I'm finalizing my order on a new MINI F55 later today and am going back and forth on the Fiber Alloy style. One question I have is that the MINI configurator talks of 'Fiber Alloy accent surfaces, door bezel and structural elements' but all I ever see pictures of is the dash surface - what else changes? (In Off-White you can see the pieces in the center console below the color line change).

My other question is how the dash panel and door bezel interact. As near as I can tell, it goes...

Dash Surface -- Door Bezel
Black Check -- Black (not piano?)
Piano Black -- Piano Black
Dark Silver -- Dark Silver
Cottonwood -- Piano Black
Fiber Alloy -- Piano Black

Is this true?

 

All of the MINI Yours dash surfaces come with piano black door bezel and structural elements. Only the dash changes color/texture. Off-white is the only one that changes everything to white. Keep in mind that when you select any of the MINI Yours styles, you also get the ambient light strips on the doors. Its not the regular ambient lighting. AND... you also get any "color line" for free.

 

My advice to anyone ordering is to go to a dealer and see the interior stuff in person. The exterior paint colors are more or less accurate on the configurator. But the interior stuff is not (except black and red). So if you order off the configurator and when it shows up it looks different than you expected you heard it here first.

 

The problem I faced is that the dealer samples for the fiber alloy and cottonwood have a reputation as not being particularly accurate either. My dealer didn't have any actual MINIs in stock with either style so my salesrep thought he would just send me to a nearby dealership to look...but then couldn't find a MINI with either style sitting on a lot within 200 miles.

 

The dark silver surface does change the door bezel - the only problem (for me) is that I don't like how it looks on the satellite grey door. Well...and that it is a bit boring.

 

Though I liked the pattern of the fiber alloy and wanted the door lights, in the end I just couldn't deal with how brown the fiber alloy looks. If it had been more of a straightforward black/silver color I would have gone for it in a heartbeat.

So...the interior ended up satellite grey seats, doors, and (more or less) headliner. And grey stitching on the MINI Yours steering wheel w/paddle shifters (you can get paddle shifters with 2XB as well as 2XC no matter what the MINI configurator says). But the default black carbon color line and checkered dash surface (and thus, no extra fun door lights...boo!).

Exterior is Electric Blue w/white top and stripes and the Victory Silver wheels. Can't wait to see/get/drive it!

 

I urge you to reconsider. The Fiber alloy is very much silver/gray and not any inherent color. It will reflect whatever color is around it, however.

The standard headliner, however, is in the brown family. It's a light taupe, and it will conflict with the satellite gray seats and doors.

With an Electric Blue/White exterior, try this:
*Satellite Gray leather
*Satellite Gray door panels
*Fiber Alloy dash [gives gloss black door trim], or standard checkered trim is excellent too.
*Anthracite headliner
*standard carbon black color line
*MINI Yours steering wheel

That would be a stunning "black and silver" combination, with no beige or taupe. The gloss black on the steering wheel will match the door trim, the stitching will match the door panels and upholstery, and the anthracite headliner will keep the interior from being overly bright, and even better, keep the taupe standard headliner from contrasting with the Satellite gray choices.



As an aside, have you seen the Victory spoke wheels in person? Please do because it's fairly polarizing.

 

I very much am based on your comments.This is the weird one. My salesrep said the same thing...and I started out with anthracite. So I sat down in a very new F55 with my satellite grey interior swatch and fiber alloy/cottonwood/dk silver swatches to choose a dash and noticed that the grey swatch matched the A pillar. Then I lifted it up and it matched the headliner...and said, 'Huh?' Then I asked the salesrep over and he said, 'Huh!'. And then we walked around with swatches in hand and noticed that the pillars and headliners varied from car to car. All the countrymen were very 'taupe'. But the hardtops varied. Even more weirdly, I've seen pictures (I know...ever so accurate) where the pillars are taupe and the headliner is grey.

