Happy 2nd Birthday MINIUSA

Sections: Uncategorized Mar 22nd, 2004 10 Comments

It's hard to believe but it's already been two years. I remember very clearly the anticipation that day two years ago was almost unbearable. Waiting to just see the car for two years would do that to you. For those that weren't there here's a little taste of the overall atmosphere at that time.

During those days there was only MINI2 and the often maligned Roadfly in the way of dedicated MINI forums. Of the two Roadfly had by far the most US traffic and thus was the place to really see the crazed anticipation that so many of us had.

First came the reports that there were MINIs at the VPC in late February – pictures followed. Then there were reports of MINIs in San Francisco for a huge press event – pictures followed. Then finally there was word that the cars would reach some dealers on the 22nd and 23rd of March – a Friday and Saturday.

As luck would have it my wife had taken that Friday off because we were travelling that weekend. So around 10am we made out way to what was at the time the brand new gleaming building with no MINI signage whatsoever that was soon to become Knauz MINI. We were greeted by a BMW turned MINI salesmen (and now good friend) David Olenick who was happy to talk MINIs and get us out for a couple test drive. To my knowledge we were the 2nd people in both the MC and the MCS demo they had on the lot (they only had 4-5 cars if I remember right.

In fact here's an excerpt from my review on Roadfly that very day two years ago:

“First off the Cooper is a fine car. Almost fine enough to forget about the MCS altogether. Especially considering I could probably get one next week. However with the MCS I'll be waiting until May/June (as I found out today). The Cooper's main weakness in my mind is the 45-70 acceleration. You must be “involved” with the tranny to get to 70 quickly. But that's part of the fun as well. The Cooper I drove had the 16s and was definitely more harsh that my 325ci with 17s. But keep in mind it wasn't rough. It also didn't have the sport seats. I had to hang onto the wheel while cornering! I think everyone getting a Cooper should seriously considering getting the sports seats.

The MCS was very nice. However it didn't “feel” as quick as I had expected. Because of the smoothness of the power it felt a bit laid back where I would have expected otherwise. The steering in both cars put my 325ci to shame. When I got back into it after the drives for the first time the steering felt very isolated and numb. I was shocked as I didn't realize that much difference when I was driving the MC and the MCS.

The car is small but it's so good looking. It's such a strange thing for such a small car to have so much presence.

Again I have to stress there was a lot less difference between the Cooper and the S than I had imagined. I think many people will go for the Cooper after they drive it. That being said we put our money down and assuming all goes as planned, will have one by late spring. But I can't stress enough the difference between the two is a lot less than the 50hp would suggest and the Cooper is much more compelling after the test drives.”

Despite having earned a huge amount of respect for the standard Cooper we left with a deposit made and a spot reserved for a Cooper S. Of course that night things changed drastically. We were involved in a fairly serious head-on collesion in my wife's tank like '89 Volvo 760. Granted serious for a Volvo like that is fairly ho-hum but it was still a 40mph (both cars were going 40mph) head-on crash. I'll save the details but needless to say it was the fault of the other driver.

After the initial shock of what had happened it became pretty clear that we were going to need something quick – not in three months. So by the following Monday we were back at the dealer picking out a pre-spec Cooper which just happen to have about every conceivable option we could have ever wanted. We were quite lucky as it turned out!

Two years later we've got the same Cooper with no desire to trade it in anytime soon.

Happy birthday MINIUSA – MotoringFile wishes you many more!

Do you have memories of the US introduction of the new MINI? If so feel free to share them in the comments section of this article

Written By: MF Staff

http://www.gbmini.net Ian Cull

Gabe, Great story … I missed out on all the initial activity since I knew nothing of the new MINI until May 12, when someone in the Lexus dealership (where my RX-300 was being serviced) picked up on the accent and asked if we knew about the new English MINIs.

We drove straight over the the dealership (very close) and the first thing we saw was a red MINI, white roof with Union Jack, and a chrome “GB” logo on the rear – we told the sales guy that must be our car. Turned out it belonged to Gavin & Jane (who we met again many months later).

Could not wait 9 months, so bought a Cooper pre-spec'ed; nearly chose to keep it but then switched to the ordered Cooper S, did the mods, created the web page, etc.

My MCO/NAM membership says “since May 2002″ and my MINI2 membership says “joined June 2002″ and I have had almost a second childhood with the car and the friends.
http://hmms.org Faith

Down here in Houston, TX, my husband and I heard very little buzz about the MINI, and what we did hear was only b/c we're BMW fans. Well, one day in the summer of 2002, we drove past a VW dealership that had an EB/W MCS and a LY Cooper w/ the “BMW” package. MINI didn't have permission to sell in Texas yet, so this dealership bought these 2 at the MINI dealership in Baton Rouge, LA. The VW place had them priced at about $10K over MSRP. We loved the MCS, but waited for the dealership to open in Houston. One day in January of 2003, we were listening to Car Talk and they had a caller on that was talking about his all black MCS he just ordered. That day we went and test drove a MINI at the now open Houston dealership. After waiting a couple of days for a MINI to come in w/ the new HK option to compare the sound system, we ordered our DS/W MCS w/ HK, sport and premium packages.

