For those of you that got the rear view camera and parking distance control, do you have the toggle switch all the way to the left? I have the sensors but no switch.

 

I could be wrong, but i think that toggle is for the auto parallel parking feature. It irks me how they made it so expensive to get all the toggles this time around. Grr.

 

I believe this is true as well. My VIN preview picture doesn't have the far right toggle, I do have Rear Cam + PDC, but not assisted parallel parking. I agree, rather expensive option and city living has made me pretty good at parallel parking so I saw no reason for it, but that missing toggle will irk us all surely =)
Hopefully an aftermarket fake toggle comes out soon enough!

 

Confirmed, you need the auto parking for this toggle. I added it for the toggle alone

 

Thank you for the info!

 

How can you find this VIN preview pic? I've checked out the decoder but didn't notice any pictures.

 

I couldn't say why some people see pictures and some don't. I definitely do, but so many of you say you cannot.

I use the BMW Archive VIN Decoder ( http://www.bmwarchive.org/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html ), and after typing in the last 7 of the VIN and the Captcha, the info screen loads and directly to the right of the top of the first data table that starts with 'Data for Vehicle Identification Number: ##########" there's two small pictures, one exterior and one interior. Clicking them expands them to large pictures at the top. I've typed in other VINs as well and always get the pictures, but maybe some VINs just do not display them...?

 

Interesting. Thanks. Definitely no pics when I try the decoder.

 

Ha, that's one expensive toggle, but I don't blame you!

 

Stock pictures, or actual pictures of the car?

 

Simulated pictures of how the car will look with the options described by the VIN. They aren't exactly like the ones in the Mini USA Configurator, but the same idea. Not photographs, but mock ups.

So my exterior picture shows the proper color, the bonnet stripes, the black roof/mirrors, the proper wheels.
Interior shows my automatic shifter, shows my connected XL screen, with the back up camera turned on, and the PDC lines (I assume), with a HUD, etc.


Edit: I'll save the pictures and drop them on here as a new thread later tonight.

 

Does anyone have a picture of what the dashboard looks like with the 'missing' switches? I'm sure the configuration I'm interested in may leave gaps. Is it going to be that ugly?

 

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...ktype=newcc#19

Check the dash pictures on that car, its missing 2 toggles (the far left and far right) and has the blank spaces instead. Its not too awful bad when its two missing toggles, because its at least symmetrical, I believe far left is the HUD, so if you have that but do not have the parallel park assist (far right) you end up lopsided.

 

^That is correct. It doesn't look bad, I don't have the HUD. I was just wondering if I was missing an expected toggle because I got the backup camera with the PDC.

 

Hey thanks for pointing me to the picture. That doesn't look ugly at all - it's quite well handled I think, considering the different available configurations.

 

I feel unless you add both toggles (super expensive), it's better to leave it stock. At least then it's symmetrical. Guess I'm OCD in that way, but this has always bugged me about MINIs and the R56 finally solved it as you only had to add both foglights for $350 to get all the toggles. Even if you didn't, the stock had the outside and middle so it looked decent.

The missing button for the heated winshield is also annoying. At least in the R56 it wasn't that noticeable. Now I feel it looks better stock than adding the $600 Cold Weather Package to get the outside buttons though. Either way it looks odd. So frustrating!

 

That blank button is for a heated windshield? Which markets get that (and why not ours?)? That sounds like a great feature to have!

 

MINI Canada has always offered the heated windshield option. For whatever reason, MINIUSA always chooses not to.