With an Electric Blue/White exterior, try this:
*Satellite Gray leather - Yup
*Satellite Gray door panels - Yup
*standard carbon black color line - Yup
*MINI Yours steering wheel - Yup
*Fiber Alloy dash [gives gloss black door trim], or standard checkered trim is excellent too. - Checkered now...but thinking strongly about Fiber
*Anthracite headliner - see above conundrum.I wish! They just looked cooler than the loop spoke wheel on the (ever so accurate) configurator. Back to the dealership I go...

BTW, Thank you VERY much for the suggestions...

 

I work at a MINI Dealership and I've seen more or less every combination, except the some of the cloth variations (diamond gray and black pearl). I think the satellite grey door panels are closer to light beige than gray. Its definitely a "warmer" hue. its very very close in color to the standard headliner and I personally think it looks best with it. I almost ordered your exact combination, then, I saw an ordered one that had satellite gray seats, door panes, color line and headliner. To me it looks so good and elegant and so much different than the typical black MINI interior. At the end I changed it up a bit! I ended up with:

Midnight Black/Midnight Black
Fully Loaded Package
Flash Package
Wired Upgrade
Sport Automatic
DDC
Rear Spoiler
18" Silver Cone Spoke
MINI Yours Steering Wheel w/paddles
Diamond Gray Leather/Cloth (the leather part is actually satellite gray)
Satellite Gray door panels
Satellite Gray color line
MINI Yours Cottonwood dash

 

This is a photo of satellite gray doors and the standard headliner. I kick mylself for not taking one of that customer's car

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As one who works at a dealership do you agree that interiors look different on the config than they do in person? Of course the names of the colors have nothing to do with the actual color in many cases: Satellite gray=beige. Sparkling Silver=beige (no silver at all). Volcanic Orange=yellow. And so on.

 

Fascinating. It's entirely possible MINI allows for a variance on the coloring of the headliner. I suppose at this point it would come down to risk/preferences. I usually prefer dark headliners, so to me the anthracite would be a risk-free choice. That said, if the standard headliner is closer to Satellite Gray (if that is indeed "a bit warm", and you like that), then it sounds like your current config would be totally acceptable.

It just comes down to whether you want "more brightness and texture" with the fiber alloy, or if the whimsical checkered trim matches your personality.

Definitely go back to the dealership and look at the wheels though!

 

NICE! I really do like how the Cottonwood looks against the satellite grey color line. And I (obviously) agree that a light grey interior looks wonderful and different in a MINI.

I just have this thing against the shape of the color line in light grey and how it makes the glove compartment float in space (I know...completely personal and indefensible). I kept trying to convince myself that the satellite color line 'matched' better...but in the end came to my senses and realized that it doesn't matter if it matches if I don't like it).

 

100% agree!

The interior in the configurator always looks of lesser quality and muted colors and textures. The exterior colors are closer to reality.

and +2 about the wheels. I liked them a lot until I saw them. To me, the wheels themselves look very good, but with the MINI's curves... not so sure. I think the cone spokes fit the whole design better. Believe me, I wanted to like them because they're not common but I ended up with the classic design.

 

I apologize, for some reason I thought you were referring to the 18' MINI Yours Vanity Spoke.

The 16 Vanity wheels look good, very classy. I would say that if you are willing to spend some more, think about 17" wheels. They look better especially on the 4 door as they (to me) look more proportionate to the size of the car. I've driven 16" and 17" and the difference in ride is almost unnoticeable if they're both runflat. If you're getting 16" non-runflat, then yes, there's a difference.

 

No problem. From the website the 16" Silver Victory wheels looked pretty cool but you are absolutely right, I should find a hardtop 4 door with 17" wheels and see if I like it better.

 

Before I could go over to take a look at the Fiber Alloy dash surface or the 17" wheels I got an email telling me my MINI is in production. YAY! (boo).

Signed contract to production in under 24 hrs...almost beats 0-60 in 6.5 seconds!