I woke up this morning to find my MCS encased in ice under about 9 inches of snow. I've only had the car about two weeks so I was a bit worried about the little trick whereby the window goes up and down as you open the door. I chipped my way in to start the car and it seems like when I closed the door that it hadn't come down and sort of hung on the gutter for a moment then sort of slid into place--not vertically but horizontally. I'm thinking this can't be good. Can anyone else who has had a new mini a couple of winters offer any advice for this or any aspect of keeping a Mini outside during winter (no garage...)? Thanks.

Car cover

I leave mine uncovered out in the elements. It's been through 2 snow storms and 1 ice storm so far. Usually the car sits for a day or so after the storm so it does tend to get a coating of ice.

What I normally do is scrape all the snow and ice away from the windows before I try to open the doors... Haven't had a problem yet, the windows always drop normally..

I do currently have an issue with my driver's side door seal, however I'm almost positive it's because the dealer took the door apart and didn't put it back together correctly.

It's a problem...ice, that is.

I'm starting my second winter, and after a few experiences last winter where I couldn't park indoors during a storm, I've redoubled my efforts to find inside parking when there's any chance of ice. I've found that snow isn't the problem that ice is. Ice tends to form around the door window seals, penetrates the doors (via the weatherstrip), and has several times frozen my door releases from inside the door. Not good. Do a search, I'm not the only person who's had this problem...maybe it's better with newer models, but I doubt it.

Best advice is to do as Michael says...get ALL of the ice away from the door opening before opening or closing the door. Letting the car thaw a bit before opening the door would help, as would a car cover; but you'd need to let THAT thaw less you seriously reduce its life by trying to pull it off the car when it's (the cover) covered with ice.

I'm sure that other cars with frameless door windows have similar problems. Good luck!

IMHO the whole window dipping set up is one of the (thankfully few) real design flaws of the MINI. Another is the power steering setup that requires a separate cooling fan. I wish they had doors that worked without the dipping (my Subaru did have frameless doors that worked very well without dipping). I'm still annoyed at how frequently the dipping function stops working and has to be reset, even without ice.
M.

How do you reset???

I keep my MCS out in the driveway all the time (I have two other cars in the garage) and though this is its first winter, I haven't had any problems with the windows or getting the ice off.