11 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

So with the pic of the Beetle making the rounds, i'm sorta thinking this is the set that gets retired next.  Why keep two similar sets?  I think the camper van will stay around, and this one gets going down the retirement road.

depends.  i don't think lego cares about having similar products on the shelves. 

now if the mini cooper is a slow seller / unpopular , then it can def be on the soon to be retired list.  the license agreement between Lego and BMW / Mini is also a factor.

The LEGO store starts to look like car dealerships down the road

The LEGO store starts to look like car dealerships down the road

You said car dealership not a VW dealership. Hmm...

6 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

The LEGO store starts to look like car dealerships down the road

hey, if the vehicle sets sell and are well-designated, why not ? 

too bad my 2 of my fav 'attainable' cars of the 1990s will prob never get made into a set.  the e-46 bmw 3-series and 1994-97 ford mustang. oh well...

the cooper, beetle and t1 van are cool.  not sure about the Ferrari set yet.

1 minute ago, dcdfan said:

You said car dealership not a VW dealership. Hmm...

One of those high end ones that is not beholden to any particular brand

For me this is by far the best of the three! Probably the smaller but it's the most accurate of them all. Lovely looking set. I never had a Mini and I've never been a huge fan, but it's almost a perfect Lego set.

The Camper Can should be bigger compared to the Mini and the Ferrari...

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/buildme/porsche

 

23 hours ago, marcandre said:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/buildme/porsche

Oh, I like it! Too bad the instructions have to be bought. If they were for free I might try this moc myself.

I just found out there's been a redesign of the 10242 Mini Cooper to address this problem:

The sides of the windows (both front and rear) sticking out...

Both window elements have been redesigned to look like this instead: 

 

I already contacted LEGO Customer Service about it, and received confirmation that it's indeed altered in the newer boxes. The new window elements will be mailed to me separately.

That will be for my own build of course. The boxes I've saved for future resale have the older design so my future customers will have to figure it out themselves...

Edited December 5, 20169 yr by Haay

27 minutes ago, Haay said:

I just found out there's been a redesign of the 10242 Mini Cooper to address this problem:

 

The sides of the windows (both front and rear) sticking out...

Both window elements have been redesigned to look like this instead: 

 

 

I already contacted LEGO Customer Service about it, and received confirmation that it's indeed altered in the newer boxes. The new window elements will be mailed to me separately.

That will be for my own build of course. The boxes I've saved for future resale have the older design so my future customers will have to figure it out themselves...

Interesting, bricklink lists it as the same part that in the new beetle.  but brickset has a different part number on the beetle windscreen.  LEGO Shop at Home has then as different part numbers but same design number (different tinting?)

no matter what it does throw fuel on the retirement fire.  a box redesign is one thing, but replacing parts, and changing the manual too?  hard to believe they would do that a few months before a planned retirement...

 

Interesting, bricklink lists it as the same part that in the new beetle.  but brickset has a different part number on the beetle windscreen.  LEGO Shop at Home has then as different part numbers but same design number (different tinting?)
no matter what it does throw fuel on the retirement fire.  a box redesign is one thing, but replacing parts, and changing the manual too?  hard to believe they would do that a few months before a planned retirement...
 

We purchased and built ours in May of this year... some FYI:
- New box design
- Updated instructions (show correct piece)
- Wrong windscreen (old / too deep)
- Contacted CS and had correct pieces shipped / received very quickly

just ordered my 2 screens as missing parts, also came from new box design, thanks for heads up.

i purchased a few from target last week.  i received 3 of the old boxes, codes 44R4- from 2014!  wth- slow seller or LIFO and we're getting to the bottom of the barrel.

22 minutes ago, cladner said:

i purchased a few from target last week.  i received 3 of the old boxes, codes 44R4- from 2014!  wth- slow seller or LIFO and we're getting to the bottom of the barrel.

Any discount when you made the purchases? I went to the LEGO store last month and saw a 2015 code

Edited April 12, 20178 yr by Leopard

On 14/06/2016 at 2:37 PM, fossilrock said:

So with the pic of the Beetle making the rounds, i'm sorta thinking this is the set that gets retired next.  Why keep two similar sets?  I think the camper van will stay around, and this one gets going down the retirement road.

Could be, it has older seals codes than the T1 and Beetle in John Lewis. These days, don't expect miracle growth like the old days, if at all ;-)

54 minutes ago, Leopard said:

Any discount when you made the purchases? I went to the LEGO store last month and saw a 2015 code

target card and some $5 gift cards so no major discount.  i didn't have any for investment and walmart ran out for a week and i got nervous.  walmart has them in stock again.  i prefer the older box because the cardboard is thicker than the newer  box and it matches the box size of the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium which i have a few dozen of so won't have to get a different shipping box.

I can get these at 45% off right now, is it worth stocking up in the case this retires in 2018?

One of the creator expert vehicles has to go and this will be 4 years by end of year.

34 minutes ago, mtchrs said:

I can get these at 45% off right now, is it worth stocking up in the case this retires in 2018?

One of the creator expert vehicles has to go and this will be 4 years by end of year.

If you can get 45% off now, why not flip them now? The VWs are going nowhere and the London Bus is too new, so this could be the next to go. I'll clear them out if I got 45% off.

What price is that in AUD?

2 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

I'll clear them out if I got 45% off.

What price is that in AUD?

That's the Tabby response I wanted!

Retails at $150 and I can get for $85 so no brainer really

10 minutes ago, mtchrs said:

That's the Tabby response I wanted!

Retails at $150 and I can get for $85 so no brainer really

Where in oz are you seeing this price?

Edited February 20, 20187 yr by Furious_george

4 minutes ago, Furious_george said:

Where in oz are you seeing this price?

I have access to staff discounts at a certain store.

Considering that the newer Ferrari F40 retired end of last year, and the special relationship LEGO apparently has with Volkswagen, I would be highly surprised if the Mini Cooper does not retire by end of this year! 

In The Netherlands RRP for 10242 is €99,99 and the cheapest offer for a NISB right now is €74,95. That's a 25% discount. The lowest price recorded by Brickwatch is €69,83 which is about 30% discount. So if I could get the Mini Cooper at 45% discount I would stock up as well.

Edited February 22, 20187 yr by Haay

Just make sure they come in the new box and with the windscreen modification.

2 hours ago, Val-E said:

Just make sure they come in the new box and with the windscreen modification.

Same with the T1 where another roof piece was added when they changed the boxes. LEGO are making a lot of mistake these days. WALL-E's neck was a big cock-up and it's just as well that I bought mine after the fix otherwise this would be reseller's nightmare.

As for the Mini retiring this year, I now doubt that it will as LEGO still have the BMW licence for the motorbike.

30 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

Same with the T1 where another roof piece was added when they changed the boxes. LEGO are making a lot of mistake these days. WALL-E's neck was a big cock-up and it's just as well that I bought mine after the fix otherwise this would be reseller's nightmare.

As for the Mini retiring this year, I now doubt that it will as LEGO still have the BMW licence for the motorbike.

Who says the BMW isn´t retiring too?