I'm creating this thread for all of us to vent on some things we hate about our F60s. I actually think it's a good idea to have this, so that maybe someone from high up at MINI can read our feedback to make the next generations better.

So far over that past few months I've heard;

1. Vehicle is way under-powered
2. Rattles in the sunroof
3. No option for non-runflats when purchased
4. No dipstick for oil level
5. The folding rear seats are a pain (Can't just do it from the trunk)
6. Heads-up display is cheap looking
7. CarPlay sucks
8. Too much chrome, should have a blacked-out option

I'm sure there's many more complaints, post up them up.

 

forgot the no spare tire option. (Goes with the stupid run-flats problem)

 

I gotta say I absolutely LOVE my 17 Countryman with one MAJOR exception. Who's dumb *** idea was it to mix up the steering wheel radio control? WHY is the volume left and right and track forward/backward up and down. That absolutely has to be the dumbest configuration I've ever encountered. It is actually COUNTER intuitive. Volume up and down SHOULD BE UP AND DOWN!!!! And forward and backward SHOULD BE LEFT AND RIGHT!!!!! They screwed the pooch on that big time.

 

Agreed

 

I'd agree with every single one of your bullets. I will add a couple:

1. Rear tail gate foot sensor will trip too easily and close the trunk on you if you stand too close while loading.
2. The fake sound of the engine/exhaust pumped through the speakers is terrible and I haven't found a way to turn if off all together.
3. Seating and pedals position is not great - mostly noticeable in a manual car. With 3 pedals it is nice to be able to sit low in the car so that you are pushing the pedals with a forward leg motion. In the CM it feels like you are pushing down on the pedals with a foot motion and hinging at the ankle which is just odd feeling. You feel like you are sitting ON the car, not IN the car.
4. Shifter (manual again) is terrible. Very long throws that are not smooth at all. Shifting from 1st to 2nd is like shifting a bus and you can't shift fast with any success => does not promote any confidence in driving spiritedly. Our Mini Sales guy agreed.

Don't get me wrong - we think it's a nice car still. It's just not really sporty like we were hoping. It is an SUV after all though LOL. Hoping a tune helps liven her up!
I will say this as a positive - I think the suspension in sport mode is great. Firm/sport tuned but soaks up the bumps well and I think it handles very well for a small SUV. In any other mode other than sport it's a bit too soft for me.

 

If I could only change one thing, it would be on the automatic transmission , when in manual mode, move the gear shift forward, you progress forward, up through the gears. Pull the shifter back , and you down-shift. Simple, kinda intuitive.
How the Mini is now on shifting, is exactly opposite of our Lexus IS350.
Anymore I just use the paddles on the steering wheel for it.
Jeep is Chrysler, so its that back and forth, side to side, manual shift (that's crazy to begin with). It doesn't mess with me going from Mini to Jeep, or Jeep to Mini.
But go from Lexus to Mini, I have to think hard.
eh, what can you do. Really like the car though, we went on a drive across the state of Virginia this past weekend. Runs like a champ. Wifee and I both enjoyed it. Mostly back roads. have 2600 miles on it now !
I kinda like its little quirks, I fixed that rattle in the sun shade, insurance isn't bad.
Think we'll keep it

 

Agree with these as well (except for the rear tail gate, since I don't have that option)

The shifter is pretty terrible from 1st to 2nd (comparing it to other manuals I own or have driven).

When coming to a stop sign or stop light, is shifting back into 1st sometimes difficult for you? I feel like mine gets stuck sometimes and I have to jam it in there. (Which feels terrible)

At my first service, I'll bring this to my dealers attention.

 

AGREE with big time.

NO Dipstick
The folding rear seats are a pain
(No release from the trunk and when you fold them back they don't go all the way, you have to pull the release again to put upright correctly)
Steering Wheel Sport Shifter Paddles should be standard
NO Spare tire
(This is the one that bugs me the most)

Overall though, this being our first MINI, we love it!!!!

 

Never had a vehicle that drew so much power from the battery when it just sits there.

Hate the no oil dip stick, they might believe electronic are great, but I don't trust it as much.

Hate the warnings of a light is out.

Agree with the no spare options needed.

I would have liked a taste more chrome.

Mainly the heavy dependency of computers/electronics for everything ..... what next ? Driverless Minis only ?

