So, I just bought a 2013 Clubman S with the bluetooth handsfree feature. We connected my son's phone and was able to receive calls fine with the button on the steering wheel.

When hitting the voice activation button, the system does nothing. No bleeps, chimes or whatnot. We have a 2010 Clubman as well and the voice activation works fine in that.

Since it is still under warranty, I took it to the dealer to have them look at it. They are telling me that this feature was not included on the car, that they mass produce the steering wheels and only activate some of the features on some of the cars. It is nice to be able to answer a call without taking your hands off the wheel, but it would also be much safer to be able to place a call without taking your hands off the wheel.

Running the VIN on it, it shows "6ND Bluetooth Hands Free Interface". Am I missing something here?

 

Your dealer is correct. Starting in MY2012, the old voice activation system went away as a separate feature and got replaced with the more sophisticated voice command system, but the new system is only found with the Media Package and the MINI Connected system. For base radio MINIs, like yours, the button will be on the wheel, but it won't do anything.

The old voice command system required you to program voice tags, but caused a lot of confusion for customers so they nixed it. The voice command system in MINI Connected equipped cars requires to programming and instead listens for certain commands that can use used not just to call, but to navigate around more of the car's functions.

 

+1 to siriuszero, voice activation is a separate feature, option 620. If I want to place a call while driving, i use the OK Google feature on my Android phone. Works better and faster than the MINI voice recognition system to call people.

 

OK... good to know. I will probably pick the car back up from the dealership today and will focus my attentions on other items. I don't want to hurt my position by arguing something I would end up losing on.