If you unlock the doors on the MCSC and don't open the doors, they relock themselves in about a minute and a half. Tried it several times yesterday. Worked every time. Mystery solved. It is the ghost of Oxford locking the doors.

 

Yes, you are correct, they will re-lock if you don't open them.

 

Is that only on carbio's? My toyota doors do that after 30 seconds, and I love that feature

 

I've got an '04 that does it. Thought I was losing my mind till I figured it out.

 

interesting feature

 

Didn't know the MINI did this!
DIdn't know ANY car did this, till I had a Mercedes for a few months in Germany...
Wanted to load up the trunk before a trip, so from the balcony opened the car, picked up some bags, walked dowanstairs (leaving the keys upstairs cause I wasn't going out yet), and the car was locked!
Tried again, getting downstairs in time to hear it locking itself...
AHA!! Didn't take ME long to figure out what was going on around here...

 

It's a selectable option - neither of our 2006 MCS cabrios will re-lock if they're unlocked without being opened.

 

Is there a way to keep the boot locked when the top is down, where a person cannot unlock it by reaching in to flip the unlock toggle switch? Or do we always need to put the top up when walking away from the M.Coop?

 

If someone knows enough to know how to reach in and flip the toggle switch, they can have what's in my boot... I don't sweat it usually.

I usually only leave it down when I can keep an eye on the car though... with my V1 in there and all...

 

I don't think it's a problem - the boot will stay locked, regardless. Here's what I just tried on my car:

1) With the top down, get out, close the door, and press the "lock" button on the keyfob. Both doors and the boot are now locked.

2) At this point, I reached in and tried to open the door using the interior door pull. The door wouldn't open, no matter how many times I pulled the handle.

3) Then, I leaned over the door to the toggle bank and flipped up the "lock" toggle. At this point, I heard solenoids activate, but both doors and the boot were still locked. The difference was, I could now open the door by pulling the interior door handle twice.

4) With the door open, I sat down in the car and repeatedly flipped the lock toggle up and down. This time, there were no solenoid noises.
The door locks didn't go up and down, and the boot remained locked. It was as if the toggle switch was dead.

5) The only way I could open the boot was to put the key in the ignition, turn the car on, and then flip the lock toggle up. That unlocked the passenger door (the driver's door was already unlocked from when I reached in and opened it from the inside), and the boot was now unlocked. I could have also unlocked it as normal, using the keyfob remote.

So, at least for the two MCSC's we have, the only way to unlock the boot is by using the remote or by putting the key in the ignition and using the toggle switch on the dash. There's a manual release that involves retrieving a hook from under the back seat or something like that, but I figure a thief isn't going to go to that much trouble, even if they know about the manual release method.

 

Wow - that's awesome - I need to test that on Blimey -

 

Great job of researching the locking boot question Requiscott! That answers my question. I often have my Nikon Digital SLR in the boot. It's good to know that it'll be secure.

 

I would still try it out with your own car - there may be selectable programmable options involved here, and I'd hate it if your car didn't behave the same way as mine.

I frequently keep my camera bag in the boot as well, although it's funny to realize that between the various lenses, strobes and meters, the camera itself (Nikon D50) is almost the least-valuable thing in the bag!

 

No doubt about that. (Nikon D40). I'm about to purchace the 18-200 VR lens. Maybe I'll weld a pad lock latch onto that boot.

 

I suppose it doesn't matter that it is possible to open the doors manually if you reach over and hit the toggle - if you want to get in - just JUMP in!

However - if I had something valluable in the boot, I would keep the TOP UP!!
Hoping that the thief doesn't know that you can indeed open the boot manually would not make me comfortable with leaving top down...that and the occasional passing bird or unexpected rainburst!

Remember - while most crooks are rather dumb, there are enough for whom it's a career, and look how easy it is to learn that there is a manual release.

Thanks for that great info, riquiscott!

 

Well, even easier than reading about the manual release on the internet is reading about it in the owner's manual, available to anyone as a .PDF download from the MINIUSA site. I'm fairly certain my post didn't tell any career criminals out there anything they didn't already know. If nothing else, a crowbar would be an effective "manual release" for a criminal as well.

 

Goto owners lounge, - your mini to download your Mini Manual.

 

Oops - RS - I hope that Thanks didn't come across as sarcastic - I really meant thanks for that amazing info that I did not know - had never tried it, and is very cool to know! (Will be rying it today...)

 

Scott, I'm a new (for me) 2005 Mini Cabrio owner, and these locks are driving me nuts. Is there a way to have the car unlock automatically when I turn off the ignition?

Thanks,
Lee

 

I know there is on the 2006 - it's one of the dealer-programmable convenience options. Not sure about the 2005. Call you service advisor.

 

MININurse has an April 05 and it unlocks when you turn off the MINI.

 

Here's a fun one to try. You know how the car automatically locks when you hit 10 mph (I think it's 10)? If you are driving past another MINI that is unlocked and you are close enough to the car at that moment when your locks lock, it will lock the other MINI as well! Found that out entirely by accident at one of our meets.

 

The Ghost of Oxford at work again!

 

Pretty neat. What was the "other MINI" doing at that time? (Engine on or off, moving or stopped, etcetera).

This shouldn't be too hard to duplicate - just line up a bunch of unlocked MINIs, then drive past them from a stop until you reach the "self-locking" speed. You're bound to be right next to one of the unlocked MINIs when the moving car self-locks.

 

We had a few of them parked in a cul-de-sac. One of the drivers had to leave and started to drive off. One of the cars locked itself while parked. We sat befuddled for a long while. Then we started playing driving in circles.