No, I agree with you. I've lived in Boston and am still in the snow belt.

Washer jets DO freeze. So what? Once the car heats up they unfreeze and you can wash that salt off

Its better when the wipers freeze to the glass and you forget to unstick them and burn out the wiper motor ... thats always fun

Door freezes in freezing rain.... Happens a lot. so what. Get some unlock stuff (not hot water ... bad)

But heated seats? Please ... my wife (her car) said to FORGET about them because she got so much clothes on anyway that she cant feel her "butt" anyway It doesnt fit the MINI image. Want heated seats, buy a Lexus

Want a warm tush, slap on some nice sheepskins

the mini washer container is positioned far away from the engine. so under extreme cold weather the jets will freeze solid. again i ask you...have you ever had your washer jets freeze while going 65MPH on a busy freeway after getting your windshield covered with mud and salt. short of sticking your head out of the window to see(which i have had to do) you WILL crash and probably get hurt REALLY REALLY bad.

I live in an area where it's not necessarily really cold, but it gets wet. The kind of wet that gets even your bones damp. When it does get cold, it's not a dry cold but a wet cold.

So...side mirrors fog up. Heating them (albeit very slightly) prevents them from fogging up. In colder climates, when it does snow and the car's been parked there awhile, you still have to spend the 30 seconds to scrape off ice and snow. Heating prevents them from refreezing while driving. I have seen snow build up on other cars I've owned in the past.

Heated washer jets. Standard equipment in Canada. When it gets cold, the jets will freeze up. Also, if you have your blower on, your windows are warmed. But does not melt the ice off your wipers. So...probably useful in extremely cold climates. Also, though I have never seen a crack over this, the chances of a warm surface cracking over a very cold jet of water. I have seen people pour warm water onto a cold windshield before with disastrous effect.

Heated seats. Probably not a requirement. But if you get into your car in the morning below freezing temperatures and your seats are leatherette? I only wished they had seat coolers for the summer time. Oh...when they get too hot, you can turn them off. The buttons fill up the panel on the console making for some effective bling.

If you don't think you run this sort of risk, then don't buy the stuff.

Chow, if that's the case, the 1st item that SHOULD NOT be an option on a MINI is an automatic tranny.

BTW, this is the funniest thread I've seen on this site yet.

Deuce Coupe Effect: West Lafayette and Avon/Indy are basically the same location concerning the weather. Maybe a degree or so difference but basically the same area. MrsDiff and I do not have a garage, yet (Bought a MINI prerhaps we should have bought a house). So MIB will sleep outside.

Granted central Indiana doesn't get the lake effect snow that the north part of the state gets. And for some reason Indiana never has the arctic blasts that the Quad Cities ever had.

But/Back Warmers IMHO are a must for me. I work third shift and MIB will get quite cold wating for me outside the Indy Airport. Now I wish that they could integrate them into the remote so that the seats would be warm by the time I get to my MINI....

Heated mirrors are another subject Again MIB will sleep outside, having mirrors that self thaw yes it is a luxury. Perhaps you can live with out, for me... at 4 AM in the snow and tired from the sort... I wanted them.

Heated washers are the only fluf I can possibly see of the cold pack. Now I don't know about Purdue town, but here in Indy they use the same liquid salt that is used at airports. Unlike rock salt the liquid stuff makes snow turn to slushie instantly, and when it dries on a hot headlight, you may as well throw mud on the lights. My lights on the old stratus were always dim and dirty. Used to pick up snow to "wash them off" This is one area where the washers and heated jets of the Xenons and cold pack should help tremendously.

I don't know if this will sway you one way or the other. The package is only $300. Heated seats ala cart are $270. I didn't mind the extra convience for only $30 more.

But I do understand your dellema. Yes I wanted a MC off the lot. But to get one in my budget... I had to order.

My latest dellema is to decide if I can scrape up the extra $$ for the Alarm. Both the MINIvan and the stratus have(d) alarms. I do want one for MIB Do I delay the runflat insurance and extended warrentee and go for the alarm?

With family visiting I've had to sit in the back of the Mini a couple of times this week at night and boy oh boy did I miss those seat heaters!

I scoffed at the idea of them when I ordered the '00 3 series but once I tried them in the Mini and M Coupe I missed them in that car (it really takes the chill off) and now I'd never go back :smile:

Originally I felt that the cold-weather package was a waste of money, too, but the SO's car came with them. After using the heated seats a couple times, I began appreciating how much better it felt to have the heated seats option because the interior of her car is leather, especially if the car has been sitting outside for a while. The nice thing about the MINI's heated seats is that it has two settings, high and low, something I didn't know until I took delivery. With cloth, I don't think I would've jumped at it, but since I have leatherette, and the MINI is parked outside, it becomes rather useful. It doesn't get snowy in Seattle, but it still gets cold and clammy in the winter.

I'll echo some people when it comes to heated mirrors. They are actually very useful when it rains. Normally, the rain will bead up on the mirrors, making driving difficult. With the heated mirrors, I don't have to worry about this. In the past, I would have to occasionally roll down the windows and wipe off rain water on the side mirrors--I haven't had to do this yet, so I actually view this as more necessary than some people might indicate. The same way, when I'm driving and it's raining, I turn on the rear-defogger to keep the rain from beading up too much on the back window. I rarely use my rear windshield wiper (though I don't know if this is good for the car or not).

For $300, this was totally worth it in my opinion, but everyone's opinion and circumstances differ.

I live in Phoenix and still might get heated seats. i Love the heated seats going with the cool night air....


also i plan on moving to the pacific northwest. I also LOVE the cold and my girlfriend gets way too cold so it shall help her out a bit i think.

Can you turn on one or the other or is it all or nothing?

