Well I got my wife into the Mini world, and we traded in the Prius today for her new 2004 Pepper White Mini Cooper . Here's a quick look at the car, we absolutely love it. The base model automatic really suits her needs and she's loving it.

I tried to convince her to do some modifications, but she denied me . Oh well, more for mine!

 

That's Great

 

nice!

but whats that next to it?!

 

That's my 95 Castrol Celica that I've built up. I'm selling it though to make room for my yellow Mini that's on the way that's pictured in my signature .

 

Btw, I need someone's help.

There was one piece missing from the dash, and I need to know how to get a hold of it. There's a cone-ish type shaped piece of trim around the hazard light button that I'm missing. The identical button on the other side of the panel is there, but not this one. Here's what I'm talking about... how do I order this piece?

 

You can get part# 62101156043 from a MINI dealer or online vendor.

Item 4 in this diagram: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...92&hg=62&fg=05

 

Wow, you're awesome! Can you also tell me what the part number is on the driver's side dome light button?

Thanks!

 

That would be 63316988172 (grey) or 63316988209 (black).

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...34&hg=63&fg=30

 

Glad your wife has her own MINI, nice looking (and the Celica too), hope she has a lot of fun with it.

 

Was the switch any reason to the Prius not being able to brake or because it would accelerate by itself?

Nice MINI! Soon to be two nice MINIs!

 

Welcome to the multi-MINI family.

 

Actually there were many reasons why we got rid of the Prius. One reason is because Toyota showed their true colors when they only recalled the 2010 Prius cars (what the hell is Prius in plural? haha) and not any of the other years. We had an 07 and we had the brake issue and I swear to god I've almost died at least 5 times because of it. It's very scary. It just shows all they care about is fixing the ones they're trying to sell, not the ones people are already driving.

The second reason being the floor mat. I've actually had it creep up and push down on the accelerator before (again, another scary moment) and was luckily able to kick it downwards. If I wasn't on the freeway with no one ahead of me, I could have been in serious trouble.

To further show Toyota's true colors, I recently went to JiffyLube for the Prius' oil change. It was the first time I didn't take it to the dealer as the dealers are so backed up with recalls that they aren't taking regular maintenance appointments. After about 10 minutes, the nice service rep asked me to come in the garage to see something. I came out to my car, and my engine filter and air filter were sitting on the engine. He showed me the filters.. they were charcoal black (I'm not kidding) with all sorts of crud stuck to it, including debris and leaves even. The black soot was on both sides of the filter, which obviously showed that I had been sucking in dirty air. I figured they just needed replacing or something, until he told me that the ones on my car are NOT the ones Toyota uses on replacement filters. IE: These were FACTORY installed....3 year old filters on my car I brought brand new and PAID to have the filters changed but they simply never did. I called Toyota and was very polite, and they actually hung up on me (I heard the click, it wasn't a connection issue) in the middle of me explaining what I learned. I called again and got patched through to the service manager's voicemail. It's been 4 days... no call. Nothing.

My friend has a 09 Turbo MC and he swears by it. He's had a classic Cooper, a base model first gen, and a 2006 S and has loved each and every one of them. I can't wait to drive my new S as I know how fast his turbo is, and driving my wife's base Cooper is a treat .

Btw, here's a better picture of her new car:

 

PS: Thanks for the help on the part numbers, guys!

 

Congrats on the new PW!! Awesome color choice too!

 

It's nice to have two MINIs in the garage. Some days I like driving the '05 S with the supercharger & 15% pulley and other days I like the turbo in the Clubman S. Enjoy!

 

Hey thanks everyone! I do have an odd question....is it normal for the Mini to make a very loud beeping sound when it's backing up sort of like a semi or delivery truck? I also have an old sticker on the dash near the ignition key slot that says something about this car having that feature installed. I was just wondering if that was something all Mini's had or it was a custom thing.

If it's stock, it's kinda funny. Sounds like something bigger than a small bedroom closet is coming towards you haha.

 

That definitely sounds aftermarket....

 

Hmm.. great. Stupid question, how would I get something like that taken out? It's kinda annoying and utterly pointless.

It says on the sticker that if you don't have the vehicle's beeping noise activated, the car will not go in reverse. I don't want to break the car lol.

 

Hey Mello, just a word of caution the auto tranny on the 1st gen MINI Cooper is known to fail early, the 2nd gen auto tranny MC does not have this issues, nor does the auto tranny on the R53 MINI Cooper S (1st gen)

 

Yea I heard. Anything I can do to prevent this? How much are replacemets god forbid....

 

Er...Prayer!!
$5,000-$7,000 (only stealerships sell them)
Some threads about changing the tranny fluid more often, but really not sure.
Beeping sound while in reverse is aftermarket.

 

Congrats on your new MINI. Sucks that Toyota is being an a$$ right now and that they hung up on you. Thats why I wouldn't take my car to a dealership unless it was under warranty. All the filter changes and stuff I try to do on my own that way I know it got done.

 

Now that I know how to change them, that shouldn't be a problem (I didn't know much about cars when I got my Prius as was a typical "take it to the dealership" customer until I got my Celica). Still, it was the fact I trusted them to change them out and they didn't.

Anywho...

Regarding the transmission, is this a sure thing that it's going to go or is it just a luck thing? The car only has 57k on it... how long do I have? Lastly, inexplicably the beeping for backing up stopped last night and hasn't happened since .....don't ask. Wherever it is, I'll find it and get rid of it.

 

Congrats! Love the color!

 

It's not Toyota's "true colors" -- it's a fraudulent dealer. And it's not as if dishonest dealers don't exist in the Mini world -- I know of one myself.

Assuming you took pictures and have documentation of your prior services at the dealer, you should pursue this with your state's AG. Most states come down hard on automotive fraud, especially by an authorized dealer.