I didn't build my car, there was one on the lot close enough to what I wanted. It came with Comfort Access.

The option is $250 to add. For those considering it, I rarely use it. In fact, there is a very limited use case for it.

At night, most of us would rather hit the unlock button on the key fob so the lights and puddle lights come on.

When you have more than one person with you it is often more convenient to unlock the car door before stepping up to the door handle.

In addition I rarely lock the door using the comfort feature. Similarly to the above, if I'm not the only one in the car, I'd have to wait at the door to use it, instead of just pressing the key fob button as I'm walking away.

Might be better to get some stripes or mirror caps with the $250.

 

My Mini doesn't have but my BMW M240i does. I find it convenient w/ the Bimmer to just walk up to the car and open the door (or the trunk) w/o having to reach into my pocket for the fob. As long as I have the fob in my pocket passenger can open their door before I do w/ the comfort access also.

I assume if the Mini was equipped it would operate the same, yes? Or is there some oddball operation w/ the MINI?

 

You are correct, this works same as Ford and Nissan do as well, no quirks. I just find I rarely use it. In addition, I have 4 door, typically, kids are to the car before me and there is no access on back doors.

No, this is not like the auto-climate on the 3rd Gen where the fan intensity is not auto.

 

I use it on my R58 JCW. Not all the time, but sometimes. It's handy when you can keep you keys on you at all time in your pocket. I wish it was standard.

 

never had it before, didnt use it for the first weeks of owning but I would get the option every time now.
mostly just not having to get the key out of my pocket, inevitably if i have my hands mostly full, the key is in which ever pocket is more of a pita to get a free hand to grab- and i literally put the key on the same side every single day.
*if its dark* i dont have to try and figure out what button to push on the remote in the dark, which i guess wouldnt be such an inconvenience if i used the buttons on the key more often.
rear hatch as mentioned
keyless start - didnt realize this was 3rd gen forum, they come with keyless start
can jump out, with car running and lock door with button, keep keys on you

I get to the point where if i drive my other car (2012 denali) i literally take the key out of my pocket, unlock doors, put key back in my pocket, jump in, and then have to get keys back out of my pocket to start it.

 

I have CA and it's become a habit when I enter/exit the car to use it (I'm usually driving alone). I like that I can go up to the door, hit the CA button to open, get in, and start the car without having to put my key in the slot. Then when exiting, I close the door and immediately hit the button to lock. I can see where you're coming from with a 4 door and kids though.

I don't know if it's changed for the F series cars but in my R56 you can lock the doors using CA even if the other side is still open. Then when your passenger closes the door the car beeps and finishes the locking process. So you don't have to wait for the passenger to hit the CA button and lock the door. The only issue i've run into is if the passenger doesn't close the door firmly enough and it's left half-closed, the car locks and you can't open it again without unlocking the car.

CA is one of those options I'd rather order because there's no way to retrofit it in the future if you wanted. Stuff like Navi, bluetooth audio, can be retrofitted with third-party modules (e.g. using your phone for navi) but CA can't.

 

I REALLY miss it on my R58, but on the F56 you can leave your key in your pocket and start the car which is what I miss. I didn't use the door button that much so I probably wouldn't get it now for $250.

 

Thanks for all your inputs ... perhaps I'll adopt a way to use it more. I rarely take FOB out of pocket to unlock as the button on top of the FOB is unlock, so I go by feel. Yes I still have to put hand in pocket, maybe its just a thing I need to get used to.

 

Honestly, I love it. Especially when the car is locked and I'm carrying a ton of crap and cannot reach my keys in my pocket... I can still pop the trunk open easier.

There's also been times where I've had to jump in my car quickly and didn't have that split second to fish around for my keys. Say when some deranged homeless person is rapidly walking up to me.

 

Two out of our three MINI's have CA, I'm the unlucky one without it. I'd gladly trade my HK crap sound system for CA.

 

One last thing. A while back got into a discussion about locking the Mini and not getting a audible (horn) beep (just a flash of the lights to indicate locked).

Most of those owners that are happy that the MINI didn't have a audible beep claimed its intrusive and annoys the neighbors, etc. I'm actually on the other side of that argument since I only lock my car when out and about shopping or going out to eat. Garage parked so it's open when coming home.

I do get that some folks living in apartments and coming home late could have a neighbor issue, but I digress.

I like the convenience being able to walk away from my car, push the lock and not have to look back to see if the lights flashed or listen for the locking mechanism engage.

BMW has the option for a audible "beep" as well as the lights flash. The beep isn't a horn, but rather sound like a computer "beep" on start up. Perfect "compromise" solution. Wish the MINI had it.

 

They do....if you have the alarm system...

 

I wonder if you could hijack the lock for the gas cap and put a little beeper speaker back there behind the cargo panel ...

It definitely gets a short burst of power on lock and unlock ...

 

Comfort Access is now MANDATORY on any vehicle I will own.
NOT having to put the fob in the dash key slot is priceless.

 

The Gen IIIs don't use the FOB in dash anymore, all start with push button. So all the comfort access is now is the rubber buttons on the trunk and doors.

 

Which makes it an overpriced feature, imho. My car came with CA and I like it a lot, but if I were custom ordering a car I'd put the $250 towards something more useful, like the storage package or roof rails.

(I bought a tarted up F55 that the dealer had sitting on the lot for a year and was desperate to get rid of... it has a lot of options that I pretty much got for free )

 

When opportunity knocks.... the art of the deal

 

Seems to be the trend w/ MINI now. Pretty much every thing you'd like to have has a $250 or $500 price attached to it. The Ambient lighting (was included in 2015 as well as the extra driver sun visor and storage cubby on dash), now comes w/ a $250 up-charge (and no option to get the extra visor or cubby).

Unfortunately, the Mini comes as a pretty stripped down car, so any of the "nice to haves" are coming at a Co$t.

Waiting for them to start charging for the air in the tires.

Don't misunderstand, I like the Mini a lot and will order another F56 in 2018 (likely in the low to mid $40K range). If you want one, you're going to have a dig deep in the wallet for the options.

 

It's classic BMW, but it wasn't so bad on the MINI for the first gen and most of the second gen years. I'm concerned that in their zeal to maintain profitability despite selling fewer cars, MINI North America is going to try to squeeze milk from a stone and end up hurting Gen 3 sales even more because they're charging for things that are standard in similarly priced compacts from other makers, making their cars less competitive.

(And seriously, no driver side visor? That probably saves them, what, maybe $3? That's just being cheap.)

Pretty sure a lot of dealers charge for "Nitrogen fill". Air's 78% nitrogen already…

(In theory it matters. Nitrogen migrates through rubber more slowly than oxygen so tires should lose pressure more slowly, and without oxygen the inside of the tires can't being to oxidize. But seriously, you're going to run out of tread years and years before the tire rubber starts to degrade from oxygenation. I've got years-old tires in my back yard for my kids to play with and there's no cracking or noticeable drying. And on the pressure side, people who never check their tire pressures aren't going to suddenly start monitoring it just because you used pure nitrogen to inflate them.

(So, yeah, I pretty much see nitrogen fill as a scam.)

 

Spend the $250 on a trip enjoying your new Mini.

 

Completely disagree. I use comfort access every day I drive the car.

 

On my R56 I liked it because I could keep the key in my pocket vs inserting in the dash slot. On the F car? Meh... waste of money IMO.