Well this is the first scorching day since Ive owned my car, and I gotta say the A/C on the MINI.....SUCKS! Even with the passenger vents closed and the A/C on full blast and circulate its still horribly weak. And I even have tints on my car! Anyone else notice this? Im gunna be sweatin my ***** off if I move to Cali....

 

I was thinking the same thing today, and I'm moving to Tucson Time for some heavy tint.

X2

 

My A/C seemed ok on the way to work this morning. However, it was only about 78 degrees. I was outside during lunch and it was really hot. Anyway, the ride home should be a good test.

 

Place - San Antonio
Temperature - 98 degrees farenheit
Sunroof - Closed
Windows - Tinted
MINI AC - Functioning well

 

Can't check now, but there are other recent MCO threads on this which have some good info. It's hitting 98 here in Dallas and I park in the sun...AC performs fine. You might want to look into this 'cause others are having problems, too, and are collecting info.

_________________
'03 IB/W Cooper

 

Its hot here in Kansas City too (approaching the 90's with 300% humidity today) and I had to keep turning the Automatic A/C temp *up* because I was cold!!

 

Check this thread out Ant. Air Conditioning Sucks

Ant, next time you have you car at the dealership, you should have it checked out.

 

I have an April '03 build MCS with AUTO AC, and my AC is working great. I keep the temp set on 68 degrees. Today, it's ~90 degrees and my MINI has been sitting in a black parking lot in full sun. I have a sunroof with a white roof. I keep the sunroof tilted open to allow hot air to escape while I'm working in my office.

When I approach my MINI, I use the remote comfort opening feature to open my windows and sunroof. I start the car, drive about 1 block with the windows and sunroof open and the wind blowing out the hot air, then I close up everything. Immediately, I'm comfortable with cool air blowing on my face. Within 5 minutes, the entire car has cooled off and the AUTO AC drops the fan speed and turns off recirculate automatically.

I mostly wear long sleeve dress shirts with a t-shirt underneath, and I'm very hot by nature (that's what she said ), and the AC keeps me very comfortable.

I have the space cloth seats, and they hold absolutely no heat. Just wonderful.

Just curious, has anyone tried the official MINI fold-up sunscreen for the front windshield? I am curious how effective it is at keeping the interior cool. Or has anyone used one of those circular fold-up cloth type, and if so, what brand/size?

I'm soon installing 35% tint all around, except the front (can't by law). I imagine after the tint, I will really find the car cools fast.

Good luck in getting your AC troubles sorted out.

See ya,
JS

 

I have the MINI fold-up sunscreen, just started using it yesterday. Seems to keep the car cooler, will let you know later as I'm about to go out there right now into the lovely NJ summer. I've got tints on the rear 3 windows as well. My main concern is keeping the UUC Motorwerks stainless shift **** cool...

A/C is okay if you use jstines method - getting in and cranking it up expecting it to be cold ain't gonna happen though.

 

>>Its hot here in Kansas City too (approaching the 90's with 300% humidity today)

 

Ants: The manual A/C in our '02 Cooper CVT works great in our 90F+ Florida weather with constant humidity index. Next time you go by the dealer, make sure that the dash vent air temperature is at least 43F, if it isn't then you have a problem in your system (Freon leaks, bad compressor, bad evaporator, etc).

 

Ants, you're moving to the best part of California. You will probably very rarely need the A/C. Average temp in San Diego is 78 degrees. Move now, forget the A/C!

 

Greetings!

Checking in from W.Palm Beach, FL and the auto A/C works great. Nice and cool after about 5 minutes !!

Ants, hope you get your's fixed !!!!!!!!!

Ron

 

Well if I close all my windows and my sunroof, then I found out it is cool, but certainly not cold by any means. Maybe Im just used to my Civic which would turn into an ice box...

 

Cool day here in PHX. Only 95F. Took the MINI out for a spin with a thermometer. After a few minutes on the freeway, the vents were blowing 46F. The car's interior sure did NOT cool down all that much or as quickly as I would have liked. I'm going to run the same test next weekend when it is forcasted to be back to normal 110's.

