First thing I did was remove the cup holder.

Anyway, I have installed the front mud flaps, the parcel shelf, and the aux input adapter. Next up are the UUC shift **** and RedlineGoods leather shift boots.

 

JRZYMINI -

Agreed. I really never liked the "new" OEM cupholder, and certainly wouldn't have paid $50 for it. However, my car DID come with it from the factory like yours, so I at least gave it a shot. Unfortunately, I kept hitting it with my hand when shifting into 6th gear, and though I thought it might be a good holder for my BlackBerry cellphone, the little rubber fingers are not even strong enough to hold it, so it just fell through the sides and hit me - you guessed it - on my hand while shifting !! :impatient It didn't stay installed beyond the 2nd day after delivery.

It's for sale if anybody wants it - used only ONE DAY - Really!

I purchased the "old-style" OEM (MiniFini) model from OutMotoring. There are several other vendors that sell it as well, including some dealers. It is very easy to install (one screw), sits MUCH lower, works quite well as a BlackBerry holder and can be quickly removed if needed.

The only problem I have found with this model is this - in order to move the passenger seat ALL the way forward, you need to swivel the cupholder in front of the shifter (over the ashtray). Otherwise, the seat bottom will contact the cupholder and if you really put alot of forward pressure on the seat, you might snap the cupholder off the downtube or even break the downtube itself. There's a warning about this situation in the installation instructions.

It's not a perfect design, but seems to be much better then the new one as long as you don't slam the seat forward, or just remember to swivel it in before letting any of your gorilla friends into the back seat (a better idea, obviously!).

There are many NAM'ers that seem to find the NEW one better, so YMMV.
.

 

The cup holder and the analog speedo are the 2 things that i find annoying. The cup holder is obviously a really lame after thought for teh US market. Everyone who has been in my car has commented how lame it is. I've been using it as a wallet holder mainly! The analog speedo looks really cool but is useless because you have to take your eyes off the road to read it... the position makes it difficult to read. I use the digital speedo on the tach!


BTW... I find that my MCS has unreal power even at low rpms and generally plenty of power at all rpms. I can only imagine how badass the JCW package is! Wow... it must be unreal

 

The cup holder is lame in function. Its ugly. If I did not have to get up 4 am,I would not need a cup of java to drink while going to work. Sometimes I finish my cup before I drive to work, but my 11 year old sometimes likes to drink a bottled water after soccer practice and needs a place to put it. I would remove it, but where can I put his beverage if heaven forbid, he drinks something more sticky like a Gatorade. I have a JCW factory and although I am still breaking in the engine at 450 miles. The power at 3000 to 4500 rpm is way better than my Audi 1.8 turbo, Subaru Outback 4 cylinder and Honda Pilot. In comparison to these I have a super sports car. I can't wait till its broken in to see what I really have.

 

The first night we had it I put in the parcel shelf. A little bit of a pain, but probably will always be the best $76 spent on the inside of the car. We gave the cupholder about two days, but my wife hated it and I was pretty indifferent - so it went bye-bye. I took off the passanger airbag sticker at the same time.

Tuesday at lunch I go to get the license plates, rear bumper guard (they forgot it) and also have them re-program it so the car does not unlock when the key is taken out of the ignition (my wife would prefer it didn't do that).

I have the JCW and even keeping it around 50% throttle and under 4.5K RPM I am able to rocket away from lights and change speed at will. I love this car. Driving it is so intuative. If I think I'd like to slow down suddenly I'm going slower, if I feel like I want to be in another lane I'm already there. Speeding up brings a smile, even just 60-70 because whether staying in 6th or dropping to 5th it happens with virtually no effort and it happens now.

I've been doing a lot of shifting between 5th and 6th at highway speeds in an effort to not keep the same rpm for extended periods. I am almost half-way through break-in and am looking forward to some fun driving this summer. Next year will probably be the first year I can really go to a track at all, a performance driving school type one if possible.

 

I turned over 800 miles today. I have a trip to Minneapolis (500 miles there and back) coming up in the next couple weeks so I should be broke-in by the end of the month. I have been a bit bad... Going over 4500 and using the cruise control a bit. After doing some nice dry corners fairly quickly today, I'm regretting not getting the LSD.

I'm pretty ambivalent about the cup holder as well. As a user interface designer, I always ask why? Why don't car makers design good cup holders and a nice place for garbage. The garbage should hide the garbage and be easy to empty. Someone suggested that it might have something to do with Europeans using their cars for driving, while we Americans live in our cars.

I've not really done much except to remove or hide the airbag stickers. Damn the lawyers and stupid people for forcing these on us.

