from what i was told, the grey door panels are now discontinued in an attempt to reduce some costs, since its only used with about 2 interior configurations.

 

With so much discussion about this, I'm still torn (ooh, bad pun) about the upholstery choice... Can anyone with the gray leatherette and a convertible and who has experienced some hot sun report on whether the leatherette is tolerable when wearing shorts?


_Dave_

 

I sat in all of them the other day. Our dealer keeps all the cabrios out in the sun with the tops down on the lot. The black leathers were very hot - not recommended. The grey were significantly cooler, but the cloths were even more so. I didn't mind the grey with shorts, but I'm more than sure lots of people would.

 

Thanks to OfficeMaven, who explained on a much earlier stream that the MINIUSA configurator is incorrect and that the gray-black seats come with black door panels, I plopped in favor of gray-black. My kindly MINI salesperson verified that black door panels come with those seats.

 

There are seat covers for the MINI that allow the side airbags to work properly, which is the issue with using aftermarket seat covers on a MINI. The occupant sensor is no different than in many cars, where it senses the weight of a passenger, and thus knows if it should turn on the "seatbelt not fastened" light icon, and otherwise buzz at you, or whatever, but it isn't affected by a seat cover.

I've now, for...er...now, decided to stick with ordering a CVT MC, insead of an MCS, so this new information on the door panels with the Gray Leatherette interior is useful to me, as I'd otherwise have to go with black, though that wouldn't be bad. Are you sure about, at least for now...what with all this always changing, the door panels being "dark" for both MC's and MCS's with Gray Leatherette? I guess I might have to talk to my MA some more, for what it'll be worth.

Yes, some consistancy would be nice with these options, though the inconsistancy does mean there are that many more varieties of inteior, which is...sort of cool, I guess. I'm curious why MINI keeps seeming to have problems in this area, but I don't suppose I'll ever know, not for sure...even though there are plenty of guesses to be made. If I ran an automotive manufacturing company...

Oh heck, let's not go down that road!

 

Wrong.


http://motoringfile.com/2005/02/25/s..._the_2005_mini

 

Yes, I've been there and done that before... :smile:

I've been following this thread but have stayed out of it as I'm getting a bit tired of explaining about the gray leatherette and black door/quarter panels now.

Thanks for the acknowledgement.

 

Oops. I just turned BaldBikerGuy onto your seat swap stream without first having reviewed that stream for critical info. Unless you post (again and in his stream) about swapping heated seats for standard you might get a pm from him. Fun on NAM.

 

Ahhh...interesting information link there regarding the new passenger seat occupant sensor. It's basicly meant to tell the difference between a child and an adult for airbag deployment reasons. In other words, the front passenger airbag won't go off if it detects a child in the seat. Of course, all the other seats could be covered with seat covers and not affect this. I see how sheep skin covers may be too heavy, and thus fool the system, but I can't see how otherwise proper fit MINI seat covers of the cloth type could fool the system into thinking that extra weight is an adult, regardless of MINI's warning to the contrary. They are just following Federal Safety requirements, as well as covering themselves against potential liability issues.

Still, that definitely ads a new wrinkle to the issue. I don't think our person in question here is all that hot on the seat cover idea anyway, occupant sensor or not.

So, anyone know yet for sure if the Gray Leatherette now only comes with black door panels in all MINI's so equipable? Why is it so hard for these MINI folks to keep their configurator up to date? I know for me, that building a website, and keepiing it up to date is hard work, but I'm just a neophyte at this tuff. On the other hand, these guys at MINI are supposed to be professionals, or am I wrong in assuming that?

 

i ordered my grey interior in late january and i managed to still get the grey door panels in my car. my MA tells me it was likely one of the last to come out of the factory like that... hmm... i see a rare option here in the distant future!

 

Just got back from picking it UP!!!! WOOHOO!! Unfortunately it's been raining for a day straight and that promptly shot my detainling plans to hell...then again it did come in two days early so I'm not complaining!!

Anyway here's your answer

 

I very nearly ordered gray leatherette with my LY/B MINI, which also has anthracite headliner and yellow interior trim. I did, in fact, but then changed it to black. I think it would have looked fine but I wasn't sure if the door panels would have been black--which I wanted--or gray.

Looks good, kaelaria! I think that's the first picture I've seen of a MINI with blue interior trim--I've seen red and have yellow. All of them look great, IMO. The gray leatherette looks really good in your car, too

Mark

 

Yeah I'm glad it does too - I had never seen it! LOL Thank you

 

Kaelaria-

Great looking car, thanks for the pics. Good to see they are still putting black door panels on the cars with the gray leatherette. I ordered my car on Feb. 11th and my MA insisted it would have gray panels. My car should look alot like yours except for no exterior chrome and I ordered the web spoke wheels.

 

My MA told me yesterday that they have already terminated production of the grey panels all together.

 

I'd bet good money that your car is a regular (non-S) Cooper too... ALL of the regular Coopers with the gray leatherette get the gray door & quarter panels. ONLY the Cooper S's get the black door & quarter panels (despite what the online configurator says). I've been over this a bunch of times before in these forums. That's just the way it is (i.e. the gray door panels are not going to be going away any time soon in the regular Coopers - at least not for the 05's anyway - and those that order the Cooper S with gray leatherette will ALWAYS get the black door & quarter panels).


Again... I'd bet good money that your MA is WRONG! He/She just doesn't understand how things work is all.

Please prove me wrong. Someone post a picture of a regular Cooper with gray leatherette and black door panels or a Cooper S with gray leatherette and gray door panels. I'll eat my words if you can find one (that's not photoshoped).

 

It'll take a few weeks for anyone to post a pic - he said they just stopped production last week.

 

You didn't understand my post... I'm saying that they NEVER existed in the first place (i.e. an 05 MCS with gray leatherette and gray door & quarter panels). Therefore, how can MINI stop production on something that never was??? Although, if it is indeed true that they're going to stop putting the gray door panels in the regular Cooper (which somehow I doubt), then you are indeed correct in that no one will be able to post a pic untill they start showing up. As of today, I don't think that there are any regular 05 Coopers with gray leatherette and black door panels running around out there in the world.

 

I understood completely, I never said the MCS came with grey panels.

 

As I understand it, at least one MC owner, with that option selected, has received their MC with the gray door panels. Other pics are showing MCS's with the black door panels. So, ok, as far as we know, based on actual delivered vehicles, MC's with Gray Leatherette (looks really good, by the way, I like the pics) get gray door panels, and MCS's get black. But, according to, so far, two MA's from different, I think, dealerships are saying the gray door panels are going bye-bye, and very, very soon. However, we have no reports from, and won't...for awhile yet (if this is true), owners of recently delivered MC's with the black door casings.

I think we are just going to have to wait and see on this. Many months ago, I would've said you should trust the MA's, but I know better now. Generally, they usually do know what they are talking about, but they can be horribly wrong sometimes. I'll call my old dealership, and my new one, and see if they are telling the same story. Even if they are though, they could just be misinformed by MINI USA. We really need to see those confirmation pics. Anyone know when the new MINI's we are talking about will be arriving? A month? Two months? Longer? (I don't need to order until September or August, but others won't be waiting that long.)

 

my MA told me grey door panels were going away to cut costs... i dont know if black is cheaper mold panels in, but i like the grey better than black, i'm glad i got it.