Hi All,

Great forum here, have been reading many of the useful guides and forum threads.

My mammy got a mini cooper back in 2002 when the first came out. Did not realize how good a drivers car it was to most other A-B cars out there. Anyway just had my first kid, and the other half was house bound with me having the honda civic at work all day. Mat leave is 12 months here in canada. Being Irish i loved the idea of a Jeep Wrangler, but she put her foot down due to the ludicrously low MPGs.

So a small car was on the cards. here's how to get a convertible approved by the missus:
me -what about a mini cooper???
her -yes that's way more practical as a work runabout!
me- what about the convertible?
her - ehh......
me - I've done the research, baby seat fits in the back, way more practical. no weird reach around the front seat awkwardly: Roof down, baby dropped in, roof up!
her - sure!!!!

one week later I'm the proud owner of a cool blue, 2006 mini cooper S cabriolet with only 78,000KM's fully loaded other than the sat nav.

holy smokes, i thought my mam's cooper was nippy, the supercharger whine is delicious and the car is a pocket rocket. I have to watch myself its up to trouble speeds in no time at all. Loving the top down. there are of course some draw backs, no roof rack possibility, the boot (trunk) is tiny and though the seats go down you have the roll bar in the way, no way of fitting a bike or dog in the back. but we have the honda for all that stuff. this car is for driving! oh and the exhaust notes, whoop bopp booppp...lovely.

I changed the oil and filter, topped up the coolant. Treated the roof with auto-glyme convertible wash and water repellant (missed a spot showed up in the rain).

here's a pic of the new to me mini:




I have some questions re audio which I can post in that section but if anyone here has ideas please let me know:

Car has multifunction steering wheel, advertised as with bluetooth, but cannot get it to work, not convinced it has it. does have H/K sound system and iPod cable in glove box. connected iPod nano 3rd generation and it works but you can only select songs from Head Unit. The iPod itself cannot be used while connected, you can disconnect the cable select artist etc and it will continue to play the selected album once reconnected but its cumbersome. What is the latest supported iPods that would allow iPod interaction while connected. i would like to get an iPod nano 6th gen or similar. if anyone can confirm they have something that works let me know. also if you get a lightening to 36pin adapter can newer iPods be used/recognised.

I think that's enough for a first post,
happy to be here and behind a mini again,
cheers,
Mini Putt

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Hi and welcome to the NAM family.
Some things you need to know, to keep your Mini Tip Top.
Only use full synthetic motor oil.
You did not say if manual or automatic, but the fact is both need servicing!
Others will have to chime on the radio stuff!

 

Welcome to NAM.

On the top; 1.) Below is a link to a BMW site with a good write up on vert top car (pictures may not come up but most people should be able to figure out what is being discussed. 2.) There are micro switches in the trunk. If the rotating latch pulls are not closed correctly (pull down position) the top will not work. 3.) There is a european video out there that does a roll-over test on three different verts and the MINI is one of them. The rear roll bar and the front windshield are well engineered and weathered the test quite well. What does not weather the test well is the front seat occupants. I ride with the seat as low as possible so as to place as much distance between the top of my head and an imaginary line drawn between the windshield and the rear roll bar. I have a Schroth harness for when I want to drive more spirited.

On the radio, the 06 vert did not come with a factory AUX jack (07 and 08 did and it is in the glove compartment). MINI did sell a device that could be hooked into the radio and then a separate cable is provided for the remote connection. From what I have read and seen in a friend's car, the IPOD must have the recordings placed within five "playlists" as the device will not recognize an IPOD such as mine that has not playlists.

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=121097

 

Thanks Jim, happy to be here!

 

Hi Wayne, thanks for the warm welcome.

Yes it's a manual. I serviced the oil and filter - full synthetic. I also changed the air filter and cabin air filter too. I don't have any service records, I should phone a local dealer and see if they have any info.

I actually went to the local dealer looking for coolant, some in the reservoir but low. it was the weekend so the service section was closed, no one could sell me coolant. but the sales rep spoke to the manager who said coolant was coolant and the mini can take generic G8 or something to that effect. He sent me to a Canadian Tire and I picked up a gallon of OEM coolant that lists mini, bmw etc as ok for use. I only used it as a topup but is it ok for a total drain and fill?

thanks again

 

Hi R53Coop,
thanks for the info:
1) Thanks will look at it, 3) thanks i'll check out the vid later. I always have the seat as low as it goes, unless there is a passenger in the back.

