A story of how I ordered my MINI.

I ordered my MINI back on October 7, 2006 at Flow Motors in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I had been looking at MINI's for several months. I had called Flow back in the Spring and talked to John Sadler on the phone about the car and he spent some time talking to me about the car. The next weekend he took considerable time allowing me and the wife to try three cars out on the road. A MINI, MINI "S" hardtop and a convertible. They had a 5 speed, six speed, and even a manual paddle shifter on the steering wheel. I requested that one to try it as I wanted to compare. We had a blast with the cars so I went home and starting researching the car. What I found was amazing. Here is an English-styled and built car manufactured in England by BMW with parts sourced from all over the world. The car is still getting rave reviews from Consumer reports with extremely high comments on the late model cars being very reliable and having high marks from owners about "would you buy this car again" OK I have to admit. I have been driving a Mercedes Benz for many years now and cut my teeth driving Volkswagen pocket-rockets and diesels. With the Mercedes brand I am used to buying used cars and driving them for a while and sometimes even making money on them. So guess what I find out? The MINI, according to many sources has THE highest re-sale of any hatchback or convertible car currently on the market? http://www.kbb.com/kbb/Advice/GenericContent.aspx?ContentUniqueName=KbbWebContent:913 WOW. This car is calling my name!
The next thing I find out is how the MINI S is supercharged and how that feature will be going away and the car is going to be changed slightly for 2007. Details are starting to leak out but my research tells me the car will be turbo-charged and a couple of inches larger. The engine is a new design, on and on. The gas mileage will be somewhat better and the horsepower is going up. Well now I have to make a call on which one to get! After weeks of crunching numbers and all the facts I could get on the new car I decide to get the 2006 model. I really love to hear that supercharger whine. John had loaned me a convertible MINI on Labor Day weekend and I fell in love with it. I had driven the BMW Z4, the Porsche Boxter, the new Pontiac Solstice, The Audi A3, the Audi TT, the Mazda Miata-with the new automatic hardtop, the 2007 Volkswagen GTI...now there was a close call mind you - that car freakin' rocks, on and on - I just came back to the MINI. It is that good. Oh yeah if you are in my area and want some nice people go see the Flow Volkswagen people in Greensboro. They were super-nice to me and I almost bought another car from them. As were all the other dealers-including a guy by the name of Stephen Lane at Hendrick MINI in Charlotte. We talked on the phone and he knows his stuff. Yes I compared notes at the MINI dealers too...that's just how I am.
So there you have it, the order is in and now on to waiting for it to be built. John sends the order to England and now it is a waiting game.
The cool thing about this car is you can really customize it to your wants and needs. I ordered all the packages. That means you get cool stuff like rain-sensing wipers, integrated garage door opener, self-dimming rear view mirror, Xenon headlamps, dual sunroofs, bonnet stripes, headlamp washers, heated seats, run-flat tires, Star Trek computer, just kidding, and on and on. Trust me, the DST which is a feature that makes the car handle like you are an F1 star is high on my list. You can throw this car into a curve at high speed and not even hear the tires squeal. Unreal.
Well anyway after all those tangents back to the ordering process. I ordered my car on October 7th and it was immediately put into priority One status which means the car is sold - go to the head of the production line. It was scheduled for Week 43 production which is late October. And they hit the mark well. Just as I depart for Key West the MINI web site told me I am in production and my guy in sales, John Sadler then tells me my car is at the dock waiting on a ship to carry it across the pond. WOW they are working fast. My car gets on the "Emden" and heads this way with the destination - the port of Charleston, South Carolina. I used some of the tracking tools on the North American Motoring site - forum http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/ to help me track the GPS coordinates of the ship as it came across the Atlantic. Now that was cool. You can even watch these cars on a web cam in the English Channel or Panama Canal if they are headed to the west coast. I used a tool on the port of Charleston site to show when my ship docked and the exact day it off-loaded the cargo. A shipload of MINIs! Now on to the BMW receiving center in South Carolina! Soon I will have my car!