So, before I order, Id like to know... Is there a way to turn off the colorful lights around the middle dash console? I have to be honest, its my least favorite part about the interior, as I dont care for gimmicky things. Im all for ambient lighting, however, I dont want the car to be a rolling disco show.

 

yep, can be turned off or turned down or set to display various functions

 

Great! Thanks for the info.

 

Be ready for a learning curve on these thing. Not in a bad way it's just every time I get on here or read something there is something else to try or adjust. I don't thing the owners manual has every thing in there. These care are a electronic technical marvel. We have our for 6 month and today I found out about moving the blue tooth mic for so the person on the other end of the call can hear you better. Then there is recoding things, haven't got into that yet but it is interesting.

tom

 

Where is the mic? And how do you move it?

 

Honestly, it's my favorite part of the interior. I thought it was going to be gimmicky, but it's actually pretty nice.

 

what he said

 

I think he means the microphone volume adjustment?

 

Moving the mic on the F56? You could easily on the 2nd gen MINIs up until the last year or so, but the 3rd gen MINIs?

For anyone that's curious about changing the light ring, from the main menu in the radio, it's:
Settings --> Center Instrument
- Option to turn on/off
- Option to change brightness
- Basic Display: Change between Engine Speed, Driving Mode, or Ambient Lighting which is the one that matches the color to the rest of the lights, or turn off
- Event Display: turn on/off the various things that make the light ring react, such as adjusting climate, bluetooth, auto start/stop, etc. I, personally like all these turned on!

 

Pretty sure 3rd gen has two mics, one on each side. Or at the very least, the mic is more on the drivers side -- just noticed it's location this weekend on my (drivers) side and recall thinking "oh good, there's one on each side" but didn't go looking for it.

 

On the R56 it was up on the front part of the headliner in an assembly. It was on the right side of that, closer to a British driver and could be moved to the left side. I think it's on the steering wheel now. My car doesn't have any wiring to the headliner.

 

3rd gen MINIs have one mic directly above the driver on the base radio and with visual boost or XL, you get a second mic above the passenger.

2nd gen MINIs had the mic in the center assembly, where all the switches/map lights are, but the mic was placed on the right side, instead of the left. Easy fix though to pull the assembly down to switch sides and I think the newer model years, it started coming on the left, but I don't know for sure...

The Countryman/Paceman as of 2013? 2014? have the mics moved to a spot above the driver in the headliner, like on the 3rd gen MINIs.

 

On 2nd gen MINI Convertibles (R57), Coupes (R58), and Roadsters (R59), the mic is located on the steering column in front of and to the right of the tachometer.