Hello all, I'm new to the forum. I'm also very close to purchasing an "S". My wife thinks I'm crazy, but that's the way it goes. I'm getting close to retirement and want to have a little fun in the motorycyle off-season here in the Chicago area. First off, I noticed there is a blank in the switch array. Is there an option that will fill the hole?? I'm also wondering about a CAI system and a Pulley. I've been reading about the 15% and 19%'ers. What do you guys do when you have to take the car in for warranty work or service?
Any light you can shed on these questions will be very helpful. This certainly is a great forum... :smile:

 

Welcome,

As for the wife, mine refers to my MCS as "that little car of your's.

As for the pulley I got the 15% one, it been out longest and adds a lot in my opinion.

The blank switch I believe is for european cars with rear fog lights.

Also, I retired and then bought my MCS and I LOVE it.

And I haven't been back for service since the "operation"

Earl

 

Roadglide,

Welcome to the world (or should I say obsession) of Minis. You will truly enjoy it.

To answer your questions, the switch in the toggle panel is for rear foglight. This comes disabled in the US even though all the wiring is in place. After a big campaign to get MINI USA to provide this option, they finally started offering it as a dealer installed option in the US sometime mid-2003. You can purchase this at your dealer which involves replacement of the entire panel with a new switch array (this one with all the switches), and your dealer then programs this switch. You can also do the change yourself. The OEM panel costs about $75 from Classic Campus and involves about 20 minutes to replace. You will then need to take it back to the dealer to program the switch.

There are a lot of cold air intakes on the market. Webbmotorsports (www.webbmotorsports.com) sells a good selection and Randy can talk to you about your specific needs. I doubt this will affect your warranty. Although technically the dealer could be a jerk about this, they can only refuse warranty work if the part has been shown to cause the problem. The Cold air intakes are very harmless and many dealers install the items for you.


Again, Randy can help you with the pulley decision as well. It is by far the best performance mod for the money. A significant difference in the car. These cost about $400 for the part and installation. Really makes the car a whole level higher in the fun factor. If you want to play it safe go with the 15%. Although there have been no problems with the 19%, if you like to play it safe you may want to wait and see if there are any issues with the heat during summer. Again the affect on the warranty is the same. The dealer has to show that the part was a direct contributor to the failure. The 15% pulley does come with the JCW kit which is warrantied by the factory, so the size adds another comfort layer.

If you want to be really safe with the warranty. Get the JCW kit. It comes from the dealership and is warrantied. It does cost some money. At $5500 installed it is not cheap, but will take you Mini to 200hp and be warrantied and come with a chance to own a JCW edition Mini.