Hello all! I am expecting my new MINI in about a month and I'm shopping around for a few things.......mainly a satelite radio, a car alarm for my MINI Convertible and maybe an auto starter? I'm wondering if anyone has installed any of these?

Can I get opinions on car alarms for convertibles? With or without an auto start feature?

Satelite radio? XM vs Sirius?

Thanks!

~PJ

 

Doubtful on the car starter. That would defeat the purpose of the key and the disabler.

xm vs sirius ... religious war. Both side with advocates. Just pick whichever one you like and forget about other peoples opinions. Go to their website and see what channels you like

 

My Dad's Civic Hybrid had a chip inhis key. This meant that he had to buy an aftermarket alarm that would disable this feature.

Why not go with Genuine MINI alarm? You can do the install yourself and then take it to the dealer for activation by the Chassis computer. No it doesn't have a remote starter.

MINI went with Sirus satelite. You can also add this by yourself. Not sure if it is as easy with a rag top as it is with a tin top, but.. No going back to the dealer for activation either!

 

That would be a bad move for the MINI because a primary feature of the car is the fact you cant start it without the key, I've researched this in every MINI forum I could find and cannot find a SINGLE case of a MINI stolen ... without the key.

As to satellite, XM is trivial. Just hook up a blitzsafe adapter with xmdirect to the cdchanger plug, find a place for the antenna (more of a problem for converts) and off you go.

 

The reason I don't want to go with any dealership add-ons is because thanks to the wonderful world of retail, I am able to get car audio/alarms for a discount...including installation. Just wondering which models are the best for the MINI. I'll probably go with Sirius, but I was wondering mainly about alarms for a convertible.

Thanks,
PJ

 

I recently installed a auto starter in my 2005 Cooper and love it!! I live in Arizona and so many have asked me why I did it. You get in your car sitting out in 115 degree weather and wait 10 minutes for it to cool down!! I start it and its cool when I get in it.

 

I just placed my order with Classic Mini for the OEM Alarm and Sirius
Satellite Radio. The SSR requires a few extras, atennas + install kit.
Thanks to Jason @ Classic Mini. They had the best prices and everything ships out today. I should have it by the end of the week. Just in time for the weekend.

 

Your MCCa is prewired for the factory alarm. Plus, you'll have one less thing hanging off your key chain.

You can probably negotiate an installed price at delivery that is about what you would pay to order the parts and do it yourself. At my dealer the alarm is sold by the guy who wants you to buy tint and the rim warranty - he was willing to deal! The alarm was installed by the time we signed all the paperwork.

As for sat both work well. I went with XM and the blitzsafe adapter. Easy to install and cheaper than the MINI sirius setup.

 

I received all the goodies on Friday. We took at trip upstate to the Catskills today. Even though it rained towards the end of the day, it was a great trip. My dog absolutely loved it up there! No fence. No leash. He got to stretch his legs a bit. We'll be heading back up again soon.

Now, on the the goodies... I picked up the sat receiver, install kit and antenna. I've read through the installation docs and it seems straight forward. Although I will double the install time for myself. Which means this may be an all day affair. Good news is I received the OEM alarm as well, so that will be going in at the same time. So, I've got my work cut out for me tomorrow.

Any tips or suggestions before I dive-in is greatly appreciated. Whish me luck!

Here are the links to the PDF installs...
http://motoringfile.com/howto/sirius...er_install.pdf
http://motoringfile.com/howto/sirius...na_install.pdf
http://motoringfile.com/howto/Alarm.PDF

 

ok, I managed to get the SSR installed in just under 2 hours (sat receiver and antenna). After it was installed, the activation took less than 10 minutes. Very happy with this install. Unfortunately, after digging through all the boxes, I did not receive all the parts for the alarm install. Fortunately, the Ultrasonic module did come. I say this because it gets installed in the same location as the SSR antenna. Lovin' the SSR!!!

 

I called Classic Mini and it turns out I had all the parts necessary for the install. I didn't realize the tilt sensor and siren were now considered one unit piece. So I installed the sensor and siren, which wasn't easy. Then I installed the switch turn signal. I already had installed the ultrasonic sensors. I then called to make the appointment to have the alarm acitvated.

Thanks to Hassel Mini, my alarm is now activated! I was very happy with my service at Hassel!