The options are killing me!

[b13mini]

Xenons: are they too bright? Do they limit distance vision and make wet road glare worse? I really hate those super bright "bluish" lights behind me, so not sure if I would like to subject others to the glare. With fog lights (which i love) and possibly driving lights (can NOT decide, but leaning toward no, not a high beam user often, even on dark back roads), xenons may not be necessary. Are they more expensive to replace? And is the washing detail one more thing to fix?

Mudflaps: Anyone have them? Any issues with snow and the flaps? Love em, hate em? The car is so low I can't imagine too much kick up.

I think I have been talked into rain sensing wipers and auto on lights after reading the posts... any thoughts?

My MA is gonna think I am Sybil, I've changed my mind sooooo many times!

I have 14 builds on my desktop.

[Dr Obnxs]

the Xenons have a sharp cut off, but where there is light you do see much better. You will find that you need to use high beams when driving fast because there isn't much scattered light out of the intended light path.

They are much more expensive to replace.

Don't know about the mudflaps.

I don't have the rain sensing wipers but I can say that the wiper control with the manual system pretty much sucks.

Matt

[markjenn]

Rain sensing wipers and auto-on headlights? Sorry, don't get it. You can't turn on the wipers and headlights by yourself?

Mudflaps are cheap enough it really doesn't matter - I have them.

I have the Xenons, but I'd skip them next time. They really don't make a huge difference and are more troublesome to replace.

Options...the smart money holds the line unless it is an absolute must have. The basic car is a great value, the options are WAY overpriced across the board. It's like McDonalds that makes ALL their profit on the soda and fries, but sells everything else at a loss.

- Mark

[MINIDean]

I disagree about not having the xenons. I think they are an absolute must have. I have poor night vision and driving with regular headlights is like having the headlights off to me.

The xenons provide a light closer to the color of the sun, and it is amazing what you can see at night. You will not regret the xenons.

[b13mini]

Originally Posted by markjenn

Rain sensing wipers and auto-on headlights? Sorry, don't get it. You can't turn on the wipers and headlights by yourself?

Mudflaps are cheap enough it really doesn't matter - I have them.

I have no problem turning them on, had heard the intermittent wipers work much better with the rain sensing wipers.

[minicooperwill]

Originally Posted by b13mini

Xenons: are they too bright? Do they limit distance vision and make wet road glare worse? I really hate those super bright "bluish" lights behind me, so not sure if I would like to subject others to the glare. With fog lights (which i love) and possibly driving lights (can NOT decide, but leaning toward no, not a high beam user often, even on dark back roads), xenons may not be necessary. Are they more expensive to replace? And is the washing detail one more thing to fix?

Mudflaps: Anyone have them? Any issues with snow and the flaps? Love em, hate em? The car is so low I can't imagine too much kick up.

I think I have been talked into rain sensing wipers and auto on lights after reading the posts... any thoughts?

My MA is gonna think I am Sybil, I've changed my mind sooooo many times!

I have 14 builds on my desktop.

Are the xenons too bright? No. The regular headlights are too dim. They don't have a bluish glare and don't make wet road visibility worse. They make distance vision better. Fog lights are helpful if there is fog, not for general lighting. Are they more expensive to replace? Well, eventually they will need to be replaced, but they will last MUCH longer than regular headlights. So you need to look at the cumulative cost, not just the upfront. I personally don't know of anyone that has to replace theirs. I've never had a washing detail to fix, so I'd say its not a concern.

Mudflaps are something I cannot address as far as on a MINI. We don't have a whole lot of mud to worry about here. When I was in Indiana I had flaps on most of my cars and found them to be helpful.

The rain-sensing wipers and auto-headlights are certainly convenient. I never worry about turning on the lights, they always come on exactly when I need them. The wipers come in handy when you have light rain or mist, or intermittent showers, or spray from the vehicles in front of you. Again, they always come on exactly when I need them. Am I capable of turning on lights and wipers myself? Of course, but the convenience of auto is really nice.

I would recommend getting EVERYTHING you think you might want. How many times are you going to have a chance to build your dream car? If you don't get it now, later on, when you are like "I wish I had added the <whatever> like I was thinking" it'll be either too late or more expensive to add at that point (unless its aftermarket wheels or something like that). As far as deciding if something is worth it or not, try to think how long you will own the vehicle. 4 years is almost 1500 days. If something cost $1500, that's a dollar a day. Would that option be worth $1/day to you? If so, get it; if not, don't.

[tattedXB]

GOTTA SAY, i LOVE THE XENONS!

Very bright, and with the fogs you get a mixture of the ultra bright, and 'regular' light - good coverage, and a nice mixture of color/great view!

[OLarryR]

I have had cars with and without mud flaps. My Prelude '98 benefitted from the mud flaps on regular roads because as is common on many cars, road tar, etc winds up getting stuck onto the fenders. The rear body paint/wheel welll area is where tar, dirt, debris oftentimes would get stuck.

