Found this tonight on AutoBlog:

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/22/h...or-ergonomics/

and linked article:
http://www.usercentric.com/about/new...&s_id=4&id=210

Interesting. I remember the first time I sat in an R56 and although the controls were not intuitive, for a 20-something it wasn't hard to figure everything out after a few button presses and seat-ejection accidents. That was a small reason why I decided to forgo the pre-facelift R56 and get another R53, but I have to wonder if these reviewers had driven the car if they still would have written the article. Every time something about my MINI frustrates/annoys me, I just take it for a spin and the original source of annoyance has suddenly vanished! Magic!

 

After having my Clubman for 3 months, I pretty much agree with everything they wrote. I've had pretty much all the issues they mention -- hitting the window when reaching for my beverage, flashing the fog lights when reaching for the window, confusing the two-sided radio *****, turning the wrong **** when I want to turn down the volume, and generally finding the settings button on the end of the turn signal stalk clumsy to use to step through the menus. It really isn't very well designed from a human factors perspective. It's pretty frustrating to me to hit the wrong control so frequently.

And the Bluetooth/iPod interface is even more of a train-wreck, with its totally counter-intuitive one-button auto-redial your last call, when you really just intended to make a new call, and the almost unusable iPod interface if you want to do anything other than listen to shuffle play, or an artist whose name starts with "A" or maybe "B". My wrist was ready to fall off after turning that little dial dozens and dozens of turns only to make it to the "D"s and give up. I really wanted to listen to some U2, but no way I could scroll all that way through the artist list. Curiously, they provide a fairly usable alphabetical guide into the bluetooth phone book, using the 10 radio settings to define alphabetical ranges. Of course, I have about 30 entries in my phone list, and 6,000 artists in my iPod, so I'd really, really love to see the same way of jumping ahead in the alphabet applied to the iPod interface. Oh well, another $500 pretty much wasted.

All that said, I also agree with their conclusion: "No matter, the MINI still manages to win friends thanks to its amusingly tossable nature, its impeccable driving dynamics, and its irrepressible cuteness."

 

Well here's hoping that now that BMW engineers have updated iDrive to where it is usable and on-par with Audi's first gen MMI, the interface fellas can focus on the facelifted R55/R56/R57! Somebody give them an iPod/iPhone!

 

Well that makes me glad I got nav, it's not perfect by any means but it seems to beat the hell out of the non nav interface.

 

Most of the complaints are about the radio. Good thing I ordered my mini with the navi; however I'm sure there will be some ergonomic issues with that too such as its resemblance to I-drive.

 

You shouldn't have to order a $2000 Nav unit to correct a car's obvious design deficiencies.

 

Funny....I haven't had a stitch of trouble w/ any of it!!!!

 

Gabe at MotoringFile picked up on this and there are a few more comments over there as well:

http://www.motoringfile.com/2009/01/...mini-interior/

 

It seems to me that a lot of the complaints in the article could be summed up by RTM. Do you need to do this to just drive the car, no, but you'd have to do this on any car to figure out the more advanced functions.

I'm not sure what they mean by "...the most important part of the rev-range is almost always obscured by the steering wheel." With a properly adjusted seat I can see the entire tach just at a glance.

If one takes a minute to think things through this one is easily figured out as well. "...we wonder why its secondary controls are confusingly located on a stalk to the left of the steering wheel." How often do most drivers want to switch between functions of the OBC while driving? Do you want to worry about accidentally hitting a button while driving and then not having the information at a glance when you need it?

"This small series of buttons are hinged at the center and control various functions... Their Chiclet-size and close proximity to each other occasionally make them hard to use." Granted, so they want bigger, more prominent, buttons after complaining about the size and placement of the speedo?

I do agree about the volume ****, I constantly forget it's there, but then I have the MFSW (which should be standard). 1 point conceded.

I have, on more than one occasion, had a mental lapsed and advanced the track on the stereo when trying to make a turn. For some reason the arrows on the MFSW triggered the turn signal response in my head.

