I ordered my mini in Mainz Germany... it came with a first aid kit, and a warning triangle built into the shelf behind the back seats.. The dealer ship gave me both the long european license plate holder, and the shorty version. Although in Wiesbaden, we had the option if we wanted what people call the euro license plate of the short one.. I opted for the longer one, and still have it. It was shipped back to the usa with nato plates on it, I switched out to SC plates. When we got ready to leave germany a year ago , we were told that for military in europe they were working on changing the license plate so that it didnt readily identify an american IE: the plate has a small round seal on the blue part that says USA, but then it has a sticker for the german state you live in. All in all very cool.. I don't have it on the car anymore.

 

All of those is exactly as mine is. I always thought it was something the dealer can activate - however are you suggesting that it's not? The dealer here has NO idea. He didn't even know he could activate the roof to open with the key - but looked into it and finally managed to do so.

Wish mine had these extra chimes! Until I get used to it and eventually frustrated of course.

 

I'm not quite sure what it is, but I think it's mostly a difference with US-bound MINIs. We are the country of sue-happy folks - hence all the idiotic warnings on our cars. Hehe, and don't get me started on other things like our **** poor (circa 1950's) headlight standards.

Believe me, you DON'T want all those extra chimes or unnecessary warning lights. Somewhere on this forum is a huge thread about people trying to disable some of these things because of how annoying they can get.

In reading that seat belt light thread, I'm glad I have an '04 as it does not have the passenger seat sensor which seems to be the large part of the problem on the '05-later US models. Something as simple as a briefcase on the passenger seat will set off the seat belt chime/light on those cars!

 

oh, also when you take off your front bumper it has a written code on it that writes "r53 US" that's what mine said... so that'll always be there.

 

I dont recall exactly what was written on the inside of my stock bumper in yellow grease pen, but I do know that my aero bumpers do not have any written codes on the inside of it. Unfortunately, the arch reflectors still scream US model regardless of what's written inside. lol

 

You gotta do the arches that'll be the dead givaway.

And how about retrofitting the speedo to read in Kikometer

 

OK so i ordedered mine from a lady who owned it in Germany. I guess it was all made up to American specs. The only thing i can see being left was the roadside assistance sticker is still in german. What about under the hood i have some stickers that are in german, oh and as well as the dealer card left in the manuel. I also have the med kit and triangle, is that American or german spec?

 

The med kit and triangle were not included on US-spec MINIs. I believe they are a requirement in Germany for any vehicle on the roads there. There's several members here from across the pond, and I'm sure they can give you the full scoop.

Is there any chance you could post some pics of your German roadside sticker and the other German items?

I'm trying to get my car closer to German-spec as I reasonably can. I'm just a geek like that, I guess. Makes my car a little different than the others in my area.

 

I also believe the aiming of the headlights from factory may be different from US spec and Euro spec models. This is especially true in RHD and LHD cars.

 

Mine came with triangle and first aid kit. US-spec'd for delivery in Germany.

 

The speedo in in kilometers and the high beams indicator light is dead smack on the center of it (where our seat belt warning icon sits).

It is illegal to import a non-US spec MINI into this country. The car has to be at least 25 years or older. You could federalize the car, but that is going to cost money, so probably you are better off getting an US spec version.

There are no power differences between models in different markets. This is for the most part a global car.

Interesting tid bit: Australian spec MINIs have the tach in the center of the dash as Aussie regulations don't allow to relocate the speedo from the front of the driver. That is one big tach!

 

If you want an Euro spec MINI, you can get it in Mexico. New MINIs sold in Mexico do not comply with US and Canadian spec regulations. No need to go accross the pond.

 

I wish I could compare my new '05-'06 Euro-spec (LHD) Xenons next to someone with '05-'06 US-spec Xenons. There's only one '05+ MINI in town, and I don't know the owner well enough to just call her some night to compare headlights. She might take it the wrong way!

The difference between the Euro-spec LHD and RHD lights: the headlight pattern are basically mirror images of each other. The "cut-off" on LHD lights (Germany, France, Spain, etc) bends upwards toward the right, whereas on RHD cars (GB, Japan, Australia, etc) bends upwards toward the left.

