just pick up my red cooper and the dealer was showing me around the car and he kinda let the bonnet droped into the lock position. of course it did hit me until i got home that the headlight is part of the lid. does anyone have any problem with misaligned headlight position or worse, shatter light bulbs if the lid is slammed shut like one would do on a regular car? maybe i am just being paranoid...

 

No problems here, the mini hood is really strong but just dont slam it too hard :smile:

 

You don't need to slam the MINI's bonnet closed, since it's relatively huge and heavy. On that note, I've never heard, nor had, a bulb explode at all, let alone from closing the bonnet. Also, the headlight housings are well bolted to the bonnet, no need to worry about misalignment from opening/closing the bonnet.

Congrats on your delivery! Just relax and enjoy the car, give the engineers some credit for the 2003 N.A Car of the Year.

Motor-On

 

Benefits of having the headlights integral with the bonnet include spotting people hiding in trees, scanning the skies for enemy planes, putting on Hollywood-opening style light shows and having the ability to summon Batman.

BB

 

The only potential problem I can see is a risk of blowing out the bulbs if someone slams the bonnet with the lights on. The halogen lamps are pretty rugged as they are, but an incandescent lamp of any kind is much more vulnerable to damage if a physical shock is applied when they are lit. The filaments break easy when hot. Ask anyone who uses a standard light bulb in a drop light when working on their car!

It's best to turn the lights off before closing the bonnet, if they are on..

 

The cool thing is you can lift the hood with the lights on and shine them into your neighbor's upstairs bedroom window.
Or signal airplanes.....or ufo's......