I was on the fence about MINI connect and GPS, but ultimately decided against them since I was worried that they would date the car faster. I'm wondering:

Does the portable GPS that MINI sells work without MINI connect? I didn't even realize it existed until a few hours ago. If it does work without connected, I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I'll get it. Does anyone out there have it? Opinions?

I also find myself wondering about the colored light ring around the speedometer. Does that still exist without MINI connected? I didn't think to ask when I bought the car. It doesn't change my preference, but I am curious.

And one last thing... it seems like most of the cars I see in person have tinted windows, but I'm not sure. Do the windows/sunroof have some tint on them from the factory? I never saw it as an option, and I've seen some pictures on dealer sites that appear to have untinted windows.
Why do these thing pop into my head at 3AM? It's going to be a long 8 weeks!

 

The sun roof and windows are tinted, the windows (rear) are very dark. All was standard issue

 

Thank you for the info. That makes explains why I see tinted everywhere, but also remember clear! The front are quite a bit lighter than the back...

 

Our CMS, nor any new car I've bought, had dark tint on it. Had to be added later. The sunroofs always had a pretty dark tint from the factory.

 

I have Mini Connect and would not order it next time. The only reason I connect it is to have the Mini GPS search for a location on my iPhone and have it transfer to the screen. I do this rarely. Ask the dealer to show you the Mini Connect in action and they will stumble and typically recite from the brochure of what it does.

As for the Mini GPS, I have bought it for a cleaner look. The voice guidance does not speak the names of streets, only generics-like turn left in 500 feet. It does have live traffic updates and does mute the radio when providing guidance. When I am on a phone call thru the Mini Bluetooth thru my iPhone, the phone call also mutes when providing voice guidance--which I find annoying when the caller is speaking and I miss what they are saying. I have no idea if they can hear the guidance also. It is basically the same lame system that BMW has and is cost prohibitive to update.

I also purchased a Garmin Nuvi 2595LMT GPS which I see at Amazon for $127 or a fraction of the Mini price, which speaks names, provides lifetime map updates and realtime traffic updates.


Lastly, as for tint, I had my tinted with ceramic tint--which supposedly does not limit transmission of cell phone and GPS signals. Be mindful of the tint laws in your state as they vary widely.

 

Does the portable GPS that MINI sells work without MINI connect? I didn't even realize it existed until a few hours ago. If it does work without connected, I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I'll get it. Does anyone out there have it? Opinions?

The nav option for Connected is not worth the upgrade in price, but I do like Connected. The screen makes it easy to change settings, you get album art with USB and you also get bluetooth audio support, which you do not get with the base radio. The MINI portable GPS is just a rebranded Garmin unit and works just like any other Garmin unit - not saying it as a negative though! Garmins are great! It has the advantage of free map updates, bluetooth connectivity, and voice guidance. I, personally, just bought a mount for my phone and use that for GPS


I also find myself wondering about the colored light ring around the speedometer. Does that still exist without MINI connected? I didn't think to ask when I bought the car. It doesn't change my preference, but I am curious.

What light ring do you mean? Do you mean the multi-colored LED light ring on the 2-door and 4-door Hardtops? You will not see that on a Countryman...

And one last thing... it seems like most of the cars I see in person have tinted windows, but I'm not sure. Do the windows/sunroof have some tint on them from the factory? I never saw it as an option, and I've seen some pictures on dealer sites that appear to have untinted windows.

Windows don't come tinted from the factory, but many dealers (especially those in sunnier climates) will add them as dealer accessories. You'll see the tinting as another charge on the sticker. The sunroof is tinted though.

 

My wife has factory GPS in her Mercedes, but she never uses it, and uses her phone instead (Android/Google Maps) for two reasons:

1) Ease of use

You can tell it, "Navigate to iHop", and it knows exactly what you mean. If there are multiple locations in range, it will say, "which one?" and show you the location, distance and time to each one. Brilliant. The factory GPS is a PITA to program, doesn't use street names, isn't accurate with ETAs, doesn't know traffic, etc.

It's also pretty easy to get info on commercial destinations, like hours of operation, and reviews, right from Google Maps.

2) Updates

Google Maps is really quick to understand new roads, new commercial destinations, and major highway construction detours, etc., whereas factory GPS doesn't.

