standard equipment, (or is it?). Has anyone had the handle installed at the dealer or installed it themselves?

How expensive was it?

 

My '03 does not have them either. I believe it became standard with the '04s onward. Same with the driver's side "door sunvisor".

Rock on,

-boognish

 

Both started with the 05s.

 

Definitely 05, my 04 does not have it and I really wish it did.

Most people have speculated that you can;t really retrofit due to attachemnt points not being there in the earlier cars. I have grabbed one and felt it and it definitely seems to be attached to something quite solid, not just the headliner.

 

I was told by the dealership(because i wanted that cool sunshade) that there was a redesign in the airbag system that allowed them to be there. And NO they are not retrofitable.

 

I love my Driver's side sun shade.

 

I like the shade for the most part. It was a complete surprise to me that it was there... dealer didn't inform me of the change from my 2004, so it was fun to find. Only issue is that I must keep my seat in a low position else I hit the new sun visor shade with my helmet when on the track.. thus I may need to remove the new fangled visor...

 

I dont want either the passenger handle or the sun visor....

-Josh

 

As I recall the side visor was one of the major complaints against the 2005--owners wondered why anyone would need another visor. But I don't think there were complaints against the grab bar--maybe no one noticed or everyone's passengers thought it would be useful.

Another was the change in appearance of the tail light--but I forget the objection. And no one expected that giant cupholder to become standard equipment--it obscures the passenger's view of console-mounted switches.

I am looking forward to the 2007 model with even more changes to be appreciated and denigrated. That's what fora are for (fora are fora?).

 

Well, they made two effective changes in the tail lights:

1) Swapped the location of the reverse lights and the fog lights (fog light now in the bumper in 2005+)
2) Got rid of the amber turn signals - now they're red.

I LIKE change #1, I HATE change #2... but I fixed change #2 by purchasing the Euro tail lights. Why is it that MINIUSA insisted upon getting rid of the amber? Amber = safer, IMO.

 

Does someone have a pic of the side visor? I would like to see this

 

You can see it here:



This is my '05 MCS.

 

That is great!!! One of my inconviences about my MINI is that the visor is so small that it pretty worthless......I really wish I had those!!

 

Nice picture...you can see the grab handle too.