2015 MINI John Cooper Works: First Drive Live On Periscope
One of our local dealers just received a 2015 John Cooper Works and we are about to take it for a spin. Starting at 5:45pm EST, you’ll be able to watch our test-drive live on Periscope here: [https://t.co/mX71VfNMyg](https://t.co/mX71VfNMyg). Apologies in advance for the setup, but this the best we can do for now. We’ll share our impressions on another post later this evening.
<p>I watched, thought Alex did a nice job with the hidden camera. Sort of reminded me of James May testing a Rover back in the day hidden camera style on Top Gear.</p>
<p>The MA was pretty typical of car salesmen. He seemed nice enough, but he wasn’t up to date on the colors or several other details. We know more about the cars than 95% of the sales staff at a car dealer knows. Of course not only that….so I immediately went to the web to see if any dealers near me had a JCW yet. Three dealers in Michigan, no JCW’s, so I look to see what they do have. They have every single F56 S labeled at an Automatic on the site, are they all auto’s no. So I’m not even sure anyone at the dealer knows what they have. Disappointing for a brand built on the enthusiasm of the buyers.</p>
<p>Thank Kevin! I probably mentioned this in the past, but we are definitely not typical MINI buyers. Most of the time, we will know more than Motoring Advisors, and that’s fine. For most people, their knowledge is sufficient.</p>
<p>I will probably not write a review of my experience as the test-drive was not conclusive. The traffic did not allow for the car to show its strength. MotoringFile will do a full review after the press even in the May-June timeframe.</p>
<p>However I want to praise MINI of Boston. I’m not sure if this is MINI USA’s doing or Herb Chambers’s, but the MA was not pushy at all. It’s my second test-drive in a week where the salesman is not trying to absolutely sell me something. This approach lifts anxiety from the buying process and I’m sure a lot of people will appreciate it. The economic climate is probably another contributing factor. Sales of car have been great lately, which may explain why car salesmen are not pushing people into buying something right after their test-drive. Food for thought.</p>
<p>That’s a good point, most of us are probably the people other people come to for advice on car buying. But shouldn’t the sales people be as versed as we are, they are there all day with the cars and have access we don’t (well most of us).</p>
<p>It was hard to tell how the drive was going, it did seem to be traffic congested though, I hope you get a better shot at it soon. Those seats look terrific and I thought the F56 sport seats were already pretty special. From the audio it sounded like you thought so too.</p>
<p>I think my experience with MINI and BMW salespeople has been similar, maybe they are coached to be very low pressure. If you believe in the product, and I’m guessing they do, its and easier sell.</p>
<p>The seats were comfortable but after thinking about it further, I think they are not as good as the ones we had on the press F56 S we drove this summer through MTTS. I would have to drive them back to back. And I think Todd will be able to do so.</p>
<p>The one key takeaway is the sound. It sounds good inside and out. It’s not better or worse than the JCW Pro Exhaust, it’s different.</p>
<p>Speaking as a MINI Product Genius the trend now is to really leave the test drives and extreme product knowledge to the Genius and then when the negotiating needs to happen that is when we turn over to an MA. Could be this MINI dealership hasn’t adopted the Genius program yet</p>