OK, I'm going to try to post some pix of my new Astro Black R56 - I've been calling it the Berlin Bulldog. I know BMW is in Munich, but whatever. My great grandfather supposedly owned the first horseless taxicab service in Berlin (and of course it sounds better than Munich Bulldog).

It is all black, with black lounge leather, wood dash (wood wheel when it becomes available), cream colorline (the cream trim on the seats matches perfectly), and it is so loaded with options, it is a lot easier to tell you what it doesn't have. It doesn't have sport suspension, because I trusted another poster that the ride was good and less harsh without it (I am pleased). It doesn't have navigation (because I prefer the classic look of the regular speedo, and I have a portible nav system I like). It also doesn't have blue tooth, sat radio and ipod connector, because those items were not availbale when I specked it. I may add one or more later. It has pretty much everything else.

It also has R99 17" wheels in pure silver, which I had to wait several additional weeks for, but I really like them a lot. I haven't seen these wheels on any other Mini yet, and I feel that they add quite a bit to the premium look of the car, in comparison to the old wheels I had to drive around on until these came. They go well with the chrome on black look I'm going for too. There wasn't anything wrong with those basic 16" ones, and they felt great too, but these respond better, and surprisingly don't seem to be any harsher at all, as far as the ride is concerned.

Anyone who has read any of my posts (that seemed to annoy the entire Mini community), knows how I feel about the performance and fun - it is fantastic.

I'm sharing some pics for the all black fans, and I think I'll include one of my wheels/tires, and one of the German Auto Club grill badge (only only bit of personalization, that distiguishes it as the Berlin Bulldog).

- R

 

Those two additional pix.

- R

 

That, my friend, is one nice looking ride. Well done inside and out.

Cheers.

 

the wheels look great

 

Mabey the best interior I've seen!I like mine but I want yours to.

 

haha congrats!!!

 

Very, very nice... more pics of the interior please!

 

Lovely car - I contemplated the same wheels but got cheap and kept the no-additonal cost 17" wheels of the sportspackage - maybe I shouln't have ...

What is your verdict on the English Oak - I am not sure if I like it without the wooden steering wheel (got it, too)

 

Love your car very nice! I'm still thinking about what color i'm going to get, laser blue or astro black.. hmmmm

 

Your car looks great, awesome interior too. Where did you get the grill badge?

 

Don't see many black Coopers. Nice.

 

Thanks. I like the oak a lot. It is good looking quality real wood. Looks better than the wood on my Cadillac, really. You get the oak dash, and the oak door pieces. In both spots, set off against the cream colorline, it looks very good. And then with the same cream piping on the lounge leather, it really looks well put together, I think. My MA told me it is the best looking combo he has seen... but what is he supposed to tell me.

The wheel looks fine with it. Matches fine. I'm looking forward to the wood wheel and ***** though, at some point.

- R

 

Thanks. I got the badge on ebay. There is a guy with an ebay store specializing in auto badges (I think I searched under "auto badges.") Here is a link to a cool British auto club badge the guy has on right now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JAGUA...92761418QQrdZ1 There should be a link on there somewhere to his store too, for the others, including the German Auto Club Badge I have.

I'd better add this. The grill badge isn't easy to get on. You need to pop some black plastic rivet things to get behind the black plastic front grill, and I needed to get shorter screws than it came with, to get it on.

- R

 

The Berlin Bulldog is one nice looking car!! The wheels really set it off.
Happy Motoring!!!



06MCS/DS/B/Bbonnetstripes/Whelen8ballshiftmachine

 

I noticed this Monte Carlo grill badge as well. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSC...QQcmdZViewItem

- R

 

...I'm not very good with pictures.

I will tell you this though, for what it's worth, there is something about the cream colorline that works with the black everywhere, and the wood. Great with the cream piping on the beautiful lounge leather seats. The speedo is a very complementary off white/cream as well. The anthracite headliner I would say is a must with all black interior too.

The one thing I could see being trouble is keeping the light colored bits clean. We'll see.

When I get the wood wheel and ***** (hopefully that will happen, though I haven't heard it confirmed), I will post pix for sure.

- R

 

I will say this, if you haven't seen it already... the Astro black has subtle blue flecks in the paint that show in the sun. I wasn't sure what I thought of it at first, because I expected pretty regular black, but it is kind of nice looking. The thing about it is though, the blue flecks only show when it is squeaky clean. Just a day's worth of dirt/dust on it and the reflective quality is gone (which is fine too). Then it's just black, and you wouldn't think twice about it, which is what I probably like best, most of the time.

- R

 

The Berlin Bulldog is Beautiful! I love the interior!!! Great specs!

BTW, my 2003 MCS is "just" Jet Black....GORGEOUS, too!

 

Bra-vo...

The color looks swell indeed!

If you don't mind here (or via IM or email to iDriveguy@comcast.net) could
post aditional pix in the sunlight?

My MC Astro Black is to be delivered around 4/10 - Yours is the first I've
actually seen of the color and I'm having (very slight) reservations now...

Of course I'll still take the car but would you say it leans more towards
dark hues of blue or black? (I'm hoping after seeing your pix it's more
toward the 'blue"). Ironically I ordered (Astro) thinking it would be closer to one if my E60's called "Sapphire" which is a destinct metallic black. However from your pix it appears using the word "black" may not be an acurate adjective...

Your expertise is greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

 

To me, Astro Black is a very deep, midnight blue-black. It's lovely. Looks black, but in certain light, when it sparkles, you can see that it is the darkest of blues.

 

W84R56,

Very nice choices. The enterior is just beautiful. More pics would be great and include the headliner as I have not seen the anthrocite yet. I have the exact same enterior coming in mine combined with sparkling silver and a white roof. I passed on the wood wheel because I thought it might be too much. Had I known they would build the car with the leather wheel and give me the option of trading out later, I would have spec'd the wood.

Great looking car. Congrats.

Happy Motoring!

 

Looks great!

 

It is definately a metallic "black," but with blue highlights. I don't know how else to describe it, and it would not be right at all to call it "blue." All I can add is that it takes a squeeky clean car, the right light, and to be looking for the the blue hue of the metallic black paint. My car was just washed, and the sunlight was very bright in those pictures. I just asked my wife, and she said she hasn't noticed it has any blue to it. In a pretty dark garage just now it was impossible to catch an angle revealing the blue tint. Black is without question the color I wanted, and I am good with it. I go with the blue accent illumination inside to sort of go with it, I guess.

- R

* As far as pix, the one I took of the wheel shows more blue than you'll probably ever see in another picture I could take. I pretty much just put finished wiping it down, and the sun was brightly shining right on that corner of the car.

 

Thanks. Yours was the inspiration - the first black R56 I saw. You helped me make a good choice with the suspension too. It's perfect for my daily driver.

Did you ever get the chrome mirror caps?

- R

 

Thanks for the links, I'll be picking one of these badges up (not sure yet which one) and I'm also getting one of the badge holders from MINI and will get several from toddsmods for general rotation.