The driver and passenger controls are separate.

When we took delivery of Miles, my SO turned on my heated seat while I wasn't watching. It got very warm very quickly!

Each seat has it's own button, a low n'toasty setting and burn your butt high setting

Lol, we do that to each other all the time

The fact is that MINI is out to make money ... to compete in the market place where the VAST majority of ppl never even seen a manual. I read 15% of MINIs sold have autos. They are just including in the autos for the masses (I believe) but I would tend to agree with you.

This is kind of funny. Yup, that happens. I just stick my hand out the window and wipe the glass with a damp cloth. Works and is FREE. Safe? Maybe not. Works? Yup. Besides, how much you got to see anyway? Ever see those people who don't remove the snow except for a small hole until the defroster does their thing? Kinda funny

It gets cold here in North Jersey, especially Jan Feb and Mar. Bottom line though is that the heater is effecient, not wimpy, and the car is small so it heats up real quick...seats included. $300 is not chump change...bag the heated seats imo.

hs

Note: this person lives in CANADA! ..... Nah never gets cold there!

Deuce Coupe,

Of course the cold weather package isn't necessary. In my 1962 MGA, heater and defroster were options. Times change. Heated seats are a luxury, a very comforting luxury it's true, but still no where near a necessity. Don't feel compelled to get the package if you don't want to.

Minnesota Winters

Heated seats are like fog lights, Xenon lights, and a host of other options - not a must, but they sure are nice to have. I didn't think twice about getting them, but I'm a Floridian transplanted to Virginia and I don't do cold weather well. Our three daily driver vehicles all have heated seats.

Look at it this way: you'll be more confortable with them on cold days (all nice and cozy) and maybe a safer driver as a result.

There are a lot of things on cars that at first I thought who needs it, but when they were experienced I said I'll never have a car without them. First was air conditioning, second was cruise, third was power windows & last, but not least are heated seats & heated mrrors. My Forester came with them & in only a week or so I'd decided that "heck these are GREAT". The heated mirrors do come in handy on those wet foggy mornings as well as in winter. I wish my Forester had heated washers too. You haven't lived until you have a load of salt on the windsreen & frozen washers.

I used the money that I saved by getting the 6 speed to buy the cold weather package, a LSD & the convinence package. My Forester has an automagic though.

Chuck

Deuce Effect: Getting the cold-weather package is not a need, just like getting the 'S' is not a need. For the record I have both . . . the 'S' for me and the seat warmers for the better half (Besides, the day after hitting the gym, the seat warmers are wonderful).


Just be forewarned, once you go heated seats, you never go back.

I am always cold, or so it seems, no matter the temp, so you'd think I would have gotten the heated seats....

NAH!

I got me some sweeeet black and red sheepskin seat covers instead.

I'm more into the "warm and comfy", than the "overheat my butt" anyday.

Besides, doesn't all the power that using the heated seats draw down on the power that some MINI drivers crave?

Yep, and they lower your gas mileage by about .001mpg.

I've lived through 50 winters, and most of them have got down to -50F at least once. My MC is the first car I have owned with the any of the features of the cold package.

The heated washer jets: The nozzles will frezze, and no amount of heated washer will thaw them, until the engine warms the lines. The best thing about the heated washers is that the heated spray will get ice off the xenon headlights. Around here you never use just water.

The heated mirrors: Driving on a slushy highway, with dropping temps, can get mirrors covered, the heated mirrors never let this happen.

The heated seats: I drive with my window down, even at -40, heater set to keep the windows clear, and the seat keeping me warm.
They also help my back, so I use them even with the a/c on in the summer.

Oh, by the way, if you live were it is cold, get a block heater. I went the first winter without one. Got one last winter, and it works great.

It does not heat the oil pan, but is in-line with the coolant, so the whole block is warmed, melts snow off the bonnet, and you get slightly warm air blowing at start up

When I was figuring out what kind of MINI I wanted to buy I decided that for what I wanted to spend I could get a "pimped out" MC or a MCS with fewer options... Needless to say I went with the "S", 115hp in a Mini seemed sort of lacking to me.

The heated seats went in favor of some chrome and other nice to haves. Heated seats are pretty nifty IMHO but they were pretty low on my list

I don't experience 16 degrees in my freezer let alone in my MINI.

I'll have to get some liquid nitrogen or dry ice to cheat the warm weather here.

After 5 winters in Chicago I don't mind not having to shovel snow and wonder why when a third of the cars in Chicago don't start, how are those people going to make it to work in the middle of the winter. My trusty Civic always started!

I would guess that not many MINIs are sold in Hawaii with the cold weather package.
I know it's not zero. Someone has been motoring with a "warm bun".

Wow, I knew I would get a big response, but such a one sided one makes my job hard. I thought it was tough to choose between white roof and silver roof (note: white roof won). Also, some took this as a challenge. I really really just wanted a frank discussion about what make them worth while. Now just becuase I've never had them doesn't mean I can't appreciate them. And no I am not getting the most basic of MCS. I had no packages because I only wanted bits and peices of them.

For instance I want the Sports package, but I really don't feel like getting the 17'' becuase I plan to get after market about year or so later...except for the snow tires on steel rims I mean. I don't want the sunroof, the auto AC, or the obc (very tempting one but not enough). So that eliminates the Premium package. And I certainly don't need the auto stuff of the convenience package. And I definately don't have the cash for JCW and checkmate. Now that does not mean these are bad, but on my budget I need to be careful where I put my money and which ones will do the most good. This thread, though, has got me reconsidering this package greatly. If I do get the seats then most certainly I will go for the package for just $30 more.

I appreciate everyones input on the issue and will consider it greatly over the next couple of months. Thank you all very much.