 

>>Just curious, has anyone tried the official MINI fold-up sunscreen for the front windshield? I am curious how effective it is at keeping the interior cool. >>

I have the sunscreen and have been using it for well over a month. It does work as well, and probably better, than any other sunscreen. At least it fits well. Of course, there's no way to keep a car really cool when the sun's blaring down on it....so any advantage you can take will help. There's just one thing...the sunscreen (which is rigid) bumps the rear-view mirror every time the sunscreen's installed. So you constantly have to re-adjust the mirror...e-v-e-r-y-t-i-m-e! I wish the mirror cutout was a bit larger, but the sunscreen is so nicely stitched together, I can't bear to deface it!

_________________
'03 IB/W Cooper

 

>>>>Just curious, has anyone tried the official MINI fold-up sunscreen for the front windshield? I am curious how effective it is at keeping the interior cool. >>

I've had my sun shield since I picked up my MCS. I don't think I've left it out of the windshield when parked in the sun, so I couldn't tell you if it helps really well with heat, but I do know it stops the sun from coming thru really well.

 

Ant, next time you have you car at the dealership, you should have it checked out.

Had my car serviced at mini and picked it up today...had them check the AC and they said it was working fine after checking it out....guess I just have to live with the fact the AC sucks and always will, laugh. I did get to drive a TBird from Hertz while my car was being serviced....I was incredibly surprised at how nice a car it is....not a great handler, but terrific power and a great highway cruiser....it was cool enough the last couple days in Phoenix that I had the top down listening to Cool 94.5 oldies thinking I was back in the 60's, laugh !

 

Have to say that our A/C is working great - yesterday was 90 - today will be hotter. I'm not complaining as I love the hot stuff :smile: :smile: :smile:

Chow!

Donna
donna@dcmetrominis.org

 

First, the A/C doesn't suck..... it blows! Sorry couldn't help myself....

Anyway, I've find that on a hot day (like yesterday, and today) it keeps the car cool, not figid, not chilled, just cool. Also it can take a bit to get the car comfortable if it's really had a chance to sit and bake.

Although we shall see what the jury says, the wife has the MINI today, being 35 weeks pregnant she's almost always warm....

 

This seems to be my case too, I have an January O3 build date, and the air conditioning doesn't throw out a ton of air, like a hair dryer, but it actually seems to work very efficiently and brings the temps in line quickly. I live in Southwest Missouri and the temps have been 85 to 91 with high humidity the last few days. With zero problem cooling down.

jc


>>I have an April '03 build MCS with AUTO AC, and my AC is working great. I keep the temp set on 68 degrees. Today, it's ~90 degrees and my MINI has been sitting in a black parking lot in full sun. I have a sunroof with a white roof. I keep the sunroof tilted open to allow hot air to escape while I'm working in my office.
>>
>>When I approach my MINI, I use the remote comfort opening feature to open my windows and sunroof. I start the car, drive about 1 block with the windows and sunroof open and the wind blowing out the hot air, then I close up everything. Immediately, I'm comfortable with cool air blowing on my face. Within 5 minutes, the entire car has cooled off and the AUTO AC drops the fan speed and turns off recirculate automatically.

......
>>
>>Good luck in getting your AC troubles sorted out.
>>
>>See ya,
>>JS

 

Check out the results of my little test yesterday in the cool weather...

 

Just gotta rivive this thread. I had my A/C system charged by Econo Lube & Tune and guess what! It works better than it ever has! I even had it at the dealership during 03 for a check and they said all was good. So for the past few years I've lived with it. Well after having EconoLube check it, it works better than it ever has!! Even with the 115F days we've been having here in PHX, its been going great!

 

I just bought an 03' MCS with auto AC and my air con SUCKS. Is there anyway I can recharge it or something myself? Change filters? Or should I just let the dealer mess with it? The car only has another 1,500miles on the warrenty.

-Cody

 

I agree, San Diego is the best part of Cali I been here for over 10 years and rarely use my AC.