GBMINI#6 (Convertible)

I got confirmation yesterday from Herb Chambers MINI that everything was ready with GBMINI#6 (except removing the armrest, due to un-availability of the replacement part), so I headed in to Boston (in the R56) after work …
Ian & I went through the paperwork (not much, since it’s a no-cash “swap”) and then spent a while trying to find my lost iPod (which turned out not to be lost after all).

I was amazed to find that the “clear bra” hood / front bumper protection had been removed! Ian said that it was decided to remove it because it looked worn, but I really would expect to have been told about it, and maybe to have had a say in the decision 😦
Anyway, I jumped in and pulled out of the dealership heading home … first thing, the car locked it’s doors! That’s something I really hate, and I’d requested the feature be disabled, and been told it was done … so back to the dealership, where GBMINI#6 got “plugged in” to be re-programmed:

After that a very scary ride in the passenger seat 😉 while Ian reversed the car out of the tight spaces and down the ramp from H.C.MINI service, and then I was finally properly on my way home.

The convertible is so much better to drive than the R56; everything just feels “connected” to you, like it should – or, I suppose, like I’m used to in all the other MINIs I’ve owned. And the H/K stereo makes the R56 stock sound system seem like a ’70s pocket transistor radio 🙂
I also decided that maybe the armrest wasn’t such a pain after all – on the R56 it was really in the way, but in the convertible I only noticed it when adjusting the seat back angle (which I don’t do often), and getting coffee this morning (haven’t figured a solution for that yet, but it’s only a couple miles from Dunkin Donuts to work and of course I never “drink & drive”).

Here’s some more pictures of GBMINI#6:

As I wrote yesterday, the R56 simply isn’t my kind of MINI … but having owned GBMINI#5 for less than two months, and due to some other unrelated reasons, I felt that replacing it had to be a zero-cost option – a “straight swap”!

My original plan with the R56 was to evaluate what features I did and did not like, in preparation to trade it in next year for a perfectly spec’ed ’09 Convertible – a Convertible would be a nice alternate drive to GPMINI, and I felt that the R56+ features were worth waiting for.
But, it turned out, the R56 was not worth (me) waiting for!

So I checked around locally to see what R52 Convertible options might be available … having two local & friendly dealerships helps a lot, and with the help of Kerry & Ian at Herb Chambers MINI of Boston, I have found what I need, a “straight swap” into a low mileage MCS Convertible!

It’s not quite spec’ed as I would if ordering from scratch – no Xenons for example … but then GPMINI doesn’t have Xenons either! Kerry will have the 17″ wheels swapped for 16″, and I’ll probably fit a new toggle switch panel to fill up the missing switches (everyone knows how important that is!); the armrest & cupholder are on their way out, too!

The stereo includes the H/K upgrade which I feel is quite important in a Convertible – there’s very little space available to give over to an aftermarket upgrade (and of course, I know how to install an aftermarket HU with H/K, if I want to!); interestingly the previous owner installed a factory iPod adaptor (and yes I know it’s nothing like as useable as the Alpine in GPMINI, or even the R56 interface – but hopefully it’s faster than the R56 interface!)

It’ll be a few days yet till GBMINI#6 is sorted and ready to pick up … Watch this space, as they say.