2) yes i had found them. I was hoping to put my baby's stroller (buggy) in the trunk (boot). the rare occasion we would take the mini for a drive with the baby in tow. unfortunately though the buggy fits it causes the switches to open. if i remove the trunk shelf and override the switches with tape or something is there any issue lowering the roof without the shelf present. i understand i take the risk that something pointy in the boot is my own fault but assuming there is nothing interacting with the roof is the shelf not being there a problem. does it rely on the shelf for support when down?


re radio. I have seen people say the iPod used to work where you could select songs from the iPod itself. then some update happened and it stopped. wondering if anyone has a more modern iPod that still used the old 36pin port with success.
happy to use an old iPod as it can stay in the glovebox etc.
i have the mini iPod manual, you can have 5 mini playlists and select them with the radio station buttons, 6 is reserved for shuffle all songs.


thanks again guys, appreciate the welcomes and tips to get started.

 

Welcome aboard!

Was the coolant you purchased "blue"?

 

No, it's a light yellow colour. Should it be blue? Pics below show contents. I've only put about half a cup in t to top it up.

 

I think you should be OK. I know the original antifreeze from Mini is a "blue" color. As long as the brand you purchase lists Mini as a compatible, you are OK

 

but if you were going to do a complete drain and fill would you use the yellow stuff I have or go to a mini dealer (5min away)? is coolant coolant as the non service mini sales manager told me?

 

Welcome. I'm on my second R52 (then 2005, now 2008) and had the first when my oldest was a wee bern - their was no problem with the car seat at all. I'd be really hesitant with the coolant. I'm not positive about the particular coolant this model needs but know that mixing certain kinds can lead to a mess. If you are low on coolant make sure to look for milky oil - i.e. Head gasket leak.

MINI iPod integration of this era was a real kludge. There have been some aftermarket solutions so search in the radio section.

 

Hey cadfael,

coolant - yes hesident myself for full flush. All looked good but it's a terrible reservoir you can't see the fluid easily through the sides to determine if the levels are right. Even my non exotic Honda Civic sedan expects Honda only coolant. I'll stick with mini only on this one for now.

iPod - agreed. having trouble posting in the audio section. I post but it never appears? I will try again.

car seat and cabriolet - awesome to hear you had fun with your little one. I think you picked me up wrong. I have the car seat in no problem. It's his stroller going in the trunk that's the issue. It fits without the trunk shelf cover. If I remove the shelf the roof can't come down. I wanted to know if I remove the shelf but override the roller switches to fool the car such that the roof will recline, is there any issue/damage caused to the roof if said shelf is not present. Assuming of course the stroller does not go above the level the shelf would normally rest at. In short if the trunk was empty and the trunk shelf was missing if you lowered the roof is this bad for the roof to drive with, is the shelf a required roof support when reclined.

I have checked and without the shelf the stroller fits and is just low enough to not poke the reclined roof.

why all this nonsense: roof down, baby seat and baby into car, roof up. No awkward reach around seats. But stroller has to come too 😂. In this situation the roof is only down temporarily but when he gets older the roof down may be nice for him too.

 

I haven't put the seats down in my car in ages but will the stroller fit with one side down (I am remembering right that they go down individually or am I think of another car). I do remember that we bought one of those little folding 'umbrella' strollers that we kept in my car - might be an option.

 

Welcome to NAM and congrats. Yes, original BMW/MINI coolant is blue. We have info about coolants in our coolant change DIY under "DIY help" in my signature to give you some insight on the BMW 1991 technical bulletin, 17-01-88-(1743) about coolants. Stick with what is recommended for your MINI and you should be fine. It's always good to attend to it once every 36 months. Lots of people neglect the cooling system. I am here if you ever have any questions!

 

Congrats on the new MIN, i have a convertible also in the Hot Orange which is the brother color to the Cool blue you have. I have always used the MINI Blueish color coolant mixed 50/50 with distilled water. Have about 275K miles on the car now.

 

yep. They go down individually. And are locked with a key individually if required. Right now our little one is 3months old. So we're using one of those 3 in one strollers. The stroller seat is also the car seat. But good idea, when he's older and we have the dedicated car seat we can pick up a better folding stroller for the mini.

 

Cheers pelican. sounds good. I'll have to get to them before they close on weekends.
Coolant, brake fluid and then transmission. how often do you reccomend for those.

 

Thanks ecs. I would have loved the hot orange. But the blue is very nice. I was a little worried before seeing it as it can look lavanderish in the right light. Which would be just a touch on the not masculine side. Now that I'm back behind the wheel of a mini. It could be hot pink for all I care.

Also I'll have to be in touch with ecs about the rear mouldings. The rubber is cracked badly. will want to fix it before winter. It's exactly like all the other cabriolet complaints. Nothing up with any rubber seals anywhere just those 2. Seems fishy.

 

Coolant - every 36 months, or approximately every three years (flush is good to do).
Brake Fluid - I personally do every 30k miles or it's good to routinely flush and replace your brake fluid every two years.
Transmission - Same as above.

If you check out all of our articles, for all the fluids you've listed, they can give you a lot more detailed information and instructions on how to tackle these jobs yourself. I am always here if you have any further questions.

 

Yes, its changes with the light, in the daytime you can see a little gray in the paint.

For the molding check out here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nvertible.html