Does the Dealership need to program this or if you have a Bluetooth phone will the car reconize it without the dealer doing anything?

 

In order to get Bluetooth working in your MINI (using the extra phone buttons on the Multi-Function Steering Wheel, etc.) you have to purchase a separate Bluetooth phone kit and have it installed. Currently, MINI only offers one Bluetooth kit in North America which sells for around $450 plus a large chunk of change for dealer installation. If you are capable of installing the kit yourself (i.e. you have the mechanical skills), then you can do so as the kit does not require any dealer programming in order for it to function properly.

However, please keep in mind that if you are after a Bluetooth kit that will work with the extra phone buttons on your MFSW, then you are out of luck with the OEM MINI kit as it doesn't do that (and I doubt that it ever will). There are however really good aftermarket Bluetooth phone kits available that will do this and that sell for much less money than the OEM MINI one (and are much easier to install as well).

MikeyTheMini of www.NewMiniStuff.com sells a couple of these types of phone kits (all 100% plug-n-play in the MINI - requiring no cutting of any wires, etc.). I have written a small review article on one of his kit that integrates with the phone buttons on the MFSW and with the factory navigation interface. If you'd like to read the review, then you can do so here:

Integrated Aftermarket Bluetooth

Part 2 of the article (which focuses more on the Bluetooth side of things) is coming out any day now. Just keep an eye on www.Motoringfile.com.

I hope this helps some...

-- MIKE

 

I know you have the radio and Nav, but what does it do just with the Radio, but I have the h/k?
Does anyone know how this works.
I just called MINIUSA and they do not know if it will ever work, like the intergrated. And the buttons and display seperate look like aftermarket. Which is not what i am shooting for.
Plus I am getting the key pad with the phone and the R/T button, hopefully. I wonder if the wiring is the same.
And I also asked about the SOS system, and rear fog, both have problems .
Thanks alpinamike

 

The display on the radio is just like what displays on the nav screen only it shows up one line at a time and scrolls across the radio's display screen instead. Even if you only have a factory radio (and not the factory navigation system), the handfree phone kit still shows the incomming caller's ID, allows you to walk through your phone's address book using the extra phone buttons on the MFSW, etc.

However, please do keep in mind that this is NOT a Bluetooth kit. Rather, it is a cradle-type kit where you insert your phone into a cradle that is in turn hard-wired into the car. The phone then communicates with the phone kit while it is sitting in the cradle (it also gets charged, etc.).

The kit is SUPER cool and works VERY well, but unfortunately, it will only support a limited number of older Sony Ericsson and Nokia phones. Unfortunately, there isn't a similar Bluetooth-type kit available at this time (and there probably won't ever be).

If you're still interested is seeing what the radio display looks like, there are two (not so great) photos of it working with the MINI's factory radio display in post #2 of this thread:

FS: NewMiniStuff Hands Free Sony Ericsson Phone Kit With Nav/Radio Display

If you'd like to see even more photos of the display on a H/K radio, then drop stage1scott a PM as here's the one who bought the kit from me. We installed it in his MINI and the radio display is working just great with his H/K radio.

I hope this helps some...

-- MIKE

 

My MCS is on the boat, and I've read the review of Mike's product. Despite not being one to modify my car, the plug-n-play aspect coupled with the superior functionality and the lower price has me wanting to do it. I even got a bluetooth-enabled blackberry to use in the car.

The big question: do such modifications void my warranty?

I'd rather ask the motoring community than my dealer.

 

Anything aftermarket that you install on your car could "potentially" void the warranty for affected areas of the car (e.g. if you installed a reduction pulley on your supercharger, and it died, the dealer could indeed void the warranty on your supercharger). However, the burden of proof is on the dealer to explicitly show that the part you installed caused the fault in question. Thus, I doubt that installing an aftermarket phone kit would ever cause you any problems whatsoever with your MINI's warranty.

However, the beauty of having a 100% plug-n-play installation is that you can always remove the kit (without leaving any trace that it was ever installed in the car) if you happened to run into a problem where you felt like the dealer may try and blame your phone kit for the fault (e.g. say your radio died, etc.). Instead of trying to argue with the dealer that there's really no way that the phone kit caused the radio to die, you can simply remove it before taking your car in for service.

 

But the wiring is still there when i pick up my car tommorrow I will see if they installed the extra buttons!
That way i can get this kit, plus I saw a parrot kit overseas with the mic insert plate to fit the Original Blue tooth spot on the right hand side(for my convertible only)
Is this correct with your system, want to make it look LIKE factory.
Can I intergrade this into the new MINI armrest like all BMW's.
-alpinamike