Another New Guy!

[Wizzer]

Hey all,

 

Last Thursday I made the purchase on a MINI have been keeping an eye on for a few months. The wife and I wanted a fun little convertible and I always loved the MINI, so when I found this guy it was love at first sight. He was on the lot here in Manassas at a local Chevy dealer and was very lonely.

 

 

He is a 2005 MINI Cooper S Convertible, Fully loaded (I have a post on my site with the details: http://www.wizzersworld.com/?p=533). Only 62k miles on him.

 

I am extremely happy with him and can't wait to get out and do some serious driving.

 

Thanks!

-Steve aka Wizzer

 

Edited for more pictures.

Edited October 31, 2011 by Wizzer

[TGGRRR (Ali)]

I'm so glad you rescued him from the lot and are going to treat him like a proper MINI.

 

Welcome to the club. You're going to love that car. I have an '06 Cabrio and Tigger is my baby, I love him.

 

We have a club brunch coming up in a few weeks, maybe you can make it.

 

Ali

[VioletDC]

Welcome, Steve! Looking 4ward 2 meeting u and your lovely MINI! :wavey:

[Wizzer]

I'm so glad you rescued him from the lot and are going to treat him like a proper MINI.

 

Welcome to the club. You're going to love that car. I have an '06 Cabrio and Tigger is my baby, I love him.

 

We have a club brunch coming up in a few weeks, maybe you can make it.

 

Ali

 

I didn't see the info on the brunch, but I am looking forward to the Mini's on the beltway, and possibly doing the Dragon. I have a friend out in Vegas who has had his MINI for a few years now and I believe he has made it out to the Dragon so I can only imagine that he will be pestering me to go with.

 

I'll keep pouring through the forums to find more info.

 

I am interested in the membership but at this point I think it may just be more economical to wait until the January re-up rolls around since there is only 2 months left. ):

[TGGRRR (Ali)]

Here's the link to the brunch details

 

http://dcmetrominis.org/forum/topic/1608-november-club-brunch/

 

Ali

[TATTRAT]

great to see another DS First gen!! Welcome to DCMM, hope to see ya out and about!

[Wizzer]

Well, I finished up taking the old boy in for his first visit with the mechanic. *I have been visiting the guys at Fair Lakes Auto for the last 7 years and wanted to get an initial check done.

 

Overall everything was great. *Engine checked out drivetrain was good, battery tested good but said it needed recharge. *

 

That was the good news. *The bad is that when they got it up on the lift the under carriage is very rusty. *CARFAX report shows the car is from Jersey (please tell me its not Snookie's car!) so the sea air probably did a number on it. *It's nothing to be concerned with now but good to know about. Also it looks like the rust/wear on the back part of the muffler will need an eye kept on it.

None of this is anything I can go back to the dealer for so I am on my own for getting things taken care of. *Thankfully the guys said that none of it affects the car really, it's just cosmetic. *There was a little rust built up on the rotars that should pass with use (the car sat on a lot for 6 months).

 

The last thing was the alarm (this lil guy apparently has an alarm!). It has been going off at random. *Today at work it went off 3 times and once when I got home. *It hasn't gone off since around 3pm so cross fingers. *My sis runs a garage out in Fresno and she thinks it is probably the battery. *Since it had to be jumped for me to test drive it, the battery just needs a good full charge and that should come with regular driving. *The Fair Lakes guys said the battery was original so it may pay to replace it. *I'll keep an eye on things.

 

Outside of all of that, still loving it. *I guess you take the bad with the good right? *I still think I am ahead at this point. *I paid 16k and the KBB was around 18k.

[cmcveay]

Welcome to the club! Not much else to add except we look forward to meeting all of you soon!

[grmncrsnbr]

WELCOME! Wish I had your center dash instead of my Nav.

[Wizzer]

WELCOME! Wish I had your center dash instead of my Nav.

 

Funny, I kind of wish I had the Nav since I can't hook up my phone (Droid). All I have is the iPod cable in the glove box, and no visible line in.

[TGGRRR (Ali)]

Funny, I kind of wish I had the Nav since I can't hook up my phone (Droid). All I have is the iPod cable in the glove box, and no visible line in.

 

I have a Droid and use the Cravenspeed mount

 

http://www.cravenspeed.com/smart-phone-mounts/

 

Right now I have the Samsung Charge and the universal mount. It works, but there is an issue because the grip points of the mount all hit buttons that I need on the phone. When I shift the phone so that the buttons don't get hit, it is imbalanced and flips. But they are good mounts and easy to install.

[mistertripps]

Great looking vert! That color combination is one of the only ones where I would keep all the chrome like you have. Very nice - can't wait to see it in person.

[Edge]

 

WELCOME! Wish I had your center dash instead of my Nav.