After nearly 1 year of ownership (22k+ miles) and 2 dealerships now in the Houston area, we see at least 1-2 MINIs everyday in town. I love it! :D
Steve

I knew I wanted a Cooper when I first saw the magazine photos in late 2001. I was going to wait until the 2003 model year, until a friend hooked me up with a Sunday morning test drive in an MCS in mid April 2002 (still my first and only drive in an MCS). I went to the MINI dealer 2 weeks later, and after an agonizing 3 1/2 month wait I took delivery of my car mid-August. Still glad I ddn't wait.
http://users.adelphia.net/~rocketboy/index.html Rocketboy

Quick version of my story… I knew that my car at the time was starting to turn into a money pit, so I started to surf the web to look for something new. I was using the big page of auto mfgs on Yahoo, clicking on all the majors (GM, Toyota, Mitsu…) as I was looking for ideas on what to buy with my wife. As a joke, I clicked on Mini, because I've always loved them , much to my wife's dismay. As I didn't read car magazines unless I was in waiting rooms, I had no idea that Mini had been remade, was was coming to the states. Needless to say, that pretty much stopped my search for a new car…
http://chicagominiclub.com Victoria

Heh. I went to London in March of '02 and we saw MINIs (as well as Minis) everywhere; we even got footage of a few on video. By the time we got back I was well and truly obsessed, but being laid off doesn't make for a good car-buying situation. As soon as I got a job offer (with a brutally long commute thrown in), we went into the dealership and placed the order. There was no way it could be otherwise.
http://harvid.blogspot.com miniharryc

It was love at first drive for me; like many folks, the MINI was just a curiosity for me at first. I was loving the power and Teutonic smoothness of my yuppie-mobile (an '01 Jetta Wolfsburg 1.8T), but on a lark, I happened to be in a city with a MINI dealership and so I took a drive in Cooper.

Total revelation for me: Instant handling, great steering, nimble, sharp. Didn't put the deposit down that day, but the memory of the drive haunted me. As my Jetta begain to self-destruct (standard Mk.IV VW problems), I knew there was only 1 car for me: A BRG Cooper w/7-holes and that awesome sunroof.
R

In early 2003 I was getting something for my wife's BMW at the local dealer and noticed a small temp sign for their new Mini dealership. Walked over sat in the car and that was that. Sold the 4Runner, I never thought I would ever NOT have an SUV, 6 months later flew to Florida and drove my used 2002 MCS home to SoCal……………..R
andy

My fiance and i had a jeep wrangler and 5-series. we had fallen in love with BMWs, and decided we never wanted to own anything else. it was time to get rid of the jeep, and we came across the MINI and fell inlove. Went to the nearest dealership and the had three cars we wanted. Went back next day to get one, they had one left. 2002 Mini Cooper black with black top. Love that car more than anything. I drive the BMW, but on the days I get to drive the MINI, i spend my hour and half commute each way with the biggest smile on my face. Now we are waiting for the convertible, we are going to become a MINI only family.
Vanwall
I posted previously regading the first day I saw 'em, and from then on until May, I watched the various web sites and haunted the dealers until I finally made a deal on a pre-spec Cooper that had pretty much everything I wanted. I literally drove to every dealer in the LA area, looking for the right MINI, even had a deal set up at a dealer who will remain nameless, who attempted to screw me on the trade-in, a deal breaker. I made sure I was on a lot of lists, but the real break was hanging around Long beach MINI as much as possible – my wife still thinks they sold us a pre-spec with no mark-up or add-ons just to get rid of us! ;-)
```
     BCNU,
   Rob in Dago
```
Jonathan “MINI” Miller

I suppose I was beginning to follow MINI rumblings during the summer of 2001. I joined and made my first post to MINI2 in August of 2001. I made early contact with MINI of Sterling (VA) before there was even a building in place. I think the first time I called I got the owner (not sure where he was when he picked up the phone) It took me some time to decide that putting down $500 to get on the wait list for an S was a good thing for me to do. Then 9/11 happened. I felt some guilt at the end of September when I found myself still thinking of the MINI and decided that life must go on and I wrote the check. I had made top 10! Number 9 on the list.

My wife and I were leaving for visit my sister in Arizona on Saturday March 23, 2002. I had visited the dealer most every weekend since they had opened and we went by on Friday night. Crystal (the sales manager) allowed us to peek under the wraps of a MINI that would be displayed in all it's glory the following day. I also made my appointment to test drive an S on the day after we returned from AZ. I took an additional day off from work to do so. I'm sure I am not the only one to have visited my dealer every weekend and some weeknights. When I would show up they would generally just hand me the keys to an S without words passing.

I passed up the opportunity to have a pre-spec and instead decided that if I had waited this long then I might as well wait to order it just as I wanted it. I have no regrets for doing that other than I missed the very FIRST MINI run in the DC area.

On Friday July 12, 2002 I took delivery of The Beast – A DS/BL S. Today it has over 29k trouble free miles and I still smile EVERY time I get behind the wheel.

Keep motoring folks!!!

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