After 25 days of cheking the Owners Lounge and seeing the same old "On Order" message... tonight I was showing my dad the MINIUSA site and discovered that I've been issued a VIN# and my car is now "Scheduled for Production"!

I believe I can now officially say I will be getting a Week 5 R56.

Anyone else out there in week 5?

 

That isn't even the worst part... just wait until it's finished and perpetually in the 'awaiting transport' state. Like mine... finished on 1/17.

 

I'm still waiting for a production number. I guess week 10 builds (SatNav and automatic tranny) still haven't got them yet. But boy is this wait frustrating.


At least yours will get here after launch. Shouldn't be delayed like the folks who have to see it's sitting at the VDC for weeks. That would drive me nuts, although I do get why it's necessary.

 

Mine went from the factory to the dock, loaded and departed, all in the same day. I don't know if its rare, but it can happen.

 

Looks like we'll have brothers. I got the "sceduled for production" two days ago w/VIN. I was told by my mini advisor that I would take it home the end of march or early april. Dark silver, Black top and mirrors, web spokes...and a bunch of extra goodies. I'm obsessed reading here and on mini2 about the R56. The next couple of months are going to be brutal.

 

Same... just got my VIN ("scheduled for production").

Glad to be back with my MINI folk after my one year hiatus!

Looking forward to another stripped Red/White Cooper S:

LSD
Leather multifunction wheel
Sport Suspension

-Kelly

 

What made you buy then sell and then buy and sell again and leave for a year? :P

 

Went to the 05 for LSD and better power compared to the 02.

06- Ran a 1994 supercharged Miata to win the Rocky Mtn region SM2 (autocross) and take a little break from "front wheel drive".

07- Redesign shows promise?

So I guess it is all racing related

 

Per the 1-866-ASK-MINI automated service my MINI is (cue automated voice): "IN PRODUCTION" ...and... "YOUR ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE IS... JANUARY 31st".

 

Just called:
DITTO

 

Same here Jan 31st...hey thanks for that number...thats pretty cool! So when did your dealers say you would be driving your ride? Mine said end of March early April. So two months for it to get here huh? I guess thats about right.

 

Same: Late March or early April!

Figure 2-3 weeks to get from MINI factory to the shipping port and loaded up. 2 weeks to cross the Atlantic. Then 2-4 weeks to unload, clear custums and make it's way across the US to Seattle (Portland and Denver, too ).

You've probably seen this posts... but I figured they would be good links to review for the expectant week 5 owners:

(The following was copied from member jeffherbst's post on "How to track your MINI"... probably one of the most useful posts on NAM)

Hi, I have been through the process of ordering and tracking my Mini now for about a month and a half. Through this I have gathered from your many posts the steps to track your mini. They are scattered about so I thought I would put them all together so future readers can track theirs easier.

1. Production #: you have to have this to start. I got mine the day I ordered from my dealer, walked out of the showroom with it. Some have reported waiting up to a week or more for theirs, I believe that this is a matter of dealer allocation. If you order when a dealer still has allocation on a production run, you get your number, if not you have to wait until that dealer gets another allocation.

2. Owners Lounge: Once you have your production number you can goto www.miniusa.com and sign-in to the owners lounge. The 1st few days the info may be wrong (color etc) but it will correct itself soon enough. This is really the slowest to update of the various tracking options. Anyway this is also 1 or 2 ways to get your VIN. Once the Owners Lounge (OL from here on) has your correct car, goto the Where's my baby? page. You need to see the HTML code here, so if you have MS Internet Explorer right click anywhere on the page and select 'View Source', for Firefox use the view menu and select 'Page Source'. There will be 2 lines way down the page with your VIN along with all your order options as well as your dealer’s name. Wright this down somewhere!

3. 866-ASK-MINI: This is really the best info for the early stages, production to being loaded on the ship. Call often, sometimes you will get confliction info, just call back until you get the same answer several times. Talk to a person, the automated system is not much netter than the OL. They can tell you things like when it's in the paint shop etc. Once they tell you it has finished production and is waiting for transport, you can move on.

4. Transport: This is where the Wallenius Wihlmsen site (WW) comes in,
http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppTracking/cargoTrack.do , Go here and click on 'Auto Cargo'. Put your VIN in the 'Cargo ID' box. If nothing shows up wait a few hours and try again. Mine took 24 hours from when they said it had left the factory. Once it shows up, you will know the ship, booking and voyage numbers. The voyage details will tell you when and where this ship is going. The bill of lading number will let you see which VIN's are on the ship with you. you may have to scroll down many pages to find yours.

5. Ship tracking: Now you need the www.sailwx.info site Use the 'Find ship by name or call sign' under the Ship Tracker menu. Once you find your ship you can track it across the Atlantic. If the ship is too close to land it will not show up. It seems that they don't report to this site unless they are out to sea. You can always go back to the WW site and check the voyage details to see if it has left a port. Once it gets close to the good 'ol USA you need to switch to http://aisfree.aislive.com , you will need to do a free registration. This is really a paid site but you can usually get enough info from the free version. They have a really details view of the NYC ports, with lists of every ship updated every hour. Once it leaves NYC the info is less detailed and you have to hope to check it at the right time to see your ship listed.

