I don't know if anyone has driven the 2007 Minis in hot weather yet, but I wonder if the A/C woes from last generation live on.

Apparently there are two different performance "situations" with the Mini.

#1. Performance of the A/C itself is weak and and unable to keep up with heat load on any model, much worse from moonroof glass and blacktop models.

#2 Perfomance of the base Cooper suffered so severly when the A/C is powered up, that you really need to buy the S model just to drive safely with the A/C on.

Do these problems still exist on the new Mini's?

I'm thinking of the new Clubman with it's additional interior volume to cool and the extra glass may be too much for the poor little A/C units to handle and will make summer driving in hot climates unbearable.

It's still spring, so we may have to wait until July and August for a real test, but if people are having any problems already in 80-90 degree weather (Phoenix etc.), summer won't be looking good for 100+ degree temps.

 

The problem I have with the auto A/C so far is that the sensor must be very close to an outlet, because when it's hot outside I have to run the temp. lower than when it's not.

 

Definitely true on both my 2003 and 2005 MC. I have no reason to think that 2007s will be any better. MINI just doesn't care.

This is just a silly statement. It's not nearly THAT bad, jeez. Talk about lame excuses for buying an S and burning more fuel.

 

The reason my wife went with the MCSa is that the MCa had very little power with the AC on (it's get up and go had got up and gone to powering the AC). Perhaps with the stick this wouldn't have been so bad but we both felt that the MCa was very underpowered. IMHO, the non-S versions should have had closer to 130 hp to handle the AC and the auto (maybe the new generation is better as the new engine has more torque down low).

Since the issue of power is so much a personal opinion, 'web1' can only get his answer by test driving the '07s in various configurations and turning the AC on and off.

 

Hmmmm. I had a 2004 MCS and it's auto a/c worked fine, even in stop and go NJ traffic.

 

Well, I have been asking about the A/C every since I started thinking about the Mini. I am concerned about it, as I have yet to hear from anyone in North Texas if it really does keep the car comfortable when you have a black roof.

It is the only think I still have concerns about. Power wise, I drove one iwht he A/C running and it felt fine to me as far as power went. The temperature that day was in the 70's so I could not tell if the A/C is really gojng to be able to keep up the with dead calm 110F+ days of summer here.

 

Well, North Texas is an extreme environment for most auto air conditioners. Growing up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, I remember the first official sign of summer was when rear-view mirrors started falling off of windshields from the heat.

 

Hey, daffodilldeb, how's your a/c???

 

Has not gotten hot here yet LynnEl. August is the crucial month.

 

My AC is fine--so far. As with Skuzzy, the test is not yet here.

 

Power is still very good with the A/C on. No issues there, however I won't be racing with it on anytime soon.

 

In the WRX, the a/c was marginal in the Houston Summer. On my relatively short trip home every day, the a/c was just adequate to keep me from sweating to death. On the WRX, there was a long exposed aluminum section of the a/c return line running along the firewall. You could pop the hood and see condensate all over it - it was just wasted cooling margin. It was also close enough to the exhaust to pick up some heat from there as well. Wrapping this exposed return line with thermotec insulating wrap (fiberglass mesh with reflective mylar on one side and adhesive on the other) made a very noticeable difference. It's not like I got frost bite or anything, but the a/c was one step better than stock.

Looking at the MCS a/c return line, it looks like there is also an exposed aluminum section of return line running close to the firewall visible from the driver's side. It's hard to get a good look or good access without removing the air filter box, but wrapping this line may improve the a/c on the Mini just as it did on the WRX.

-my 0.02