I think that they must have figured that saving a blend valve was OK cause they did all their testing in England! Really, that's the thing that bugs me the most in the car. When I'm shuttling the kids in the Clubbie, the kids complain about the wind, and when I close the windows I cook! This is when it's about 70 outside! Dumb dumb dumb.... The latest JCW didn't do good numbers. A lot goes into this, part being the price and what the competition is offering as well. The clubbie we bought was a "stripper" at just over $22k, and our friends got a Honda Fit at $17k. I think they got the better value, while we have a car we like more, that's a heafty price premium. So given that MINI is getting expensive, what are they to do to keep prices in check? Matt
My question is, why are they constantly going up? Is that based on actual cost increases, or just they started low, leaving plenty of headroom and they're ratcheting it up steadily to make more money? There's also the effects of the Dollar/Euro/Pound exchange rates to consider....it's funny, when the dollar was strong they raised prices, but when the Euro was strong...............they raised prices. At any rate, I paid just under $27K for what I consider a bare bones Clubby S, I got Zenons, cold pack, armrest and auto transmission - that was it. I feel like that was a good bit more than it should have cost but I did it and I'm not complaining because my car was mostly paid for by the sale of two other cars I had including my '03 JCW - which I should have kept. But as I said before, in the future I'll be buying used MINIs if I buy another one at all. Although I'm really tempted by the roadster.......
Matt, my fully configured 2008 MCS (w/o JCW Tune) was over $37K (CDN). At the time there was only a 6% price point to the US dollar. For my $37K I get 3 years warranty (not 4) and no schedule maintenance is covered. JCW Tune in Canada is $3000 :eek6: JCW front muffler in Canada is $700 :eek6: JCW rigid intake tube in Canada is $250 :eek6: JCW front grill badge in Canada is $300 :eek6: You get the idea. Sure we pay more because we live in a communist country with high taxation, but the way the MINI gouges us North of the 49th is criminal. Both sides of the border barely a word officially about the cold-start issue. The letters re:HPFP will probably never surface North of the 49th. If we pay for premium we expect/deserve premium