Hello, so I'm finally about to buy my MINI after all these years of pining. I found one near me advertised for 13,990 with 49,000 miles on it. It looks clean, but i have 2 questions about R56's that pertain to this.

The first is that the car does not have the multi function steering wheel. Is this something id be able to retrofit into the car? And if so, would i be adding cruise control to the car? It'll get a lot of use on a long highway commute every day, and this is something i would really like to have.

The second question i have is in regard to the vinyl roof decals that mini sells. Are they tremendously expensive to buy/fit? Has anyone on here fitted one to their own car after they purchased it?

thanks for the help!

 

You can get a mini without buttons on the steering wheel...
I'm pretty sure you can't....

 

It's extremely expensive and difficult to retrofit cruise control (at least on the R53). I've researched it quite a bit on here and I've never found a post that describes anybody successfully doing it. As the owner if an R53 without Cruise Control, I HIGHLY recommend you find a car which already has it (I got a speeding ticket yesterday).

Regarding the roof decals; the price question is relative to your circumstances, but you can find aftermarket decals for a couple hundred bucks. You'll find dozens of write-ups on here on How To Install them.

 

Okay before anyone spits out their bull **** and does not know what the hell they are talking about, I have had MFSW retrofitted into my MINI. So I will explain what is going to happen. MFSW did not become standard until 2010 just for everyone's essay.

First you are going to need to buy the buttons for the steering wheel. Around $200
Second you will be buying a new steering control unit that will accept MFSW. Around $500
Now here comes the fun part. You can either go to a MINI mechanic or the dealership either will work. You will have them install the parts(do the buttons yourself they are super simple), after which you will have them get into the vehicle code and have them turn on the code to accept MFSW. Once that is done all they have to do is program it and bam you have MFSW. Labor is around $400.

So your overall price is around a $1000. This will directly go into the vehicles resale and you will get that money back. Already looked multiple times. What year is it again?

Hopefully this helps. If you need more help with it PM and I can give you some tips.

 

Uh, sorry...I think. Wow. That seems harsh. And directed at me. And unnecessary.

Was your retrofit for a first gen or a second gen? Because if I can get this done for $1000, I'm gonna do it.

 

That 2010 date seems off for cruise control.

 

If you're comfortable with computers/software, you can avoid the trip to the dealer (and associated labour cost) by using NCS Expert (as described in this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...beginners.html) to make the changes to your car's programming.

Once you installed the hardware (buttons and new SZL module), just add option "$249" to your vehicle FA string, and default all the modules in your car. This will retrofit the MFSW option.

 

Mine is a second gen. And yes your are right 1st gen you might as well not waste your time but we are not in the 1st gen section.
As the poster above just stated if you are comfortable you can do it yourself.
As far as the szl module goes talk to Way at WMW he knows what part he was the one that helped me out.

 

+1 there are so many people out there that have no clue as to what they are talking about and spread missinformation. It would be really nice if people that did not know what they were talking about would either not respond or ask a question rather that make statements that are totally false.

And on top of that this exact subject has many threads on it all stating the same thing. People are supposed to search before posting another thread about a subject.


Thanks to Porthos for for persevering thru this ordeal to get his car updated to have MFSW. I know it was a hassle for him when he was doing it because of some bad or incorrect parts. But because of him there are a lot of people that have done this upgrade.

Thanks again to Porthos for being a great asset to the MINI community.

And all this talk I have been seeing recently about Gen 1 cars in the Gen 2 section is crazy THEY ARE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CARS and as such have only a name in common.


And it is great to have Chernobyl, StrobeyProbey and others working on programing issues and figuring out how to do these computer programing up grades. Thanks Guys

 

Thanks everyone!!! Well, i drove out to queens tonight to take a look at the car, and long story short it was a complete wash. I don't know how one damages their paint so much without actually trying, it looked as if a 12 year old peppered the car with an air rifle for a few hours. And after it was fired up, it had a very very very loud death rattle, as well as some other miscellaneous ticking. Needless to say they won't be getting my money for that car.

But thanks for all the knowledge on retrofitting. I feel confident that when i do buy my car if it doesn't have the mfsw ill be able to add it conveniently enough. You guys rock.

 

I've read all of these posts and I'm still confused! I'm about to purchase a 2009 mini cooper s convertible. The card does not come with a mfsw. Can I retro fit? Really looking for stereo controls and/or bluetooth. Cruise would be an added bonus.


Vin # WMWMS335X9TG88783


What are my options here? Can anyone direct me to a parts breakdown?

 

Can you read?