When I was ordering options for my MINI and I have a bunch, I decided against the mud flaps. Reviewing the wheel well areas on the MINI, there is a wide plastic/rubber area that surrounds the wheel well and is contoured/sloped inwards from the wheel well. This tends to reduce the tar, dirt, debris that would get stuck on the body paint areas. So, mud flaps then tend to be only a cosmetic benefit if you like the look. Two minor negatives to the mud flaps with only a cosmetic benefit are that they infinitesimally reduce the gas mileage since there is a slight infinitesimal addl air resistance against the flap and the flaps coould be an area to build up some snow that clings to the MINI...but I have no real MINI mud flap experience in the winter to know if snow build-up is of any consequence at all. I can tell you that without mud flaps and now having 9000 miles on my MINI, I have no tar, dirt, debris, etc that needs to have any special cleaning off the body rear of the wheels, so I do not miss mud flaps on this car.

[OLarryR]

Forgot to mention about the xenon headlights. I have them and they are great ! As compared to my daughter's Honda del Sol, that car has extremely dim headlights. Maybe you should go to a dealership and test drive at night one with xenon headlights and one without and see if you like the benefit of the xenons. I think many that get the xenons purposely added that option. I see no negatives except perhaps if the headlight needs replacement and believe they are very expensive to replace. But I think they also are expected to have a long service life...so it's not something you are going to have to replace in 1, 2 or 3 years.

[MINI Diva]

You should definitely get the Xenons... I had HIDs on my IS300 and I don't think I could go back to regular headlights... way too dim. The "annoying blue" ones you see on the streets are probably aftermarket kits where they didn't set the aim right.
Everytime I see a MINI go by with the Xenons, I'm bedazzled about how they seem to sparkle at night... I hate to say it like this but they are quite pretty!! =P Mine will be here soon so I don't have to keep envying them.

As for the intermittent wipers... I know I don't need it... nor did I want them in the first place but since it's attached to the bluetooth package, I opted to get it. I have it in my RX350 and I use it... it's quite handy but not a necessity for sure. I'm used to actually just manually flipping on the wiper to wipe once when I want it... wipers annoy me ;) But now that I've read everyone else's complaints that the MINI intermittent is annoying, I'm glad I got it. And the auto headlamps is a must for me... so I'll never leave the lights on to drain the battery. I'm used to leaving my lights on Auto all the time and when I press once on the Lexus keyfob, it locks the doors. Press twice and it turns off the lights. It's really handy if you leave the car in a dark area and you need the extra lighting to get to your door. The only annoying thing is when the lights turn on when you're under a bridge in traffic, and then turn off again once you clear the bridge.

[schatzy62]

Just to clarify here about the AUTO Headlights.

1. The AUTO mode turns the headlights on and off with the amount of light seen by a sensor on the dash. Not all MINI's have this as it is part of a package. This option also has the possibility of the next note (#2)

2. With the Headlight switch in the FULL ON position the head lights come on when the car is started and go off when the car is turned off, thus not allowing the battery to be drained.

3. When the headlight switch is in the Parking Light position then the parking lights stay on all the time. the head lights will not come on even with the auto function as the switch is not set to the auto function.

No on to the Headlight type. I personally would recommend the Xenon's. I know hate driving my BMW at night because it has Halogens and I find it very difficult to see what is in front of me in that car compaired to the Xenon;s in my MINI.

The blue annoying, distracting, glaring, *&^%$# headlights you see are either aftermarket Xenon's very poorly installed or halogen bulbs that have been color changed to look that way. Very annoying I must say.

Yes Xenon's are more expensive to replace but will last 4-5 times longer as a minimum. Thus the cost to replace them over time ends up being rather close to the same cost as halogens.

Mud Flaps - I have them on the front and the rear and will not do with out them. The fronts do help keep a lot more dirt off of the side of my car. As for the rears they do help a little bit but not as much as i have hoped. I can get thru 1 to 2 days with out having to clean the back of the car where with out them i was having to clean the car after just one hour or less of driving.

Rain Sensing Wipers - I really like them for the way they work. The only annoying thing about them is that they ar not on a switch that stays on all the time, You have to turn them on after each time the car has been switched off. MY BMW doe snot do that.

I like the rain sensing wipers because once turned on the only wipe when needed. I.E. light mist they may only wipe once every 3-4 minutes, slightly heavier they ma wipe every minute. But then when the rain starts coming down they auto switch to on and wipe continually and then in really heavy rain that will auto switch to the fast mode. Then when the rain slow down or gets back to a mist they will slow or auto intermittent wipe as needed. I LOVE them.

14 builds is a low number there are people here that have had 30 plus. I only had 2 but I was going for a almost fully loaded car anyway so there were not so many options to choose from, basically just color and interior leather or leather/cloth.

