After totalling our 17yo BMW Z3, we were looking for another cool car that is fun to drive. MrsPP liked the Mini, and we determined we could fit into the Roadster, so we bought a 2013 "justa" (one of 2 pre owned justas with a standard transmission within 200 miles of us). Later on we discovered that 2015 is the end of the line for Roadsters (doesn't bother us, the last model year for the Z3 was 13 years ago), so in fact this was a good time to total the Z3.

I have a couple of questions about the equipment on the car, we bought i tat a BMW dealership (who also have a Mini dealership, but it is another 30 miles down the road, and the BMW salesperson didn't know much about Mini's

The car has heated seats, is that part of the "Cold weather package"? Is there anything else I should be aware of?

There is a "Sport" button in front of the shifter, is that standard, or do we have a sport package?

How do you find the car in a parking lot? My Subaru has a feature where if you push the "lock" button on the remote 3 times, the horn will beep and the marker lights will flash. With the Mini the lights don't even flash when you hit the lock (or unlock) button a 2nd time.

Is the "openometer" the stupidest feature ever implemented on a car?

This looks like a fun group to be in, and maybe we'll do some cruising over the summer.

Thanks in advance for any answers to the above.

 

Welcome and congrats.

Cold weather package, yes heated seats.

Sport button standard. Push it and see the throttle response and the tighter steering.

For the alarm cherp , you will need the alarm. You can get a alarm kit , install it then flash for the alarm. What year and model do you have?

Openmeter= that was a start with R57 Convertible thing.

Congrats again. Post some pics.

 

Are heated seats available without the cold weather package? Is there anything else noticeable in the package
No thanks, throttle responce and steering are tight enough in regular mode

2013 Roadster -- there aren't any other "find the car in a parking lot" tricks?

This doesn't make it any less stupid

I put a few that I stole from the dealer's website in the Roadster sub-forum, here are some I took (with MrsPP at the wheel)

 

"Are heated seats available without the cold weather package? Is there anything else noticeable in the package"

Believe heated Mirrors and heated washer jets were the two big ones.


"2013 Roadster -- there aren't any other "find the car in a parking lot" tricks?"

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...the-doors.html

Think people were modding to flash the alarm on the tach at some point and some were adding a peizo siren and then wiring it, kind of a job. Cant find the thread.

Thanks

 

Welcome to the MINIacs!

Yea, the Openmeter was a goofy tongue in check thing they (BMW) added to add fun ... Like having a cover panel on the R52 roof button reading "Do you really want to put the roof up?"

Motor on!

 

Owning and driving a MINI is not all about usability, etc...some of it is about the joys of something dumb, or as you call it "stupid", be it the goofy looks, the way one looks driving one or an " openmeter"....you just cannot be overly serious in a mini ..."Hey, mines open more than yours on a group ride!!".... useful, no, but folks buy a soft top to drive in the open air...,the guage let's you PROVE that you are a HARDCORE soft top driver...lol.....and that is why folks smile when they see them...kinda like looking at a cute puppy....unless your heart is truly coal, you just smile.
You want a feature...like a chirp, buy an alarm....as a BMW owner you know you must buy features to get stuff...that's WHY it doesn't chrip...an excuse too sell you the alarm....or but a funny anteanna topper...
You have the window sticker...it should list the options, and the items it has....even "stupid" items...
Some folks get MINI...
Some don't.....
Driving a MINI will either make you smile every time you sit down or see your car, or it will frustrate you with odd quirks that will delight you or madden you...the first makes you a "maniac", later, a person who just doesn't get it....

 

Enter the last seven digits of your VIN at the following link to see what options your MINI has. The contents of packages differ year to year.

http://www.bmwarchive.org/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html

If you don't have an owner's manual you can read or download a digital copy here:
MINIUSA.COM.

 

I get the whole "It's a Mini, it's cute and funky" vibe, we bought the Mini because we thought it to be the true heir to our Z3 (think of the Z4 as Viserys and the Mini as Daenerys Targaryen,to use a Game of Thrones reference). This doesn't prevent me from wanting Oil Pressure or Engine temperature guages. And were I to implement an "Openometer" I'd put a needle at the top which measured the percentage of "open time" (from 100% closed to 100% Open) and cumulative open time on the bottom.

The only window sticker we had was from the BMW Dealership, and it (among other things) said the car had a steprtonic transmission (it's a manual), so we weren't trusting it.


They did give us a paper manual, but I downloaded the PDF to my tablet, which I highly recommend, you can do text searches, or go to the index and click on a page number to get to a specific subject.

 

VIN on window sticker matches VIN on car?

 

Yup, and when I plug the VIN into the VIN Decoder you linked to, it shows the car as a manual.

My guess is that someone at the BMW Dealer put in the wrong transmission type when filling out the form they used to generate the window sticker (which also generated the page in the "Used Cars" section of their website, which is where we noticed their mistake).

 

Welcome to the community! Since you are in MASS, check out http://www.minisontop.org at the end of June. Fun road trip!

 

+1
Lots of fun...
And once you are out of warrenty, or if you don't want to deal with a dealer (due to scheduling, cost or location) the guys over at Greasysgarage in Worcester MA are great...the owners are long time mini owners.... and know and understand them, and support MOT.
Good to hear you understand the quirkiness of MINI,. Some former BMW folks just get frustrated and blow a gasket (if I had to use i-drive I might)..... While a mini is kinda BMW like, it not a BMW!! Enjoy!!

 

Welcome to NAM, pony player and congrats on your MINI Roadster. Happy motoring and please don't forget to wave.

 

ZippyNH -- thanks but we already have a mechanic (the one who kept the Z3 going for 17 years/157K miles).
A lot of the hard core BMW folks didn't really like the Z3 crowd, so the Mini was the right choice for us, once the Z3 was unavailable.

 

The Z3 Homecoming events at SP SC was always nice.

 

The design and marketing is a little bit different from BMW--so you get whimsical things like the openmeter. The good thing is, if you don't like it, ignore it!