I'm waiting for CES announcements before I work on getting a new head unit. The sound from the stock head unit in my opinion is sort of muddy.

I'm pretty sure that come spring or summer I'm going to upgrade the air intake and maybe a pulley reduction. As mentioned by others, I find this car has a scary amount of acceleration and really don't know if I should, for my own safety, do anything to improve the performance.

 

MIB has about 85 miles to go untill broken in. This week has seen more highway miles. I have been up to 75 on the interstate. Every time I drive MIB I enjoy it more. I need to find a Auto circuit or simmilar. It is a pain in the butt at a drive through to wait for the window to roll up. My MA Richard said it was a safety feature. I call it a bad move to neglect this on behalf of BMW. I want to have MIB re-programed so that when I remotely unlock the car all doors unlock not just the drivers. Can't wait for warm spring weather to hear the exhaust note. The pasenger side air bag sticker is off the dash and the clear MINI only accessories decal is off the windshield. Factory cup holder is gone along with the ash tray.

I wish I had ordered the Anthracite headliner and the chrome interior kit.

 

Chekc the prices on the chrome bits from Mini, aside from the tach ring I don't think they are very expensive or hard to install. You can get a nice tach ring from Moss I believe.

 

a 911 turbo pulled up next to me at a light today and revved his engine! YEAH RIGHT! He laughed and gave me a thumbs up!

I've been considering replacing the front cowls (the 2 vents infront of the wind shield) and the rear grill work under the bumper with something metallic rather than the plastic. The glove box organizer is a must especially if u have a ipod adapter! the trunk liner i bought from OutMotoring.com is pretty handy too.

I've never driven a regular Cooper... how do they compare to the S?

 

MIB corners well. About 2 weeks ago I saw a Cooper turn onto the road in front of me. As I caught up I noticed it was a MCSC. I did have trouble keeping up with her. Any time she wanted she could and did pull a way. Eventually she got in the turning lane and as we passed. My wife waved and I honked. Snooty Motorist didn't even flinch! No wave no honk, not even a head turn! The roads were all straight and when she turned I also turned.

This was the only time that I had a brief moment of Supercharger Envy. Then I saw the gaping hole in her bonnet and remembered why I went MC.

This week has had a lot of interstate driving. Mileage is adding up and I am glad MIB is supercharger-less! No offense. Yours is still a MINI so it is loved and has a new level of respect.

 

I really like the opening on the bonnet! Gives the Mini an aggressive and mean look! The rear spoiler also is a nice compliment on the S

 

1252 miles so break in is done. I could not resist any longer. Took MIB to 6750 RPM for the first time. WOW! Then I had to do it again, pulled away from a stop sign and took MIB to just below the first red light and shifted into second. Got some wheel spin because I saw DSC flash on the dash.

Above 4500 the engine changes! WOW what a difference. Better stay out of that range, because I know mileage will suffer and Police! Where did they hide the Nitrous? MINI In Black was a calm, fun, corner loving car. Then it is almost as if it becomes angry as the engine comes alive over 4500 RPM.

 

650 or so for me today, and I anticipate being broken in probably around my birthday (24th of Jan) - that'll be a fun present .

I have had a couple of "incidents" as well, once in the first couple days I had to get out of someone's way because I felt like they were aiming to side-swipe me and I instincively dropped it and hit the gas - got to around 5500-6000 rpm on that one. The other was when I was trying to get into traffic and shifted late, around 5500rpm, due to the car getting to that rpm before getting around the turn - and me not being ready for that kind of accelleration.

The lack of a trash bin is a huge oversight in cars in general, I wonder if I can think of a decent place for something in the MINI, maybe part of the parcel shelf or something - or the door pockets are really deep... I have decided that the cupholders are good for nothing more than a can of pop - if even that. My thin-bottomed coffee mug doesn't even fit well. These fit right in there with the whole front license plate problem - we need them, car makers plan for them to not exist .

I'm in to the dealer on Tuesday for my plates, the bumper guard, and re-programming the unlock on key removal behavior (my wife feels it's a safety thing and wants it to stop doing that).

All that said, if you see a SB/SB MCS JCW motoring around the north/northwest metro of Minneapolis give a wave - I'll wave back!

