I'm trying to figure out what determines what gets shown in the tach window, above the mileage. Sometimes, it shows me the trip odometer. Sometimes, it shows me the estimated mileage left on a tank of gas. One time, it showed me a constantly changing miles-per-gallon tally, even going to 99 mpg while I was coasting. I don't think it was anything I did to bring on the changes, so what is doing it? Today, I took a long trip to drop my son off at Boy Scout camp for the week, and wanted to know the total mileage. About 10 miles before home, it switched to say that I had approximately 100 miles left in the gas tank, and I had no idea how to get back to the trip odometer. I was afraid to hit the trip odometer button again, out of fear of setting it back to zero.

 

The button on the tip of the turn signal.

 

Ah, thanks! I must've been hitting it without even realizing it. I tend to be a fidget-er, and don't even realize I'm doing it. Can't wait to go experiment with it tomorrow morning.

 

Excellent- I've been wondering this too.

 

 

I was doing the same exact thing.

 

Why the negativity, starman? I assume you are thinking I should have looked in the manual? Well, asking the question obviously helped me, and at least one other person. So it obviously wasn't that stupid to ask.

 

I had the same reaction as starman initially.. but then I realized you were asking because you must have had a crappy MA at your dealership who didn't show you anything on your car and answered out of mercy.

 

Many MAs (mine included) work with previous MINI owners and may assume you are already aware of the OBC and how to operate it.

 

Well, I have mixed feelings about my MA. He did show me some things, and obviously not others. But he didn't correct me when I was ordering and mistakenly thought the all-season tires would not be run-flats, so either he doesnt know some things, or just sucks. And seems my asking the question helped Beauxgoris as well, and possibly some other people as well who may have read this. Starman, I'm sorry if I wasted 30 seconds of your valuable time. Stripesace, thanks for going against your initial reaction, and posting the easy answer. Sorry for thinking this was a helpful community of people.

 

Well, that is just not a good business practice. And I AM a previous MINI owner, and my '03 definitely didn't work the same.

 

Joe, we have sold our '03 MCS so i can't check, but I'm virtually certain it had the same button.

Either you never discovered it in the 9 years you had the car , or it might have been an option that yours didn't have.

I remember looking at the window sticker when I was posting the car for sale on Craigslist, and it did mention the OBC. But I can't recall if it was on the list of standard equipment, or if it was part of the one of the option packages. Ours was pretty well loaded with options.

 

Well, I didn't have the car for 9 years, only 4. I was away from MINI for 5 years. It must have been an option back then, I definitely didn't have any of that info available.

 

In a "related" matter, I drove our CM for the first time in the rain the other day, and could not recall out how to turn on the rain sensor wipers. After fumbling around, I finally figured it out...it's the button on the end of the opposite stalk The R53 was different...when you had the rain sensor option it replaced the intermittent position on the stalk.

 

In '03, the S model had it, but not the Justa, so it depends on which one you had. The button was on the blinker stalk, but not on the end. It stuck out like a wart and was more obviously a button than now. It had fewer choices as well.

 

Ah yes, we did have an S, and now I remember....thanks. So quickly we forget.

 

It was an option on Gen 1 cars. I didn't have it and always wish I did. My little bump only changed between temp and speed.

Michael

 

Seriously? Eye rolling? Lame.

If you find it oh so annoying - then don't open the thread and don't offer the original poster help.

My salesperson didn't show me this either. I glanced over the manual and didn't see the answer but it wasn't a big deal. I knew it was in there somewhere and would find out at some point. However having someone ask the same question and someone else post an answer was nice.

 

The question was answered, even without any snarky LMGTFY references, or RTFM references. I thing his reply wasn't distasteful, it could have been a lot worse and still acceptable.

One eye roll smiley and everyone is jumping down starman's through...get over it, read the manual if your MA was crappy, watch the videos online from MINI, etc. Learn your car and all of the wonderful, yet sometimes quirky things it does. Happy Motoring.

http://www.miniusa.com/AboutYourMini/

 

yetti96 - Part of being on a board like this is often people with more experience have a quick answer or solution to a question you might have - or at least that was my impression. I guess some posters are more helpful and fun - when others like to be elitist and childish. I guess MCJoe and I were hoping for the former, but got the latter. Oh well. And yes - I am enjoying my MINI even if I haven't memorized the owners manual yet.

 

I apologize guys. I was just messing 'round with the smiley face and meant nothing personally critical but understand how it could be taken that way.

I have lots of questions myself so I support asking them on here or anywhere else you can without feeling ridiculed for it. I bought my car long distance, without seeing it in person and without having any MA show me anything. I knew about the display thing from having other vehicles that were controlled this way too, so based on my experience I suppose at the time I was finding it hard to believe that everyone didn't know - despite being well aware that everyone brings their own experience to the table. My bad and I should have known better. Again, please accept my apologies and feel free to dump the eye rolls on me if it feels right in the future. I won't take it personally. (one of the Four Agreements).

Now can we all just join hands for a little chorus of Kumbaya?

 

Sure - I like a good round of Kumbaya as much as the next person.

Sorry if I barked back too hard. I wish I had the time to sit down and read the dang thing cover to cover - but I just haven't so far. I checked out a few things but I know there is a lot of features I have yet to discover. The car that's been my daily driver for the past year is 47 years old (diesel and still going strong), so to say that I'm a little overwhelmed (and excited) by all the gadgets is an understatement. I was all excited to learn in the "things you don't know about your countryman" thread that I could open all the windows while I unlock the car just by holding down the unlock icon as I walk to the car. I'm sure that's somewhere in the book too - but again just haven't had the time. I rely on others that know more then I do to give me some cliff note hints from time to time - this board is a great resource for things like that.

 

I've been in a relationship for 32 years and I'm still learning stuff. That I've had a CM for a year and still need to ask questions and read a book comes as no suprise. It's good to have support available.

Sealy - Who wishes men came with an owner's manual. (Roll eyes appropriate here. )

 

Thanks so much for posting this - I quit asking questions on NAM because I, too, got a couple of nasty remarks/comments that implied that I should "read the manual" myself, also, and I didn't call them on it. So, I'm grateful to those of you who still ask and the MINI owners who are helpful in a positive way, even tho they seem like easy answers. I was under the impression that this site was available so people could ask questions.

I'd like to add that, to some of you who've had BMW's or MINI's, the manual makes sense to you. To others, it doesn't make a lot of sense because the MINI is set up differently and not "intuitive" to people who've only owned American cars. Also, the manual covers ALL options (some we have/some we don't) and that's not always made very clear. I've read it, cover to cover, and I still can't figure out some things...

 

Kandi, actually I think the manual we have for both the CM as well our old R53 is not good at all. My opinion is that it's not well written in many places, it's often ambiguous, and many times just does not go into enough detail.