Welcome back!

Auto dimming mirrors are amazing. I think homelink should be standard but those mirrors are worth at least $600 to me. Backup sensors are a tough argument given the good rearward visibility of the Hardtop and the required backup camera. My wife places a lot of value on sunroofs I just think back to our R56 sunroof and can't help but think we would be better off without it. Finally, I think "winter beater" when I see the base alloys. I think the SE specific Corona Spoke 17" wheels are quirky and awesome (even if they need some rebranding...) but not worth $3000 because I don't care about the other things in that level.

So we're either thinking Sig+ for nice radio, sunroof, mirrors, and tentacles and buy winter wheels later. Or Base, save the ugly wheels for winter and try to find the Coronas for less than the MINI recommended $2300, add homelink / dimming mirrors ourselves. Either way we're looking at $35k-$36k before federal tax incentive. Certainly not a cheap car, but it's good. Wish they had the build page live now that people are taking delivery. Tossup between Silver White and Moonwalk Grey, definitely Enigmatic Black if we lose our minds and buy the Iconic. Yellow accents are too cool to skip. Maybe we can get an SE in Starlight Blue next M.Y.

How would everyone else spec the car?

 

Agreed! I was spoiled from my Golf and told myself I'd never buy a car without keyless entry and start again... and then turned around and bought a $10k FIAT. Oops!

Compared to most brands I think MINI's comfort access is a joke. At least, the version they were peddling in 2015 is a joke. I hope BMW has figured out how to make a good system since then.

 

You seem to basically have the same mindset I have about the toss up between Signature/Signature+. I hate the standard wheels, and I don’t think they’ll let you add 17’s to the base car. My other dilemma was upholstery - I’m actually considering the leatherette/cloth but the salesman I’m working with really exploited me and sold me on the Cross-Punch leather.

I attached how I’ve currently got mine spec’ed out.

 

Oh I freaking love those recycled textile seats. The crosspunch is super classy and nice, but not really the reason I'm into MINI (even if they do it well). The textile seats have better grip than suede and you don't have to clean them 3x a week to keep them looking nice. Plus the sides being a contrasting material/color really looks great to my eyes.

Interesting that you went black Cosmos over the tentacles. Fear of cleaning or just don't like the look?

 

That’s a good recommendation for me to switch that back when my dealer reopens!

The tentacles were my second choice, I went back and forth honestly. I had the same black cosmos on my clubby, and like the contrast with the roof/mirrors. If I was going with the white/silver I think I’d have gone with the tentacles. Something about black and gray for me. The added bonus of not showing as much brake dust helps.

 

Hah! This is why I gravitate towards gunmetal/hyperblack wheels.

I've been digging matte black now since we had my wife's winter wheels repainted. Just not a fan of gloss black unless they are also machined face. Same idea as black paint. Looks fantastic for 30 minutes until it's dirty again.

 

I'm not sure if it's been updated, but I have a 2019 and think it's nice. If you have the key, you can just press a button to lock/unlock doors, open the hatch, and start the engine. Also, the fob that opens the driver door loads preferences. It seems to just be preset stations, but I guess there's not tons of customization the MINI lets you do. (Would love if I could just start in Sport and turn off various features.)

If it's the same as 2015, then what other features make comfort access better for other brands?

 

Have one of these in the shop today for inspection. Kinda cool to see the emissions sticker list "Electric, Li" as the fuel type.

 

Sounds the same as our 2015. I only have experience with VW, Ford, and Hyundai but they all do it the same way. It's really just a handful of little things that add up to make the system less enjoyable for me.

Instead of pressing a button to unlock the doors there is a sensor on the inside of the door handle, as soon as you reach your hand in there the sensor unlocks the door so you literally just walk up to your car and get in as if it were already open, no hunting around for some button the size of a pinhead. To lock there's a roughly 2"x1" sensor on the outside of the door handle that you touch, not press. This one doesn't sound like much of an improvement over the MINI C.A. but the fact that I was able to lock my car with a hip or a booty bump was freaking amazing when I had my hands full. Simply can't lock the MINI without a spare hand. The MINI button requires a small amount of force to press and is difficult to do in heavy gloves, it just feels clunky by comparison to a touch system.

