I currently have a 2006 Cooper S with the iPod adaptor which is basically a cable in the glove box. I keep my iPod in the car at all times with the glove box locked.

Now, I am thinking of getting a new mini, and would like to get bluetooth so I can use my phone in the car, but I also still want to have my iPod in the glove box.

Is this possible, or if I get the bluetooth with the iPod cable be in the center console instead?

Thanks, miniusa is very vague about the differences between all the bluetooth/ipod options and whether you can get the bluetooth kit and the glove box iPod adapter simultaneously.

 

While you can get the iPod in the secret compartment (panel above the glove box) in a new MINI, it is a dealer installed option and can cost around $600. It connects the iPod to the CD changer port. This has nothing to do with Bluetooth and wouldn't interfere with it.

The most common iPod/iPhone connection is the USB/Bluetooth option. It is a package that gives you a USB port near the AUX in jack in the cubby near the shift lever. With it comes a Y-cable that is designed for use with an iPod or iPhone. The USB port gives you control of the iPod via the MFSW and lists tracks in on the NAV screen or radio readout. The other part of the Y connects to the AUX for audio. The bottom of the Y connects to the dock port on the iPod. With this option you can use an iPhone for both music and phone. You could also use an iPod and a separate phone. The downside is that you have to find a place to put your iPod.

There is a more expensive version of the USB/Bluetooth option that includes a center armrest. Inside the armrest you can put a cradle for an iPhone, or a few other phones. The cradle connects an iPhone to the USB and AUX and antenna for cel phones. The cradle is an optional extra of around $150 above the cost of the armrest option. You would have to check to see if a cradle was available for your phone.

With the Bluetooth in the new MINIs, an incoming call can be answered with a button on the MFSW,. The radio/audio is muted for the duration of the call.

 

that was very helpful. Thanks!

 

There are actually a number of different ways of moving the USB to the Secret Compartment. Of course all of them mean taking part of the dash apart but there is an instruction thread here on one way to do it.

Also when both are installed the iPod adapter in the Secret Compartment has some real limitations as it is seen as a CD player when the USB option is installed, or at least that is what some ohter have said. I have no acatual experience with it.

 

IIRC, the Secret Compartment adapter has limitations even if the USB is not installed. It seems to have a limit on the number of tracks it can display. There are threads about the problems. A search should find them.

 

I used extension cables to put the iPod in the glove compartment. Then I trimmed the cables and soldered them into the adapter.

 

Thanks

So the difference between the regular USB/Bluetooth option and the Comfort USB/Bluetooth option is that the Comfort USB/Bluetooth option includes a center armrest, and puts an ipod cable in the center armrest cradle?

How big is the cradle in the center armrest, is it deep enough to hold the 'full-size' iPod?

 

That's how I understand it. You can find info on it in the Configurator at miniusa.com.

There is a cradle available for the iPhone. Not aware of one for an iPod. The armrest is mainly designed for phones. However, it would be a good place for an iPod, if MINI had thought of that. Of course that is if you can tolerate the factory armrest. I could not. It came with a package and I hated it so much, I ripped it out.

 

You better make sure that if you get the armrest iPhone sleeve thing that the iPhone will play music through the stereo system. I'm not 100% sure that it will.