather I get the Pepper White - which I said isn't a bad choice (it's my number two choice), but I saw myself driving a Hot Chocolate.

Her ride - a 2005 Honda Odyssey.

 

It's not a gender thing - it's a car thing. Some people, not I, see them as transportation. Nothing else. Me - it's apart of me.

 

Yup... that explains it

 

We have a dog and that's what hauls us around. Family.

Funny story, for awhile she wouldn't talk about me getting a MINI then one day she was at the local Petsmart and saw a woman with a Great Dane in the back of a MINI. She was silly enough to tell me the story, because that was a stumbling block - she said I couldn't haul our dog around.

 

My wife and I have four dogs - a yellow lab, shepherd/greyhound mix, and two miniature dachshunds - and have hauled all four of them in my R53 numerous times. With the rear seats dropped, there's plenty of room in the back.

 

We're planning on getting one or two Goldendoodles. Those should fit quite well in the Clubman.

 

Since we're on the subject of dogs, we already have 3 small dogs and plan to haul the "whole family" around pretty comfortably; can even fit a decent size crate in there, if needed. Thought about a minivan, but my husband said no way!

As for the gendar gap, we feel pretty fortunate; though I'm definitely the "car nut" in the family, after a long search, we both fell in love with the Clubman immdiately and tease each other constantly about "whose MINI obsession" is worse! Like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", this one's juuuuust right!

 

Well, thanks everyone for their input. And I love the talk about the puppies. I love dogs. Mine will go for a ride in my Clubman once I build it.

As for the Hot Chocolate one, it was painful but I called Downtown Mini up today and told the salesman that I needed to wait and build my own vehicle. In order to keep peace in the house I am not going to get a Hot Chocolate Clubman. :(

But let me ask one more question, there are two color schemes that my wife and I liked - one being the pepper white/black top, but what do you all think of a dark silver/black top with black stripe on the bonnet and rear end and the silver stripe on the roof? How do you think that would look. Online it looks pretty interesting, but I'm not sure if the silver roof stripe is too much.