I was helping a friend this past weekend installing some stereo equipment on his June 03' built MCS and noticed several changes on the car compared to my February 03' built MCS. This is what I noticed:

1) Front intake grills at base of windshield are all plastic instead of plastic and foam.

2) The brake pads now have electric wires coming out of them for a "Replace Brake Pad" warning light.

3) The rear hatch now has 2 new rubber bumpers attached at the bottom of the boot opening where the rear bumper attaches to the car. I assume to prevent the hatch from rattling?

4) The door stoppers (the device that prevents the door from opening too far) now uses a plastic arm instead of metal arm and it appears it won't let the door open as far as previous units.

5) The plastic frame of the dash board is a different shape underneath the top dash pad. We pulled the top dash pad off to run some wires and noted this difference. Not that it makes any difference visually, because most of you will never see it, but why was it changed?

6) The rear suspension lower mounting bolt for the shock assembly now has a plastic cover on it. I assume to protect the bolt?

7) I also noticed that the new DVD navigation (March 03' builds and later) has a warning screen now where you have to enter "ACCEPT" before using the NAV. My CD based NAV does not have this screen...THANK GOD! haha Also, there is a new menu that says "EMERGENCY". It lists your exact location and the last 7 digits of your VIN so when you call 911 you can tell them where you are. My CD NAV does not have this.

8 ) The backs of the front seats (that have the map pockets buillt into them) now have a different texture to them. The texture now is the same as the doors and the top of the dash. The previous texture was not the same and had a roughness to it.

I'm sure there are other things, but that is all I could see visually. I'm curious why there are so many changes that aren't on MINI USA, but I found them? What build month did these changes start to take effect? I found it all very interesting. The only thing I would want would be maybe the Brake Pad warning light, but that's it. My back hatch has never rattled and I noticed it was harder to close with the new bumpers.





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Stewy was born on 2/20/03, Current Status: I picked him up today, 4-1-03!! MCS, DS/BL, Prem, Sport, Cold, Harman Kardon, Nav, PDC, Rain Sensing Wipers/Auto-Dimming Mirror, Black Panther Leather with Anthracite trim!