I'm about 2 months into my Mini Countryman experience and I found an odd quirk in the ignition.

For background, I have a 2014 Countryman S, 6-Speed Manual.

After parking the vehicle, I turned the car off and removed the key from the cradle. For no particular reason (foot still on the clutch), I pushed the Start/Stop button without the key in the cradle. Shazaam, it started right up. It can be driven without issue, even without the key inside the vehicle. (I don't think I have any proximity sensors in my Mini, but I checked this out anyway.)

After a few tests, I have discovered that it will only do this under these conditions.

1) Car must have been ON previously, although I haven't determined a max time between turning the car off, removing the key, and turning the car back on.
2) Clutch must be pressed.
3) If the Start/Stop button is pressed without the clutch depressed, it will void the ability to start the vehicle without the key.
4) If any button on the remote is pressed, it will void the ability to start the car without the key.

I am going to do some tests to see how long the car can be off and still re-start without the key. In the meantime, I thought I would ask if anyone else has noticed this?

 

Do you have the Comfort Access option? If so that explains it. If not good luck figuring that one out without a trip to your dealer.

 

Yes, all second generation cars can be started this way. It is thought to be some sort of winter warm-up facility but has never been publicly endorsed by Mini.

 

Old news. Comfort Access has nothing to do with it. The feature is for valet parking. There are a couple of recent threads here discussing that very issue.

 

Awesome. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

 

Its been around on the R56 for over 7 years - I've never heard it described as a valet option, i thought it was more a function of the electronics not shutting down immediately after key removal.

 

And it doesn't seem to work on my R60 SDA4, whereas it does on my girlfriends R56 Justa