"It's also all too easy to activate the window dip-switches when grabbing your Venti-sized Starbucks." I don't understand this one at all. How are people grabbing their beverages? I grab mine from the side and even if I didn't there are guards on either side of the switches that stick to, I'm guessing, prevent this from happening.

Whereas I disagree with most of what is said I do agree with rjb5 on one thing. The ipod/memory stick interface is really slow. I don't think the fault is with the interface though (there is at least a ****, some just have buttons to scroll). The problem is in how the stereo caches data, it's just to darn slow. This is a technical problem though not so much a design issue.

"No matter, the MINI still manages to win friends thanks to its amusingly tossable nature, its impeccable driving dynamics, and its irrepressible cuteness." Irrepressible cuteness, argh . . .

 

Read a few other threads on here about the nav system...it has a nice collection of deficiencies too.

Keith

 

I had a couple days of getting used to it - but now it's like second nature. But I agree, just drive it hard. I love this car!

I have more complaints about the absolute crap original speakers installed, but now that I have almost corrected this (still have to do the rears and add a sub) I am tickled to death with the sound system.

 

I thought the articles to be objective and accurate. I've experienced most of the issues mentioned (tach blocked by the steering wheel, vol *** vs. menu ***, mfsw vol vs. mfsw cruise, mood light vs. cabin dome light). I've learned to stay away from the left hand stalk controls unless I'm parked and with the owner's manual in my right hand.

 

My gripe is that the speedo display of phone numbers with the BT shows only a few letters each. I'll have "Heidi home" and "Heidi mobile" in my book and the display shows "Heidi" for both of them so I have to guess. I'm glad I don't have to scroll through a gazillion artists on my iPod with a **** though (I don't have the iPod interface). That would be a drag.

 

I love the navigation, but even with it, the layout is still an ergonomic nightmare.

I may love the MINI tons and tons, but you're a fool to think it is layed out well. It is like Apple, looks before function. Good thing it functions just fine.. you just have to get used to it. 'Tis fine if you drive it everyday!

 

Even though I think the layout is ok -it just takes some getting used to - I wish it WAS as good as anything Apple has designed. In my mind, Apple is the absolute leader in ergonomic design. I will put the design of the iPhone 3G up against ANY device out there. To each his own...

 

Many have pointed out that people should read the manual, but the point of the article is a measurement of ergonomics. Sure you can read the manual and "get used to it", but the action is then memorized rather than being ergonomic from the get-go. Some people memorize a task better than others (My mother can never figure out how to change the digital clock on her car. She has yet to memorize the procedure and because it is convoluted and not ergonomic, she drives around with the clock an hour off until daylight savings time changes again!)

This is what makes Apple special. We can thank Jonathan Ives for the beautiful exterior design, but it is the functional interface that is most impressive. I recently watched a friend's two year old play with my iPhone for the first time and with very little instruction he was able to take a few pictures, browse through my pics and zoom in and out. It was truly remarkable and a testament to Apple's ergonomics that a baby can naturally use them.

Noegel, Apple products are designed around their functionality and this lends to their minimalist, often described as "beautiful" exteriors. That's why a MacBook has only two buttons besides the keyboard, one to turn the computer on and another to check the battery life, compared to say a Sony VAIO notebook which may have nice lines a carbon fiber display cover and soft-feel plastics, but it also has about a dozen buttons on the outside with small impossible-to-decipher labels.

I can vouch for this as I stopped by the Sony store in Boston prior to BMW's Boston unveiling event for the new 7-series at the Mandarin Oriental and afterwards visited the flagship Apple store across the street! BTW, iDrive for the new 7-series is greatly improved and the 10.2" screen is just gorgeous! Voice commands still aren't quite there though, but it's a good omen of things to come.

 

The controls are pretty intuitive to me. The only lame thing is how its difficult to open or close the window when you have a beverage present in the cup holder.

I take it the writer was not of the Nintendo generation? Even more so the car blatantly takes design cues from Nintendo control pads. It seems like anyone who isn't around my age has problems with technology. Such as my coworker who can't figure out how to run the iPOD her husband gave her to save her life. I feel bad for her but worse is I may be like that someday when the new wave of technology comes along and I'll still be stuck in the 90s.