Hey there all,

We have many threads now which in some way or another reference a feature or features that were not made available in the US. The most recent example being the camera based cruise control. Another little one (but I think is a significant example) is the speed limit detection which is very clearly shown in the Mini US advertising they are plastering all over US television. The ad is named Bullheaded and is linked below. This ad clearly shows the speed limit on the Heads up display (see pic) and this strongly implies this function is available here.

Now I am sure this is what Mini means in their fine print where it says "European Model Cooper S pictured" but still, this is very misleading. Even the icon on the display is a US style speed limit sign (rectangular) instead Euro style (Circular). When looking at an actual European version of the heads up display it has their style (see other pic from Motoring file).

Notice in the third pic where they show the center ring; it even has the US Hazard button as opposed to the Euro version which has two buttons there. One for Hazard and one to bring up the Safety menu stuff..

I am going to call the Mini USA toll free line (866-275-6464) tomorrow and inquire about this as I feel this is ridiculous. Anyone else wanna call and see if we can make something happen? I have no idea what other than potentially a firmware upgrade at best. Who knows? The odds are probably pretty low but it can't hurt either.

I don't know if our similar rally back when we were all salivating for the PDF copy of the owners manual made a difference or not; but that thing did show up shortly after that thread started. This may be a bigger challenge but maybe, just maybe....

Getting off my soap box now . Mind you, this doesn't change my feelings on my F56, I love the car (and the HUD). Just getting silly that between the misleading marketing and the vague information, it seems to be causing much more confusion than it should.

 

How about the predictive drivetrain? Is that in the U.S. version? I know Mini USA has been touting this feature. Even prominently on their website.

 

that's a good question, who knows? hehe

 

Car in ad also has California plates and is being driven on US Streets....

 

I don't know if we have much of a leg to stand on with this other than to state that it leaves a bad taste in your mouth which it does with me as well. I was also told that the JCW package only includes the steering wheel and the anthracite head liner. The US site clearly states door sills, shifter, and pedals too. That I feel is blatantly dishonest.
I would have loved the features enabled with the Safety Camera, but if our cars don't have the camera how would a firmware upgrade help us?

 

........

 

Sadly enough dipsticks will eventually be eliminated.

But I agree, return the car if you're aren't happy with the product being oversold.

 

@ Bubba - Dip sticks were in the R56 Prince Engines yet seen more than a handful 2-4 qts low since some drivers apparently know not what a dip stick is....and when they did, others had difficulty reading them.

BMW's haven't had dip sticks for some time now and while alarming at the onset there isn't one for engine coolant either but it's just as important. Instead a warning light illuminates when down appx one quart ( pressure based signal I guess ) And since the F is equipped with a BMW engine....well ?

IMO no dip sticks are a leg up to what we have now.

 

I totally agree with how you folks feel. The deceptive marketing and Launch Day hold (ended up being lifted) has left me with a very sour taste in my mouth for MINI. While I absolutely LOVE my MINI-S, I am not a fan of the company itself. Want to talk to the people at MINI who really count? Call the MINI Hotline and ask for a manager or someone in corporate to discuss a complain with the car. The ONLY people you'll get to talk to are the first line customer representatives, most of them not having a clue about anything that is mentioned in this thread. Or you can talk to your dealer, which also won't help your cause in cases like this. In the past if I had an issue with, say, my Infiniti or Chevy vehicle, I could call corporate and actually talk to someone who would listen to my complaint and act on it. MINI? LOL. My ONLY consolation so far is the fact that I'm so delighted with the car itself.

 

Agreed, love the mini but corporate dimwits are messing up.

 

I couldn't agree more with this thread. If this were just 1 feature like what you've mentioned, we would be throwing a fit on the BMW forums. (of course, we throw a fit about pretty much everything) I'm surprised that Mini USA has been given so much leeway to oversell and under-deliver by BMW AG. I'm considering an F56, but I want these features since I use them daily on my F30.

I am *VERY* surprised that the owner's manuals, the advertising, and the other print materials point to multiple features and functionality that isn't available. That said, the hardware appears to be delivered with the vehicles, so perhaps this was a speed-to-market situation and they're planning on addressing the issue with a software update to 2014 models. I've definitely seen stranger things from BMW NA.

 

I'm not sure if you can correlate that... I know plenty well what a dipstick is and how to check the oil, but I sure as **** didn't expect our R56 to eat through 2 quarts in the first 20k miles we put on it.

 

Agree and feel like MINI should do better, but currently no matter what a company does or says, as long as the fine print says they reserve the right to change anything and everything whenever the want to, we do not have much leverage.