 

Congratulations

 

[1] We have more of an issue with trying NOT getting into 3rd gear when we were trying to shift into 1st. We had the same issue with the now gone 2012 CM S we used to have, but at least the 2017 tells you what gear you're in with the Cluster Readout..... As in, yep, you're in 3rd and not 1st

 

>"2. The fake sound of the engine/exhaust pumped through the speakers is terrible and I haven't found a way to turn if off all together. <"

So that is what they are doing? Through the amp.
I guess I kinda thought ( hoped) BMW had somehow implemented that 'butterfly valve' that JC Whitney sold back in the day for the exhaust system. It was on a cable like a 'choke cable. You pulled it to open it up, It let you bypass the muffler in the 'country'. LOL

Thanks for bursting my bubble Mr. Funk ! speakers, really !
Oh well, LOL

Have to come up with cash for the Dinan tune then.
have a good one!

 

I got a spare with my Runflat All-seasons.

 

That would be BMW, as in, with the advent of the F-series, audio controls in all BMW cars.

 

- Upper-thigh portion of the seat bottom too narrow (sport seats).
- Fob is a chintzy piece of crap, while also stupidly huge, and round for no good reason.
- why are some incandescent bulbs still in use, inside and out?
- why, in 2018, was blind-spot monitoring or cross-traffic alert not offered?
- Why no heated steering wheel option?
- why no remote release of second row, from the cargo area?
- why is there no way to synchronize left-and-right climate zones?

I pretty much love this car, otherwise, to be honest.

 

Yes yes and yes... Think they were trying to build in some margin on these.

 

It's all good. They gave us FindMate. ?😂😅

 

Yes to these!

 

I haven't found a whole lot that I am dissatisfied with yet. Perhaps the fact that I was previously driving the same basic car for the last 12 years, with very little features (not even and aux ) has some influence.

• Haven't experienced any of the sunroof rattling nor grinding noises from HUD
• I have the spare tire option. Chose it over the picnic bench 'feature'
• I am fairly satisfied with Carplay, just wish it had more integration into the system, HUD, etc. (Will make a post on the the CarPlay thread with more details)
• Never noticed the steering wheel volume/change track buttons. Cannot unsee now, thank you
• The power tailgate has been working flawlessly for me after the first week of finding the sweet spot. No unexpected openings as of yet.

• Agree, a heated steering wheel feature would have been nice
• Agree, keyfob is fairly bulky, seems a bit unnecessarily big
• Findmate. Still sitting in the packaging.

A few of my other quips that I have are things that I believe can be addressed with coding, which I'll get around to doing over the holiday. Safety screen, seatbelt gong, autofolding mirrors, etc.

One last thing I wish could be changed is the duration of the splash screen when switching to Green Mode. Use this mode most of the time and it stays up on the screen for way too long.

 

These^

- No heated rear seats option
- Radio controls and display options are lacking
- Poor sound system for a premium priced car
- Horrendous orange peel
- No fog light option on the JCW

All that said, I love my MINI.

 

Yes, plenty of 'little' things about the head unit functions/features that bother me.

And... ambient lighting settings aren't saved to driver profile.

 

Can't this be coded out? If not, can always pull it out of the loop:

https://technicpnp.com/product/mini-asd-bypass-harness/

 

I use the HUD all the time for changing tracks (between different nursery rhymes stored on my USB drive that my 2 yr old requests) so the up/down is very logical for me because the list of tracks on the HUD are listed vertically. I also change Sirius stations on the HUD when she's not in the car. i can understand others not liking it but I change tracks based on the HUD much more than changing volume so I like it.



Stuff I don't like:
When I turn off the car, only the front doors unlock so everytime I go to get my daughter out of the back, the door is locked and I need to go back to the front door to manually unlock the car. I have some setting to unlock all doors but that must be for something else because not all unlock on engine off.
Agree that the fob is too big. I know there are 3D printed cases that reduce the size but I didn't care for the rough texture of those.
Heated rare seats would have been nice.
Auto folding the mirrors on lock would have been nice.

Overall, I'm very happy with the car.

 

So, I don’t know what it was like in the last generation Countryman, but the glove compartment has got to be one of those WTF design.

Couldn’t it have been like a “bucket” instead when it’s opened? You have to be almost eye level to search for something.

 

Yep, same here! As someone else said, you had to check the option (cause by default it comes with that weird seat cushion for the rear), but it is an option!

I agree with somehow being able to sync the climate controls... That's kind of annoying.

I don't agree on being under-powered... It's better than our R60! I mean yeah, compared to my old Mustang, it's low on power, but overall, it's got a decent amount of power! We have the S and a manual, so I'm not sure if that's apples to apples or not...

We ordered without the sunroof, so no rattles for us! :D

I would have LOVED a black-out option! I bet there will be one in a few years...

I wish the ambient light setting would save to profiles as well...

By biggest complaint is that there are a bunch of settings that you're supposed to be able to assign to the number buttons on the bottom of the center stack circle and I haven't found one thing that will actually save to it! Nothing I want saved is supported, so they sit empty... :(