 

I had an interesting incident a few weeks back.... I was stuck behind a slow moving pickup truck. One of those enormous new Dodge beasts. Well, I was sick of following this guy and at a stop light i pulled up next to him as he was in the center of the road in the left turn or straight and i was in the right turn or go straight part. mind you this is a single lane road in a business part of town but busy enough to warrant multiple stop lights. Well the guy realizes that I'm trying to pass him when the light turns green... heck, i assumed he was looking for a particular address because it appeared to me he was slowing down to read addresses. Just to be an A-hole he guns it to not let me in and the road narrows after the light with cars parking in the shoulder. Needless to say it could have gotten ugly for me, but I gunned it and layed rubber in 1st AND 2nd! The engine was screaming and i was able to get around him but not without a fight. It happened so quickly that I'm not sure if we even got over the 40mph posted speed limit but that truck sure was packing heat under the hood. The supercharger really screams at 6grand! Thats really the only time I've wound up the engine and gotten it over 4500. Its good to know that you have it when you need it!

I'm not endorsing drag racing or anything but I was committed and HAD to get around him or side swipe a parked car... and that guy was trying to KILL me! Some punk probably just trying to be a jerk.

 

Installed the UUC shift **** and RedlineGoods leather gear shift boot. Both look nice and feel nice.

To be installed: e-brake leather boot, 8mm spark plug wires, and UUC rear sway bar.

 

--Skeffers--

You seem like a smart guy, so what makes you think we are going to let you get away with such a quick blurb about your latest mods & goodies WITHOUT POSTING PICTURES !?!?

Seriously, I am especially interested in the RedLineGoods boots - how they look, fit and install. Any words of advice??

Thanx
.

 

With nasty scratches

So, when it was in for service it got scratched. We aren't sure how as their car wash is a touchless. There are two spots. One is just under the driver-side door handle. It's a band of light scratches with a couple of deeper ones that is about 6 inches long and 2 inches high, in a slight curve.

The other is on the drivers side mirror, about an inch square give or take with the same one deep, one shallower, the rest surface only pattern.

To their credit the SA was very good about it, noticeing them before I did and immediately taking responsibility on the dealership - saying there is no way she would have not marked them down if they were there before-hand. I go back Friday to have them fixed.

I'm a little bummed about it, but am not going to get frustrated as they seem to be handleing it properly in my mind. I am tempted to see if they can throw in a touch-up on a spot that a rock hit while they're at it (nothing to bad -but I see the slight ding in the clearcoat...), otherwise I can fix it when I get a chance to detail (in my buddies new garage after he gets settled into his new house - probably about a month).

Anyhow, I got a first for wk 45 I think, but not one I'm happy about.

 

Pictures will have to wait until I do the e-brake boot.

The shift boot was easy to do. Follow the directions posted on outmotoring.com. However, there are a few things not mentioned in those directions. (1) Cut the tie wrap beneath the boot. (2) It is a tight fit for the leather boot when you place it around the inner ring. You kinda snug it down into position. (3) There are slits that almost correspond to the prongs that jut out from the ring. You'll have to use an X-acto knife to cut each slit into a triangle to allow each prong to protrude through the boot. These prongs snap into the outer ring. (4) Before you place the finished unit back onto the shift, turn the boot inside out so it will be easier to roll the leather to form a nice top. And it will be easier to get it on the shifter stick. (5) Then install a new tie wrap to keep the boot in place.

Tip: After removing the OEM shift boot unit, use tape on the outer ring to mark the double (or quadruple) stitched side of the boot as per directions. I then used whiteout (rather than tape) to mark the tab of the inner ring corresponding with the stitches. Tape would get in the way.

I've got the charcoal color which matches the anthracite dash. But if I had to do it again maybe I would get black to match the black parts of the interior. I've also got quadruple stiching in silver and black -- I reallly like that.

 

Ceridian - sorry to hear that you ended up being the first 45'er with paint damage. I really HOPE the dealership takes care of the situation appropriately for you. I know that the first scratch found on an otherwise pristine car is always horrifying to me .

Skeffers - thanks for the excellent write-up. I assume then that you recommend RedLineGoods, and are satisfied with the outcome - right? I really look forward to your pics when you get the e-brake boot installed. I am also mulling over what color boots to order, but that quad-stitching option sounds HOT!!
.

 

Picked up my week 45 production MCS today

 

Looks good!

So, Australia takes the longest to get theirs, not a big surprise I guess - bad luck for you guys though .

Does that take care of us all, or are there others still waiting for one reason or another?

 

Wow... the Aussies really gotta be patient!

How does an Aussie spec Mini differ from a US spec Mini (aside from the right hand drive)

 

they get a gigantic tach instead of a giant speedo... makes me jealous!

 

Are those a MINI wheel on your MCS, Black05 - or did you take along something to be put on at the dealer? I like'em.

 

the Aussie license plate looks cool