We use rubber dash mats to hold the phones. It's the easiest, most secure approach, and they're <$5. The dash on the countryman has no flat areas, but it still works fine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/161100305121?lpid=82&chn=ps

 

Thank you all for the info!

 

So you are able to use the mini connect to search for address and POI thru the iphone and sent the info from the iphone back to the navi? I would love to be able to that, can you explain the steps?


Thank You

 

Once connected with Mini Connect, select the online search, then select name of what your searching for, by using the dial input. A list of places display. Select the place your looking for. There will be an icon on the left for guidance, click it and it shows up in the GPS. Begin guidance.

 

Did you connect your iphone thru the Mini Y cable or Bluetooth?

 

It only works when connected thru the Y cable.

 

Can I buy the Y cable from the dealer?

 

This only works with the Mini Connect option installed with the Y cable that should have been provide with the delivery of the Mini. Mini sells different Y cables. The one with the triangular connector is the one that works. The rectangular one is for sound only.

 

The cables you get with the car will depend on whether you have MINI Connected or not.

The square one is the MUSIC cable, made for MINIs with the base radio. This will let you see what's playing, select artists/album/song/etc, and control the music.

The second one you have posted there is the MEDIA cable for MINIs with Connected. It does the same stuff the MUSIC cable does, and also supports the MINI Connected apps and supported 3rd party apps. The cables are not interchangeable - MEDIA cables won't work on base radios and MUSIC cables will not work on MINI Connected

The standard cables both use 30-pin connectors for iPhone 4/4S. You can use an Apple Lightning-to-30 pin adapter to use this same cable with a newer iPhone.

If you do not have either of these cables, you will have the purchase the correct one from your dealer - just make sure you get the correct one: MUSIC for base radio and MEDIA for MINI Connected equipped MINIs.

If you do not currently have a cable and have an iPhone 5/5S/6/6+, you can buy the Lightning Y-Cable which already has the newer Lightning connector. AGAIN BE CAREFUL WHICH ONE YOU BUY - There are 2 and the newer cables look the same, EXCEPT, one says "MEDIA" and one says "MUSIC"

MUSIC = Base radio
MEDIA = MINI Connected/Visual Boost

Lightning Y-Cable Part #s:
MUSIC: 61122287642
MEDIA: 61122287505

 

Thanks guys, I did get the mini connect option but I don't remember if I got the cable. Where do they usually put the cable in the new car?

 

Siriuszero, I have a question about the Y-cables, if I have an '08 R55 with the older style Navigation system, which cable would I need to buy the Media or the Music, since it doesn't have MINI Connected, and could I buy the newer Y-cable with the Lightning adapter? Thanks in advance!

 

Check the boot, under the flat load floor, if you have it - that seems to be where dealers throw everything. It's possible they might not have given you one either...phone them up and ask. If it was a new car, you should get one.

Oooo...you got me there...not sure if you would need the MUSIC cable or the MEDIA cable... My guess would be MUSIC, but I'm not 100% sure. You would be able to get the newer Lightning cable though. I would talk to your Parts department and see if they'll let you test the cable out in the lot.

 

Well, I asked my parts guy at my dealer and he said he had no idea which one it would be, said not many people ordered the navigation then and never had anyone order a new cable for one of them either. I'm guessing it's the Music cable, I still had a Media cable that came with my '13 R55 that had Connected and wasn't recognising my phone on my '08, but the cable wasn't working correctly with my '13 either, but with my '13 it would always recognise there was a phone connected, it just wouldn't always play music or charge, with my '08 it doesn't recognise there is a phone connected at all, so I'll probably just try buying a Music cable and see if it works, and if not I'll just swallow my dealer 25% restocking fee, oh well.

 

Although off topic a bit, there is a newer Music Cable for iPhone 5 and later[Lightning plug] so, you don't need a 30 pin adapter if you just want to buy the later cable for a current phone. I ended buying both Square/Music cables for my Base Radio in my Clubman so either my phone is good, or our old iPod. I did buy an extender cable from CableJive for the Lightning cable since I wanted my phone much closer than the very short MINI cables would allow.
I also find that my HK System works scrolling through the older iPod better than my iPhone 6 for track/artist type selections.
The car's software seems biased or preset for the older Apple product, but my car is a 2012
We don't use any cable in the Countryman that has Connect, just Bluetooth Audio stream for that car, and NAV through our phones.