For those who are interested. I removed the two 8.75" black plastic snap in pieces that are located on one on each side of the rail track. They are there to prevent you from placing any rail accessories in front of the brake handle travel area.

My wife wanted to be able to use her cell phone holder that came with the car. I said that I would remove those plastic pieces and make it usable.
Granted, we will now have to take the brake off by gripping it from underneath on the rear side of the handle instead of the standard way. We'll see how long we like taking the brake off that way. With the handle down there's about half an inch space between the holder and the brake handle.

I used a small flat blade screwdriver placed at the exposed end of the insert facing the rear of the car to pry inward toward the center of the rail. As you can see in the pics, it is open on one end with a lip on the top and bottom edge that keeps it snapped into the rail. Just place the screwdriver blade so that it fits into the slotted part of the insert. I recommend prying the passenger side insert from the driver seat and the driver side insert from the passenger seat.

For those who use their radio aux input jack or the usb, don't bother attempting this because as you can see I am almost up against the jacks.

Depending how much much of a p.i.t.a. it is to release the brake handle that way, we may opt for a different type of cell phone holder.

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

Nice job! Been wondering about this. My car is off a few months but I'm bugged by the fact the area was so cramped. So per above, do you mean you would grab the brake like you would curl a dumbbell (sorry, only thing I could think of) so your hand is turned over?

 

I went to the dealership and they did not know if that part was needed or not. I also saw some models coming in with one long center rail. but mine came iwth a front and rear one.

Thanks for confirming what I thought might be the case. Now I should be able to use all my accessories.

 

My wife has been releasing the brake by reaching on the driver's side of the handle. I take two or three fingers and reach with palm side forward from the rear side of the handle.

 

This is a great start. Knowing how to remove the strips. Now we need a retrofit of the holder to raise it out of the way of the brake handle.

I removed the cell phone holder from the base where it rotates. To do this unmount from the part that clips into the rail turn it over and squeeze the two clips together that come through the base it is hard to do but it will pop out.

Now what I plan to try is to reattach the pieces with a 3-inch or so spacer. This gets the phone higher and if the spacer is small enough in diameter will allow enough room for proper gripping of the brake handle. Not sure how to do this without damaging the pieces. I am going to think on this. Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

I will try a test fit in the Mini tomorrow for diameter and height. Also need to worry about the 6 speed. I don't want finger crunchers on that side too. Be careful when you have a large cup up front.

 

Nevermind. The space is just too close for a good mount of the cell phone holder in this location and a forward grip on the brake.

 

we pulled the phone holder out from that position a week ago.....too much of a pain

 

I think I'm going to modify an apple dock connector to simply click into the rail instead of using the rail-puck. I'll post pics if I get it done.

There's no reason Mini couldn't have made a smaller, 90 degree attachment to fit those jacks that then slipped right into the top track of the rail. So much potential in that system, so little execution.

 

Where you able to mod the Apple Dock?

 

I took a file and removed material in the 2 connector areas. It worked out great. I still think that it is a horribly designed mount. I am still looking for a different mount that really works without feeling like I am installing a new component every time I get in the car. Overall it is a bad design and MINI should not be happy with what they came out with. Great idea horrible execution. I would be willing to bet that the second generation will be much better, 2012 owners let us know.

 

It's no better in 2012. But I do have a drivers side visor instead of a grab handle. Baby steps. Maybe in 2015 the rail will mature and become useable.

 

i was thinking to remove it also, me and my gf are trying to get the sunglasses and cell phone holder in at the same time. will try to play with the idea this weekend.

 

The rail concept is cool. The problem is the brake handle that makes almost 60% of the rail useless.

 

The Mini site doesn't do a very good job of displaying optional "clip ins" for the rail; is there a link to a spot where I can find everything available for the Countryman, and has there been any progress in work-arounds for the brake and rail issues? Thanks in advance.

 

I didn't even try to remove the strips. I bought the same phone adapter and just filed down the tabs a bit to be able to snap the base into the rail. It is very tight getting the ebrake up and down, but is possible. Also noted that the connector ports are inaccessible with the phone holder in this position. Final comment... feeding the power cord up thru the base of the unit caused some cuts in my brand new iPhone 5 cable. The Mini phone adapter has some sharp edges that need to be knocked down with some sand paper.

 

The new"flat" iPod holder that Mini started including with April deliveries snugs up very close to the front of the rail without removing the plastic strips.

Also it fits under the Emergency Brake.

This holder is available through the Part Dept.

See photograph.

Vince

 

Just a quick update, ordered the Vertical Cradle for the iPhone from Outmotoring. After much excitement, there was extreme disappointment when I got it and tried installing it. My Countryman S is a Manual, and there is just NO way to get this phone mount in a "usable" position due to the handbrake. I'm going to pop out the base and return it to Outmotoring.

 

the concept of the rail in the CM is good, the execution is completely horrible and i'm VERY surprised they carried the unuseability forward in the '13 models.