You do not want to use RHD lights in a LHD country like the US, Germany, France, etc. Oncoming traffic will be blinded by these lights.

Interestingly enough, my new headlights have a little lever inside the housing (not sure if this exists on US lights). If the lever is moved to it's non-default setting, it eliminates the upward bend in the cut-off. The cut-off becomes a flat, horizontal line.

I'm assuming this will allow you to temporarily drive a LHD car in a RHD country w/o resorting to the stickers normally placed on the outside of the headlight.

Here's a link for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlamp

 

I'm glad they kept it a global car, with minimal changes for the US market. I hate it when companies take a good car from elsewhere, and severely water it down for the US market. Somehow Saturn/Opel Astra comes to mind...


I saw one of these huge tachs on another MINI forum. It's crazy huge! The aussie who posted the pic mentioned that their laws were recently changed to permit a center-mount speedo, so long as it met certain visibility requirements.

 

OK so i took pictures of the sticker which is in German, i also took pics of the med kit and the dealer card which are both in German. Oh yeah and the sticker under the bonnet - its in english and german which im sure al minis have but took it just in case. I dont have the triangle in my car right now so i couldnt look at it...ill do that later…never really looked at it so im curious…

I have a lot more including close-ups of each and the originals are much larger. So if you want to see them just let me know and ill get them to you, or anyone else.

 

...ok for some reason it wont let me attach any pictures so ill just creat an album with the small sizes of a few pics. You can view them here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...y.php/cat/2705

dont forget i have much bigger better and more of these. Just let me know if you want them.

 

I loooooooove that the phone call prices are in DM and Euro.

 

Haha yeah, i remember when it came in...my buddy is from germany and he read it to me pretty cool

 

Where exactly is your roadside assistance sticker located? It doesn't look like it's stuck on one of access panels in the boot.

 

It isnt it is outside when you open the boot in the space between the seal and the roof on the vertical part.

Want a pic?

 

if you get an ****-rententive inspector when your car comes back to the US you may need all those parts you took off. While I'm sure most may only look at the equipement stickers on the cars, there may be one or two who check to see if the brake lights are red and the turn signals yellow. don't ditch the parts for sure! It may also be worth the time to put the stockers back on for the trip back to this side of the ocean, and put the euro stuff back on the car when it's back at your home.

Matt

 

A pic would be great!

Every MINI (US) I've seen had the roadside assistance sticker on the left (driver's) side access panel.

I also added the green + sticker for the first aid kit on that same access panel, just below the roadside assistance sticker on my car.

Kind of irritates me that whoever placed the roadside assistance sticker on the access panel didn't put it on quite straight. I had to put the green + sticker on crooked as well, so that it wasn't quite as obvious that both stickers were crooked.

 

That's kind of the reason why I didn't get rid of the wheel arch reflectors on my car. I'm hoping to get a job in Europe, and would really like to bring my car there (and back to the US when I'm done). I'd rather not have any issues with inspectors, if I can help it.

There are no external differences between the Euro and US headlights that I can tell. So I think I'd be ok there.

And as far as my tail lights - I have a US dealer accessory: red tail lights with white turn signal lenses. The bulb still lights up as amber. I'm fairly certain that the Euro tail lights that abuzavi put on his car also illuminate as amber, also. So theoretically, a US inspector shouldn't have any issues with those items either.

 

sorry to hear about the crooked sticker...i hate that crap. But i put up a pic of the stickers location on my car.

Now im off of work and headed home.

 

Ok, so here's what I found.



Excuse the dirt. Excuse the odd license plate, too. Euro brake lights. Rear fog light (that little red doohickie above the exhaust).



Driver's side of my boot.



German first aid kit. This came with the car.



Another shot of it. It just sort of rests in there.



Warning triangles. Again, these came with the car direct from the factory.



AC notice location.



And here's the close up of it.



Here's the warning for the lights. This is up on the hood, I think.



This is on the rear of the engine.



This is on the driver side of the car, back of the engine. Almost below the windshield. This shows it is to US spec.



This shows where it is mounted. MBM - does yours have this?



The opposite side is much more boring. Just the car color.



Again, on the back of the engine. And really, don't open this when it's hot.