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What would you change about your MINI if you could?
General MINI TalkShared experiences, motoring minutes, and other general MINI-related discussion that applies to all MINIs, regardless of model, year or trim.
Is this really the case with R50/53s? I've had two dealers tell me that it wasn't possible to program the door pulls to unlock with one pull. Are you sure you don't mean the single or double tap on the toggle or remote?
I'm pretty sure I changed this a few weeks back, it was opening with 1 pull in the door handle, I'll check as soon as I get home and post it..
"Instead of making a seat that would be advantageous to performance driving, lets make one that is wide enough for Americans yet still as rock hard as a performance seat."
It should be like an S2000 seat, those are nice. Perfect size.
I have an 02 and when they came out there was so much complaning about the cup holders that MINI sent out short cups that fit . I guess after they came up with the side mount accessory they did not send anymore of the short cups out.
Fog lamp memory, I have to turn them back on via the toggle switch every time the car is shut off.
+ column.
Makes one have to think there's fog then react by throwing a switch. Makes one a more involved driver & limits MINI's from always shining fogs in peoples eyes. Whether there is fog or not.
Why make a cool car sound like a Chevy when you tap the horn?
Why locate the horns so you have to remove the bumper cover to get at them?
Ditto foglight bulbs (mentioned above).
I agree a set of Maserati air horns would be way cooler, but at least our Chevy horns are loud & don't sound like a moped beeping. As far as hiding them away, most car have them stashed away. It's hard to package things on a very small car.
Yep the fog lights are a pain to change, but they are on many cars. At least they can be change withourt removing the bumper cover.
- column
How about the plastic thermostat housing that reliably develops a leak every 25K miles?
And why oh why does MINI replace the defective part with the same defective part that is destined to fail again???
All in all I love my MINI. Big fun for an old guy.
Fog lamp memory, I have to turn them back on via the toggle switch every time the car is shut off.
Another reason to get Ian Cull's circuit . . . the others being the lack of auto-up windows or DSC "memory"
There is actually a setting where you can make the door handle unlock with only 1 pull, it's somewhere in the manual.
There isn't, its mechanical, no settings.
Not sure of what mechanical fix there is, but as pointed out the MINI can be programmed to auto-unlock when the ignition is shut off -- thus you still get the auto-lock but don't have to pull twice to get out (unless you're letting a passenger out while the engine is still on -- don't know the fix for that).
I like having more lighting on the road when on dark streets without street lamps etc. Basically I like having as much lighting as possible at all times, my other cars I always had the fog lamps on. They do a good job of making the first 15 feet of view much easier to see, also better for avoiding potholes.
Originally Posted by Crashton
+ column.
Makes one have to think there's fog then react by throwing a switch. Makes one a more involved driver & limits MINI's from always shining fogs in peoples eyes. Whether there is fog or not.
rear latch that keeps malfunctioning. drive buy a lot and look at the used mini section. if the dealer has quite a few you will probably see one or two that the boot looks to be partially open. at one time my local dealer had two one the lot and now mine has that problem
Taking the R53 out of production ...what were they thinking ?
Originally Posted by cycleway4
what was MINI thinking?
........for not fixing the above [pwr str system] sooner.
And for letting weak strut mounts/towers continue year after year after year...........
Originally Posted by gaffer
Non spin-on oil filter?!?!
Originally Posted by AKIndiMini
Why do the MINIs (not sure on the R56) w/o the rain sensing wipers have just a fixed interval intermittent wipe setting?? I've had econobox Toyotas and the like that came standard with variable intermittent wipers. With the money we spend on these cars, a variable intermittent setting should be standard, like most any other car.
Originally Posted by hardtail15
why did they put chrome on the shifter, burns my hand on a hot day like today
Originally Posted by Sir Mini
How did they come up with that dipstick? Luckily mine hasn't broken off in there yet... But then I can't read it anyway, no point in taking it out.
To all of the above.
Now, if someone could figure out an adapter to remote mount the oil filter with a spin on, I'd be a happy camper.
this car has so many settings that I forget how they really work 