Roy - get with me at an event. I can give you some advice/updates for your 1st Gen factory Nav.

[grmncrsnbr]

Roy - get with me at an event. I can give you some advice/updates for your 1st Gen factory Nav.

 

That would be awesome :top:

[astarte]

With winter coming I'd be tempted to replace that battery with a new one. I know my truck started cold starting a little tempermentally so its going to win a new battery (I like a quick key flick to start my truck, never know where i'm going to be) I've replaced my 03 Toyotas battery at least once since I've had it, probably twice so its probably past time. They were probably short driving the car too which is hard on batteries. I've always gotten the rest of our batteries at Costco so its not worth taking the chance...

[Wizzer]

Did some shopping online and it looks like Pep Boys has a battery for the MINI, http://c2c.activant.com/ctoc/index.jsp?ID=dAi1oFiopEU5mPzF_CUdHM2xCVF86A1MUUXFTO00A

 

Anyone have experience with this one?

Edited November 4, 2011 by Wizzer

[grmncrsnbr]

I got mine from Advance recently. Working good so far.

[Wizzer]

New battery installed and good to go. $107 from pep boys. That with my mini brand all weather floor mats for $60 and a $20 FM transmitter for the Droid...... I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot more...

[Wizzer]

Guess I am not going to be a rule breaker any more. I bought the Platypus License plate holder from Craven speed: http://www.cravenspeed.com/the-platypus/

 

That and the Cell Phone holder. http://www.cravenspeed.com/products/MINI-Smart-Phone-Mounting-Kit.html

 

I was avoiding getting the front plate because I didn't want any holes drilled in the bumper, the Craven one works out great for that. Anyone else have it?

[teamholly]

I have one, though we had to do a little dance w/Craven. The first one they sent out would not fit a Countryman which has a larger tow hook since the Countryman is heavier. Once we got that figured out all is good.

[cmcveay]

I've got the Platypus mount for the same reasons - I made sure the dealer had it a week before Merlin arrived and I reminded Ahmed every couple of days... There are a few of us with it.

 

If you start playing around with the GoPro cameras or other models similar, that license plate mount is a good place to put a camera mount. I've got one that I made out of some flat aluminum that puts the camera about 6" off the surface of the roadway and that's an awesome view when driving!

[Edge]

I have a Craven Platypus plate holder too, although I don't use it any more. I switched over to the Show-N-Go one because I think it looks nicer and it hides away when I'm in a 1-plate state.

[Wizzer]

Latest new stuff to the POD:

 

Got my plates! Will try and get some pics when the weather s better and when the front plate mount comes in. Still waiting on my CravenSpeed stuff. They had a delay and were nice enough to refund my shipping costs while I wait.

 

Also had the stock stereo head unit replaced with a Sony with BlueTooth. Not having the phone hook up in the MINI was driving me batty. I have to head back to the audio place (Electronics Plus in Manassas) to finish up the steering wheel controls but overall it sounds great on the HK system. The down side was that the wiring harness didn't match up so they had to hard wire a bypass to the amp and then back out to the speakers. That took 4 hours of waiting. But I did get a lot of reading done on the kindle (Just finished Ready Player One last night)

 

This weekend a bunch of family coming in, I am sure the MINI will see a lot of attention.

 

Have a good Turkey day all!

[Wizzer]

Well the weather the last few days was outstanding (not today of course) so there was lots of top down time taking the family all over the place!

 

I got my batch of stuff from CravenSpeed. New Flexpod installed for the smartphone, and the platypus for the front plate. Even got a nice chrome frame and it looks sweet!

 

With the new Stereo installed I was encouraged to move the XM reciever over from the truck. Installed a power spliter and managed to hide all the cords up in the dash. Full power now for the XM, it's mounted in the cubby down below, and a charger up through the dash for the cell mounted next to the Tach.

 

It's taken a bit but I am finally to the point where all the stuff I like is in and working and I am so happy with the results. As soon as the rain stops I'll get out for a good wash and then grab some pictures of all the latest mods.

 

Now I just need some good snarky stickers for the back (: :top:

[Wizzer]

The Sun came out!!!

 

Here is the Platypus installed with the chrome frame and deflector shield:

 

Shot from the back with the new plate installed

 

The dash with the Flexpod and new stereo. The Sony had two color options, I had to go with the red lights to match everything.

 

If you look close you can see my, very old, XM receiver velcro mounted in the cubby behind the shifter. The power for both the XM and the Cell (you can just see the cord coming from behind the steering gauges) is hidden in the space below the steering wheel. The XM would not lay flat because it was just too long to sit behind the Power jack.

 

Driving a lot in the Manassas/Chantilly/Herndon area, So if you see me toolin around! Give a honk!