In 2019 I wrote letters to the head of BMW, the head of MINI, the head of the MINI factory, the head of MINI USA, the US VP of Sales, and even the head project manager for the MINI Cooper SE. To them all I offered to pay an extra $1,500 for the factory to install the less-expensive, scoopless, base MINI Cooper hood on my SE, but not one of them bothered to reply to even say "Nope." One letter did get a response: Head of MINI Design, Oliver Heilmer, wrote a short reply saying he would take up the matter with marketing. Good luck with your quest for chrome. [Apologies to all who have heard me repeat my tale of woe too many times.]
I'm sorry to hear this, @bldxyz. Definitely a step backwards in Mini's reputation for being configurable. Not a good trend.
I'll be honest as one who drooled over Minis since their rebirth over 20 years ago, I've watched the trend change considerably. What was optional in 2016 when I bought my last was better by far than 2021. And in turn 2016 wasn't as great as even 5 or 10 years before that. This is not so much of a trend but how it is now. Sadly. Most changes are now done after market to make it special. I got a call from my dealership as a follow up and there are no eye blinks when I say I am deciding between wrapping or painting the grille. That feels normal. Would be fun if the grille was optional black out as well. But they've moved from that ages ago.
My first MINI was a fully-loaded 2010 Hardtop S dealer demo in Chili Red with paddle shifters, headlight washers, and a rear fog light. That generation of MINI had a single reverse light on the driver side and the rear fog light on the passenger side. I'm able to still have the color, but to this day I long for the headlight washers or rear fog light. The washers were great for removing road gunk as you drove. I was just thinking last night maybe I could install the switch for the rear fogs and disable/black out one of the lights to remain street legal in the US.
You're absolutely right about this. My MINI dealer just told me that I *can* delete the moonroof and that the Active Cruise Control is included in the Iconic trim level. I can also confirm that Piano Black exterior trim is standard on the Iconic level.
Have you seen the builds that @bldxyz have posted from our 2022 orders? Just in case you have not seen a list from your dealer. We posted the entire list of Iconic features.
I can also confirm that my dealer says Piano Black exterior is standard. That’s the word he used, confirmed it with his regional sales rep. The better word is “required” in my book, though.
Yeah, required is a better term! Unrelated - has your dealer mentioned anything about the $1500 off from California Clean Fuel Reward? My MA said he can only submit it if the exact model year is listed, and so far 2022 is not on the website yet. It's supposed to be rebated at the dealer side, so hopefully it gets added before your car gets delivered!
Funny you should bring this up. In December, when I was deciding what dealer to order through, I learned about the California Clean Fuel Reward. At the time, only one dealership (of the five in a feasible MINI SE range) were enrolled in the program. I managed to prompt my dealer to join, and now they are on the website. I have also seen how the Clean Fuel Reward website does not yet list any 2022 model vehicles, and last week I filled out a contact form to ask about that very thing. My next step would be to see if I can speak to someone on the phone there. My worst case is that the car sits on the lot while we wait for that to happen, since I can wait a month or to save $1500!
I just got off the "chat" session on the Clean Fuel Reward website - the agent I spoke to said they don't discuss what or when they add things, but she did say that I could email [email protected] with information about the new model year which may help the process along. Now all I need is some official MINI USA PDFs or websites that explicitly state the 2022 model year and the battery size.
Ugh. That seems ... consumer unfriendly. Do you think this link would be evidence enough? https://www.miniusa.com/model/electric-hardtop.html
That's exactly what I sent in my email. I friendly email and a link to that exact page! I think in the ideal case the consumer is not supposed to have to do *anything* except show up at a participating dealer; but we're the early adopters so we have to jump through some hoops to make sure we get included too. I suspect if a participating dealer notifies them it may get more attention maybe?
It sucks that the 2022 Visual Order guide references the model year "MY22" several times, but there is no mention of battery size in that doc.
Funny. After the postings here with the spec-sheets, I got on chat with the Clean Fuel Reward site, and they told me that a dealer had requested the 2022 be added, and their admin was working on validating it. He said it should be in place by April (after I said that's when mine may arrive). I love how we just collaborated!
Interesting differences: the SE is the shortest Hardtop by 1.1 inches, has the least ground-clearance by 0.6 inches, and the tightest turning circle by 0.3 inches. Of course, even with its lesser ground-clearance, the raised-up SE is the tallest Hardtop by 0.7 inches.
I don't follow. The Spec sheet shows: the height as 56.4, which is 1.3 inches more than all the others at 55.7" the ground clearance as 5", while the others are 5.6" (a 0.6" difference, as you state) How do you get to it being the shortest Hardtop by 1.1 inches? Isn't it the tallest?