The doors on my 06 MCS are either totally open or against my leg when getting in the car, there is no real middle ground. In the UK, the spots are quite small to park and getting in the car with a car right next to you (and not dinging their door) takes some skills.

I know you can get them aftermarket but not putting a center arm rest in the car is completely bonkers

Also, I have not heard anyone else complain about how USELESS the door pockets are. You really can't use them for anything, I put CDs in them but getting at them with my gorilla hands is not the easiest.

Sorry, just having a winge.

Peter

 

No

 

Those are the last possible things I'd ever consider driving me crazy. The niggling reliability far outweighs the size of the map pockets.

 

I always have to mind my door and usually never have it fully open or even midway. This is because I don't want to give door dings or scratches, on other cars and mine. But when I do want the door open midway, it stays that way, only on level ground. As with you, as I recall there is no detent or notch where we can opt to keep the door open midway. Maybe I have just not noticed that.

I don't store a lot of stuff in my door panels, so for me they are just the right size. I keep a small LED flashlight, couple of ball caps and gloves. Those all fit well. But reaching in there is a hassle at times because I have to blindly reach in since I cannot see in there at all.

But to me it's not meant to be a real storage area and is more for convenient items, which my ball caps and gloves are. So I don't mind the size and am glad they are there in the first place. Most cars that I have owned did not have door pockets.

As to the armrest, mine has the $250 stock option. I hate it for any number of reasons. I am getting an after-market one that sits higher and closer to the shift ****. But MINI should not make the armrest an option, it should be stock. Maybe in the newer models [2008?] it is?

No car is perfect, eh?

 

I keep my fueling glove, shoe horn, infrared temp sensor, gas receipts, and misc papers in there. It works well for that.

If I had an arm rest, I couldn't shift, use the handbrake, the rear cupholder, access the rear footwell for my cds, or even buckle up(i could buckle, but not without contorting my arm). You see, my arms are really long. From my middle finger tip to my elbow, my arm measures 21 inches. I need all the space there is between the seats.

 

Yeah, I have same issue with door hinge stop. No real sweet spot to hold it off you unless you have lots of room next to you..

Sorry to hear about the CD storage issue. I have no need for alot of CD cases being tossed around cabin because I have an AUX input for IPOD, and 6 disk CD changer in boot. I get alot of use out of my door pockets though.....Another reason is because I have an ALTA 2.0 CAI, and listening to that Supercharger can be music to my ears too......

But don't you have the knee shelf below steering column in your model MINI. Maybe you can mod a CD Holder into that storage area ????

The shelf is something that our MINI's here in the USA are NOT imported with....

 

haha, you guys reminded me of the cup holders. Can't put anything in the dash ones as even cans hit the switches and I think the one in the rear of the center bit is for the spit cups from the dentist, anything bigger just wobbles around.

Xymox, you know i worry about the same thing, I just got 4 new wheels under warrantee from the originals peeling, I am hoping that if enough parts are replaced I will have a 2008 mini, I just can't figure anything else to swap over too, I have rear horrid things about Golfs and the Scooby I would like to buy would cost me 3 months wages in insurance and probably be a disappointment as they say you have to row through the gears to keep them moving well.

I completely understand all the messages I read whilst looking for a MINI that stated all the problems the owner was having but how much they loved the car, its unreal that I can't bear to part with it but it will drive me to insanity with squeaks, creaks and groans as well as expensive repairs.

peter

 

I've found the same issue with the door opening on my 08 MINI. It's taken awhile to figure out how to open the door without having it slam back into my leg. When I picked up the car I was sitting in the driver's seat and my husband was standing outside at the driver's door and was holding the door. He let it go and it slammed into my leg and gave me a huge knot on my leg which turned black and blue. But do I really care? Nope -- I love the car THAT much.

As for the storage, the only thing I have in my door pocket is my hands-free ear piece for the cell phone.

 

You have map pockets?

Mine are dust buckets.

 

Thats weird, I have 3 notches for the door. I can open it with a foot of space, 2 feet or so and then finally at 90 degrees to the body. It wont stay like that if the car is on a slope but on flat ground it is fine.

 

The door pockets are annoying.
Anything you put in there slides all over the place.

 

I agree with the door issue open issue.

The door pockets are very, very useful. You just have to find the right use for them! We keep a motoring baseball cap in both, and the passenger door pocket usually has the big Thomas Brothers California map book residing within. In the winter, a scarf and a wool cap fit well in the door pockets.

I love my armrest. Holds my sunglasses, a pen, and sometimes odds and ends.

 

Does anyone have a photo of their armrest? That is something that would really be a big help. I don't have the best back so bracing myself on an armrest is something that comes naturally. thanks. Peter

 

They would be MUCH more useful if the pockets had flat bottoms. I think they are really needlessly annoying and I am surprised that they weren't redesigned somewhere along the way.

Rich

 

Ask and you shall receive.

 

I have something that annoys me. its that only one light blinks to tell me that my blinker is on... and its arrows pointed both ways. Anyone I have in the car who has never been in it ALWAYS notices RIGHT away.. "thats weird."

I mean, I know which way I put the blinker on, but I think I like 2 separate blinky arrows.

Also: I don't know if this is standard in minis, or this was added (as I have never been in another mini other than my own.)

Picture below... if it worked...

I have smashed my hand into that cupholder going into 5th like 100 times... it moves out of the way, but then it touches the passenger's leg, and they move it back. (but its great for big coffee mugs.)

 

That cup holder was added to the later 1st gen cars. You can remove it by undoing the torx bolts that hold it on, just put the bolts back - they hold the downtube in place.

 

its an 02, just got it 2 weeks ago, I suppose the guy I bought it from added it in...

its the sacrifice I must make for my big coffee mug

 

Honestly? the armrest, i had put in when i ordered the car.. complete waste of cash.. can't lean on it to hard.. the top can be a right pia, if you push it back too far lol it will fall off.. oh yeah and go ahead put a big drink in that cup holder behind it, forget its there lol and life the arm rest up.. yeah your seeing the picture.. but all in all even with some of the little things it has to annoy me.. i still smile when i see my pretty little mini!

 

Depends on the situation. I have one in my car, and my brothers R53 doesn't. I like having my elbow free to move while I shift if I'm driving in a spirited manner, but on long cruises I love having something to shift. Then again, with the MINI, I don't usually get that bored

 

The armrest is fine with me, it is the fact that the stupid thing always opens on me and I have to close it every 5 mnutes (so it seems).

 

Its a MINI dude...deal with it. They didn't get their name for nothin'.