Good luck with your decision.

Make sure you get it right the first time. There are currently a few threads here where people want to add something factory after the fact and that gets very expensive. I.E. Adding factory NAV is $2k from the factory but well over 6K if added by the dealer and many dealers will not even attempt it. Or the rear fog light - $100 I think from the factory but $120 in parts plus labor (just time if you do it yourself) but then the car has to be programed and that can only be done by the dealer at usually a cost of 1 hours minimum for labor.

[MyroMini]

Did not have the Xenons on my Justa (Mini "regular" lights really suck). When I traded for an S, I ordered the Xenons. What a difference they make - now I can see!!!

Love the rain sensor and auto-lights. It came in a package with USB, Bluetooth and windshield defroster. Never had one of those. Will see how it performs once it freezes over here (which should be any moment now...)

Installed front mudflaps only (don't like the look on the rear ones). Cuts down on the stuff being sprayed on the side doors. No problems in the snow.

[schatzy62]

Originally Posted by MyroMini

...windshield defroster. Never had one of those. Will see how it performs once it freezes over here (which should be any moment now...)

Is this the electric windshield defroster that we can not get here in the USA, but seems to be available everywhere else?

I had this on a car when i lived in england and it was fantastic at clearing the windscreen. Just awesome. Jut to bad we in the USA can not get this feature.

[gaffer]

I put front only mud flaps on both MINIs. They help keep some stuff off of the sides and the occasional rock thrown out of the tire tread. Get them from someone like Classic MINI (NAM vendor) with the NAM discount, put them on yourself and save some money.

[MyroMini]

Originally Posted by schatzy62

Is this the electric windshield defroster that we can not get here in the USA, but seems to be available everywhere else?

Yes, that's the one. how come you can't get it in the USA? Not even on the options list???

[richs10]

I got the auto wipers and headlights on my Clubman and I love both of them. This is the first car I've had them on and in the future, they will be a must-have option. In fact, I wish the rear wiper had a sensor on it. I constantly have to turn it on and off to avoid the blades dragging across the rear windows when the rain lets up or I slow down. (the rear intermittent setting is too fast, IMO.)

I didn't opt for the xenons, but now kinda wish I did. The cost was an issue for me at the time.

[CJP]

Hey b13mini - I have mudflaps. They seem to cut down on how dirty the boot gets. And I've never had any chips on the lower sides either. I recommend them! No issues either with snow although I last year I did stop in the driveway to knock out the snow before driving into the garage. (But it was a big snow day and in all honesty, there was more snow in the wheel wells than there were on the mud flaps.)

[Terry F.]

I do not have rain-sensing wipers. Without that option, you one get one intermittent speed; you can not change the amount of delay. That stinks, I find it unacceptable for what we paid for the car.

Get the upgraded wipers, I wish we did.

Regards,
Terry

[markjenn]

Originally Posted by Terry F.

I do not have rain-sensing wipers. Without that option, you one get one intermittent speed; you can not change the amount of delay. That stinks, I find it unacceptable for what we paid for the car.

Not really true. The car automatically varies the delay based on the speed of the vehicle, shorter at higher speeds, longer at low speeds or when stopped. It's a compromise, but I think a very good one and I actually find I fiddle with my wipers a lot less in my Mini than I do in my Honda which has a separate control for varying delay.

I find the comments that rain-sensing wipers are a "must have" option comical, but then I used to roll my windows up and down with a crank... oh, the horror. I don't know how I survived.

- Mark

[Surfink]

I am usually able to sense when it is raining myself..

[ran-o-matic]

Originally Posted by Surfink

I am usually able to sense when it is raining myself..

I can as well, but what I can't do is make the single intermittant speed of the standard wipers vary. The auto wipers are the only way for that to happen.

[Calicoskies]

For me, the options that matter most after having my Clubbie for 15mo:

Heated Seats

USB capability

Keyless entry

And whatever all those things are that fill up my switch plates (I would need extensive therapy to overcome any spaces left there)

[Gluhwein]

I love my auto wipers. I often seem to find myself behind cars throwing spray on my windshield. It's a PITA to keep hitting the wiper and I doubt it's good for the wiper motors to constantly be flicked on and off. With the auto wiper it keeps my windscreen clean. I wish there was a way to have the sensor on all the time. We have lots of fog up here in the mountains and sudden rainstorms happen.

[loud9266]

Xenons are sweet, i dont have them
and it doesrnt slow me down at all
and i still have light in front of the car

ive found unless you spend 40,000 dollars on your mini
theres going to be option you wish you got in hind sight
the only one i can say to get is the rear fogs so that you get all the
toggle switches in the lower panel,
enjoy!

[loud9266]

Originally Posted by MyroMini

Yes, that's the one. how come you can't get it in the USA? Not even on the options list???

probably availability and cost