1. More leg room. It's much easier for me to get in and out of the car, not hitting my knee on the bolster. I'm over 6' tall.

2. A dash-area creak went away. The car seems to be slightly quieter now. Yippee.

A very satisfying modification. Mine was a very easy install, although I did use tape on the blue bushings (which I pre-tapped outside the car) to hold them in place. I have yet to actually put anything in the tray, but the other benefits are worth the price, by themselves.

 

how does it look? the pic in the catalog doesnt give me a clear view.

 

but it's actually kinda hard to see. I cannot see it when I am in the driving position since it's quite a bit more undercut than the knee bolster was.

 

A quick pic of mine from my gallery....

 

it looks great and is an absolute necessity. I put it in the category of auto up windows and Aux in or an iPod interface. You simply gotta have it!

Rcih

 

I painted the switch plug on the left hand side of the Euro shelf to match my dashboard. There may not be many people that have done this.

 

Installed mine yesterday. Getting the screws in was a major challenge, as the blue bushings would not stay put, and I was just blindly turning the screwdriver. Shoulda used tape or glue, but I was away from home when I finished the job.

 

wow, didn't know you get more leg room, that's great!

 

This really should be an option. I put my aux/in into it--great place for the ipod.

I was worried putting this in, as I have driving lights, but the driving light switch pops right in--don't need to modify the parcel shelf like you do the standard bolster.

It is a pain to install though...

 

I still have not heard from anyone with a 2005 MCS who has put in a tray. I tried everything but could not get the existing bolster out. I know, you have to pull hard and have faith nothing breaks. But really, there's some kind of connection in the middle of the bolster between the two clips or hooks that I can't seem to budge.

 

I've got a 2005 MCS and installed the tray a few days ago--I bought it from Outmotoring during their sale. To get the existing bolster out, grasp the open end under the steering wheel firmly and pull hard downwards. It will sound like something is breaking, but it doesn't.

So now you've heard, go try.

 

damn, got email today saying the parcel trays are on nationwide backorder...
Really can't wait couple of weeks to get it.

 

That it is. I just got mine from OutMotoring yesterday, and installed it last night. It took me forever to get the screw on the right side of the steering column into the blue thingie, 'cause the holes didn't line up. It also took a while to figure out that I couldn't pivot the whole thing up per OutMotoring's instructions, but instead slide it on from the front and use a pair of pliers to properly seat the connections in the back. Sheesh. But a great mod nonetheless!

 

yeah, i put mine in last weekend. i never really thought much about getting one, but everyone was raving about them, so i got in on outmotoring's sale. it's great! one side benefit they don't tell you about is how much lighter it is compared to the piece it's replacing. definately worth doing.

 

I'm going to go slightly against the grain here. While I bought the Outmotoring Euro Parcel shelf, I also bought their Cooper Console Pouch and I think this is so much more useful. I don't like things falling off the shelf and under my feet and if you drive aggressively, despite the rubber tray, things will still fly off.

I first saw this at the Dragon with Sean who had one in his car and he put his video camera inside of it for his VacuCam system.

http://outmotoring.com/mini_cooper_console_pouch.html

Although the pouch contents can get crunched when the seats slide forward, its nice the orientation can be adjusted. My only gripe is I wish instead of using double sticky tape to hold it in place, they fastened under the trim ring for a slicker install.

Richard

 

octaneguy- so you have a MC and a MCS now??!

 

That's correcto!

2003 IB/Wht MC bought new from Roadshow MINI
2005 JB/JB MCS bought from NAM member recently

 

Could you take a guess at the weight savings? Just curious.

 

I love my parcel shelf, but it was a royal pain to install. That right hand screw is ridiculous. I lost one of the blue things and had to wait for Outmotoring to send a replacement.

 

dang! congrats on the new MCS.

 

the weight difference isn't that much, less than a pound probably. but the new parcel shelf weighs about half of the solid panel it replaces.

 

A pound saved is a pound less to slow you down! Plus the shelf holds a small CD wallet perfectly. Drat I just neutralized the weight savings, LOL!

 

Not really, Rye...if you didn't have the shelf and still had the CD wallet, you'd be storing it elsewhere and not have saved the decrease in wt. from the euroshelf...so, you're still ahead of the game.

 

Glad to find this post. Mine is arriving today. I made it in on the OutMotoring sale.

Looks like I need to beware of the right screw and the blue thingies.

Hope my install goes smoothly!

 

I really like my parcel tray.... I used the light plug blank to install my garage door opener. My ICE installer also install the speaker for my bluetooth system on the tray.
One concern ...... My Mni service rep comented that Mini techs are supposed to remove the parcel trays because of legal concerns in the US.... Why

Later