All we can do is complain and hopefully we will. I've sent several e-mails concerning stuff while trivial was wrong. Like the online manual not being available when we knew it had to be. Even if we receive canned corporate answers, someone listens. After all, we do love these cars and have made the financial commitment as owners and reserve the right to complain, therefore we should.

 

2 q in 20k miles is pretty low usage for these cars. Did u go 20k before checking/changing your oil?

Sent from my Moto X using NAMotoring

 

What! you went 20K miles before you checked the oil! That's almost criminal!

Cars are supposed to use oil.

Dave

 

We had just had the oil changed at whatever the dealer recommended mileage was. 10k? 15k maybe? It is not normal for a car to burn through oil that fast.

My '86 Mercedes didn't even use oil that fast. Hell my piece of crap E30 didn't even use oil that fast.

 

Maybe the dealer didn't add enough. One would expect something obvious if the engine was actually consuming that much oil or leaking it.

 

Could be, I don't typically go behind the dealer to check to make sure they added enough oil, lol. I wouldn't put it past them though.

 

you never know, get enough complaints and they may consider bringing more features over

 

I find it interesting on one hand that MINI dealers, generally, go out of their way to do everything for their customer. This coming from corporate MINI undoubtedly. Yet the marketing is deceptive and dare I say slimey. A red flag for me was considering ordering the flappy paddles but then once selected you had to order the JCW steering wheel for an additional $250. It also seemed that the 2014 rollout of the Configurator was a total clusterf**k as many items showed up after I ordered (accessories in particular). I was also particularly annoyed that the MA's, who are generally pretty knowledgeable, were pretty clueless bout the configurator and the car ( I had to show my MA how the start/stop button worked). When my car finally comes in I will be a picky SOB and look for anything that isn't right.

 

In a long-term road test, one of the car magazines recently made a comment about high oil usage in the BMW being tested. They said that the BMW people said that was normal.

 

1. Complain to who? The Hot Line? I've talked to them about a dozen times since ordering my MINI and pretty much the only help they've provided is updates on where my MINI was in the order cycle.

2. Yes, they listen. But listening and responding with some actual help/answers for things other than order status is a whole different story. I remember, for example, when corporate announced their infamous "Hold All MINI's For An April 15th Launch Day", calling the Hot Line produced nada. Every rep I talked to about it (maybe 3-4) had NO CLUE why the cars were being held. Even a week+ after my dealer received notification, the Hot Line reps still had no info.

I called the Hot Line about 2 weeks ago asking about the $250.00 inconvenience credit that a few here received and discussed. I JUST got a call back on Tuesday (does it actually take 2 weeks to get a simple answer?) with a "canned" response. The rep was obviously reading something in an email that he must have gotten from someone in corporate. He could not answer any questions about the $250.00 credit outside of what we was reading. Could I talk to someone in corporate? Nope. He told me there was nobody he could forward my call to I needed more info. Wow! I guess I could maybe call BMW corporate, but certainly not MINI. Hot Line reps and dealer are the only ones we can call with questions and/or complaints.

 

I appreciate those of you who got what I was saying and I'm glad a few of you had some good laughs over it as well.

The point of the matter is people are always willing to complain on a forum but few are willing to try and actually offer this feedback to the company in question. Then they sit and wonder why the corporate entity did nothing to address it. For the thinking that Mini should be reading "these" forums and including the comments here in their ideas; sure, in a perfect world that would be the case. But this far from a perfect world. Companies all have their own methods for collecting this feedback and all of them revolve around being measurable. Free form discussions on a forum do not offer this in any significant manner.

Yes, Mini US has issues when it comes to things like this, but so do 99% of all companies out there. This is not something exclusive to them. I love my car and I love the brand; understanding that it is not perfect and that I have to take the good with the bad. As a consumer we have two ways to voice our opinion; either we don't buy the product or we do and we use whatever convoluted system may be in place to provide the company feedback.

 

ROBO RESPONSE ---

Hi Brad,

Thanks for writing to MINI. We appreciate your interest in the 2014 MINI Cooper S Hardtop!

At this time, the 2014 MINI Cooper S is not available with a Driver Assistance Package in the United States. While we currently have no information regarding plans to offer these options with this model, our product team continually evaluates our product offerings.

We hope you stay in touch with us via our website, www.miniusa.com, for the latest MINI news and product information. You can view the latest MINI scheduled to join our lineup and our collection of concept vehicles.

The MINI Customer Relations and Services Department is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., ET. You can reach us at 1.866.ASK.MINI (275-6464).

LET’S MOTOR.

 

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Terry