The other thing is overall system sensitivity. The MINI's range is pathetic. You could argue this as a security feature but I just find it annoying. If the key is in the pocket facing away from the car and I'm positioned to open the door handle I often can't get a response until I square my hips or do a belly dance at the side of the car. Meanwhile at the hatch I basically need to pelvic thrust the hatch to get in range, then flip the MINI emblem and wait 1-2 seconds before I hear the latch release. (Yes, I've replaced the batteries in the fobs with brand new name brand cells, no improvement in range.) Meanwhile the VW would unlock the hatch as soon as you got in range (separate proximity sensor for the hatch, so you have some security) so you can open the hatch normally without interruption (the car then re-locks if you walkaway without opening the hatch). In fact you could stand far enough away that you could let someone else into the hatch without getting hit by said hatch, now that's useful range.

Not sure how the Hardtop C.A. works, this may be improved for those cars. Our 2015 is technically a gen 2 car (R61 Paceman). So sure, if you've never had anything else it's a nice system and you really don't have to take the key out of your pocket, so that's what matters. But I've been spoiled by a ten year old Volkswagen, and Ford and Hyundai are putting comparable systems on cars half the price of an F56, surely BMW can compete?

 

Find someone local with the Bimmercode app and you can change these things.

 

As for sensitivity, my fob on my 2019 Hatch works from 30 feet away, in my house through window. Not sure the difference.

A problem I have with the fob is too sensitive on the trunk (boot) open. It needs a double push or something, like the foot well button next to the driver’s door. The problem I have is, if I reach in my pocket and bump the fob, I have had the truck unlatch only to find out after getting in the car and starting it some time later. That kind-of defeated the purpose of locking the doors prior to that happening.

I agree that it would be nice if the doors unlocked without having to pull the fob out of my pocket as I forget to put it back. Then there is no place to put it once i get in the car, except a cup holder or some other place. I am afraid that I might forget it in the car, get out for what is just supposed to be a minute, but it takes longer than that. It is an old habit, I know, but it is hard to break when I have 3 other cars that require me to have the key out and then put it somewhere when I get in.

 

Ah, Scypio and I were specifically discussing the Comfort Access features that MINI offers. True keyless entry and keyless start. Does your 2019 have little black buttons on the door handles? The system passively looks for the key in a close range of about a meter (on a good day) from the side of the car. The remote features still have the ~30ft range you mentioned.

This might be configurable, most fobs I've used require a long press (~1.5 sec) to open the trunk/hatch. When I bought my FIAT the passenger door wasn't plugged into the central locking, so for about 3 months my car was never actually locked when I left it. Oops! At least it sounds like your neighborhood is as safe as mine.

It seems like your top of the line JCW should have comfort access standard, but MINI does like to nickel and dime their customers so I guess I wouldn't be shocked if it were an additional option. I do agree that even if it's not required to start it's nice to have a designated place to put the key in a car. It sorta bugs me that the 3rd gen MINI keys are still UFO shaped when they don't have a dock in the car anymore. The outer shell isn't even functional. =P

Sorry everyone for the horrific topic derail. Let's hear from more people on how they would spec a theoretical SE.

 

My JCW is the bottom of the line of the JCW line, so no comfort access. Sorry I missed that on your discussion. Thanks for the clarification. Still I get your frustration. A meter is a little short...

As for the buttons maybe being programmable, I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if that is something the BMW app has in it... Hmmmm. The best I have seen for the key fob is to replace the outside with a little JCW brake rotor and caliper, which I may have to do...

 

No worries!

I have seen those, they are clever and cute.

 

Admins, the Mini Electric needs it own forum section!

 

I PM'ed mini_vinnie a few minutes ago asking him to create a separate section of the forum for the Mini Electric.

 

Looks like there is now a MINI Electric forum

 

This is another feature that can be adjusted with Bimmercode (and probably other apps). We had an issue with the rear barn door inadvertently opening. Changed the hold time to 5 seconds (to be safe), as we have comfort access, so don't generally use the fob to open the rear.