Clubman Gang,

I am new to MINI and waiting for my Clubman S order (couple of more weeks!).

I was just at the dealer yesterday showing the cars to some interested friends and noticed for the first time that the regular Coopers have sheet metal gas cap doors, locked from the inside, and that the Cooper S have a Monza-style cap without a cover.

My first question is; does the S cap also lock?

Secondly, and I may be wrong here since I didn't have a lot of time to check it out, but it seems that it's a rather cheap chromed-plastic unit - one on a new dealer car looked like it already had scratches on it - and if so, has anyone had any issues with this?

Any one in the after market community addressed this with maybe a cool aluminum piece to replace it?

 

Yes the S gas cap locks. When you lock your doors, there is a solenoid pin that locks the gas flap at the same time. Our gas flap is the chrome plastic cover. It is not scratched and I don't see how it could get scratched up. Its recessed in the body. Maybe someone was wearing big rings or something? Who knows.

 

Yes, the chrome gas cap in "S" second gen models is made of chromed plastic. In the R53 S (1st gen MINI) the gas cap is made of real chromed metal.