 

Someone with a VIN three digits off from mine is on the Asian Emperor, and it comes up on the WW site. (I have my ways of finding valid VINs )

However mine's not coming up on the WW site, so I conclude mine's not on a WW ship. Likely it's on a K-Line ship, and given the date my MA said it's theoretically supposed to be in Charleston (2/3), I conclude mine would be either on the Golden Fan or the Frisia. Since the K-Line site shows the Golden Fan not docking in Southampton, I conclude it's the Frisia most likely. That's 4 days later than my MA said, so it' possible it's on another ship, b ut the Charleston port website doesn't have any other vehicle carrier arrivals around that time.

Now, there's a possibility that it could be on the Miraculous Ace, a Norton Lilly ship, as that's due at the same time (2/7), but Norton Lilly doesn't list Southampton in their port directory, so that seems unlikely.

But -- anyone who's MINI was on the Courage, I see it's currently docked in Charleston as of 7:35AM EST. (http://www.scspa.com/vessel_schedule.asp)

 

So to think... a week or so ago, my MINI was getting the body stamped out at Swindon Pressings...



The engine was being manufactured at Hams Hall:



...and sometime over the last few days the two have come together at the Oxford plant:



Notice the cars at the Oxford plant waiting to be loaded onto the train? Granted, these shots are probably a year old... but still interesting. If I can find what port the week 5 cars leave on, I will post pics of those, too.

 

Question Withdrawn

 

msh441: Thanks for the detailed info on ship tracking. My Pepper White/Black R56 is En Route and according to my MA, it should be in the US on 2/1. After that I just have to wait for Mini to release it to my dealer on (or before) 2/17. So, depending on when exactly Mini releases the car, I could be driving it on the 17th or 25th - can't wait.

 

...lucky.



I just called and was informed mine's in the paint shop. Still estimating a completion date of the 31st.

I was curious where the first R56 cars in the US would be going, so I've created a frappr map for all January production cars. Add yourself if you get the chance:

http://www.frappr.com/?a=constellati...id=68719833458

 

As of today (02/01/07) mine has finished production and is awaiting transport to the shipping facility.

From this point I'm being told it's about a 5-6 week journey for east coast MINI's and about a 7-8 week trip for me here on the left coast.

I'm told mine will be unloaded at Port Huemme (sp?), along with all the other west coast cars, then shipped via covered transport to Seattle. I know the first stop on the east coast is in New Jersey... but doest anyone know the specific port? Or any other ports where the cars will unload on the east coast?

 

Quick question! I just got my VIN# number. Now do i do anything with that? I already have an account in the owners lounge from my production number. But do i need to change anything or is it just showing you that its actually being built!

 

That VIN # pretty much useless I think till your Mini is En Route. Then you can enter it on the following website and find out what ship your Mini is on:

http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppTrac...trackType=Auto

Once you have the ship name, you can go to the following website to track it:

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shiplocations.phtml

BTW, what type of steering wheel are you getting. It appears that the Sports Leather Steering Wheel w/Multifunction component has got messed up for lots of orders which are being shipped without the multifunction - which means no cruise and no radio controls on the wheel - which SUCKS!!!

 

Wasn't this pretty much covered a few posts back?

OK THREAD HIJACKER!!! (just poking fun rsb . It's actually pretty relevant.) At least give out complete and accurate info! This is only an issue if you ordered it as a stand-alone addition... if you got as part of the Premium Pack, your fine. See this thread for more info:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=90688

 

Thanks for the websites RSB! I actually got the regular wheel so i dont think there would be a problem with mine! (fingers crossed!) Fewf, but i have been reading about how they're slipping on the reg wheels instead of the multi function! (sorry to the people who have/had that problem). This is my first car EVER so i had a budget and i put in the sports pack, cold pack, rear fog lights (to have a full set of switches) and the COMFORT ACCESS SYSTEM! [my favorite new feature of the mini ] so i was going to get a cooper with even more acc. like digital ac, sunroof and ect. but once i test drove the cooper s, wow i was blown away, that extra HP was just what i needed!

 

Won't be long now... my MINI will be loaded on a train and brought down to Southampton, UK:



Once there, it'll get loaded onto a ship to start it's voyage (those ARE MINI's in this pic... the long row of 5 just above and to the right of the ship):



Granted, there's a lot of shadow that day as the sun is low on the horizon. But the size and sunroof is pretty distinct on the MINI:



Cool, huh?

 

My Vin shows up on two ships:

Don Juan with a Bill of Lading
Freedom without a Bill of Lading

So I should assume on the Don Juan?

 

Maybe they're sending you the car in kit form? Engine on one ship and the body on another. You did want it ASAP. Right? A little do-it-yourself project.