Hi All,

I will be moving to Canada soon and plan to take my '03 MCS with me. I have been working my way through the customs documentation requirements and have a good handle on that.

What I'd like to know is this: Is there a way for a home DIY'er to flash the on board computer to display metric values for things like odometer; gas consumption; outside temp; climate control temp? My car already has Mph & Kph on the speedo...so Canada Gov does not require a swap out. My car also has DRL activated by my dealer when I bought the car. Also, my car does have the OBC...I have a button on the turn indicator lever to cycle mileage, temp, consumption, range etc.

I have heard the dealer can do this easily...but will charge hundreds of dollars for it. Can a tool like VagCom get this done? If so, I'd rather pay for that system, do it myself and keep a shiny new VagCom as a bonus.

Any pointers are much appreciated!

Mike.

 

If you've got auto climate control, you can push and hold on the 'auto' button to switch it over to C*. This will also switch your OBC to read C* as well.

Hope this helps!

 

Yes, I've got Auto Clim Control...this is very cool! That gets me half way there! Now I just need a way to do the odo and OnBoard Display values...

Big Thanks!

Mike.

 

Tornado,

I just imported a 06 MCS into Canada from the US. To satisfy the Registery of Imported Vehicles (www.riv.ca) you need a clearance letter from BMW/Mini Canada. Before they give you this piece of paper, they require a swap of the speedo and tach, program all functions to meet Canadian standard and turn on the daytime running lights. Obviously this was not cheap!!!! Even though the current speedo has miles and km, they required a swap.

If you can get a clearance letter from your current dealer, you may be able to avoid this, but transport canada is under direction fom Mini Canada to only accept their documentation. And to add insult to injury, the dealer charges $500 fee for the paperwork.

On top of this there is the RIV fee ($205) and a/ca tax , GST tax, and duty required to pay at the border.

Check out all the costs to see if it makes sense to import the car....

Jeff

06 Chili Red/White MCS

 

Geeee that's a lot of hassle and money to spend.
Hey why not leave it that way?
So what if MPH vs KPH?

I think the Mini speedo has KPH conversion underneath the mph number.
If you are running 60 mph, the bottom number is showing a little over 100 kph.
IMO, too much hassle and waste of money, after all you probably used
to mph, farenheit etc,etc.

 

Yes, I've heard of this gouging by BMW Canada for these things. However, to satisfy the Canadian Import requirements, there is no need to swap the speedo if kph is present on the dial. No gov requirement to switch odo to miles...this is just a preference thing.

The $500 recall clearance letter is just to document to transport canada that there's no saftey campaigns outstanding on the car. Other car companies provide this free at local dealers (my VW dealer gave me a screen shot of the service record and it shows no open recalls for my Eurovan). BMW forbids it's US dealers to provide this to customers...if the intent is to export the car to Canada. So, I told them I was selling the car and the buyer required a statement of no recalls. They typed me up a letter on the dealership letterhead for free. I've sent it to the Canadian RIV folks to confirm that's what they require.

BTW, there is a class action lawsuit underway in Canada regarding this extortional policy of BMW Canada. Check out updates on this here:
http://ucanimport.blogspot.com/

Here's an excerpt from that site:
---------------------
UCanImport suggests the following:

1. Ask the seller to obtain the Warranty Vehicle Inquiry report from their BMW dealership in the US. This is a screen capture that also shows if any recalls are outstanding on the vehicle.

2. Submit this report to recall@riv.ca and have them review it and if okay, approve it.

3. Have the DRLs activated in the US! Folks, this is the one that gets most BMW importers. Most people are just happy to get the recall printout that they forget to ask for the DRL activation.

4. Take your vehicle to a Federal Inspection Center once you receive Form 2 from RIV and bypass BMW entirely.

This is a strategy that has been used by hundreds of UCanImport subscribers and they have successfully avoided the BMW money-grab.


=====================

Wish me luck in getting through the bandits!

Mike.

 

When I moved the other way, Manitoba to Missouri, my MINI just had to pass state safety/emission tests, and I had to show proof of ownership. They just dealt with the whole thing like a normal out of state car moving to MO. Now on the out of state computer form there was a line for putting what state the car was coming from, but the drop down only had states in it, no provinces, or Canada for that matter. So they just said to pick a state, so I picked North Dakota, as that's where I had crossed the border into the U.S.

The safety inspection did not care what the speedo read, Which in my MINI's case was KMs only. I haven't bothered to change any of the read outs to imperial measures, and it's great having the locals in the car when they say, man this car feels rock steady going 120

Mark

 

I would be supprised if you had to swap out the speedo...lots of cars are exported to Canada from NH...it is very common, and from what I have heard pretty easy.