Yes, I have no arm rest.... if I face it as you did, there's nothing to hold it in position and it will fall over on the first corner, or first use of brakes. If I face the top surface of the shelf forward, it wedges nicely between the cup holder and folded rear seat head rests.

Pretty cool that it works both ways (w/ and w/o arm rest).... no way they actually designed it that way.... has to be a coincidence .

 

Fact or Fiction?: In an Automatic, each key stores the particular formula for best engine performance for its driver. Thus, with 2 keys, each key will be storing a different formula for each driver. If the 2 drivers should happen to swap keys, their different driving experiences will temporarily be less than optimal until the MINI completes the analysis & adjustment necessary for the different driving habits.

 

Very interesting Rameeti! I wish to subscribe to your newsletter!

Ok I gotta know if that's true or not, because I swap keys all the time. I do know that the key tells all... Monday when I took Nemo in to get the seat fixed they put the key in this round contraption connected to the PC and ALL of this funky info came up on the screen about him. The tech looked at me and smirked "you've been a bad boy!" When I chuckled and asked what he meant, he just said "the key knows all."

I missed that part in The DaVinci Code.

So can anybody confirm any of this?

 

Didn't know that -- thanks!

 

Someone posted this earlier, and it is even more scary than the key telling on your driving, is that the key tells the dealership/shop where you hide your wallet!

 

That to REALLY increase the remote's distance, you can touch the metal part of the key to your chin while simultaneously presssing the unlock button on the key fob--your body acts as sort of a boosted remote transmitter.
I was doubtful at first, but yes, it really does work! Jimbo

 

As most of you know, in the 2006 manual they mention that the remote gets recharged when inserted in the car and they in fact recomend swapping the keys every 6 months. Based on this it would make sense for the car to come up with some kind of formula becase in six months the key could be swapped.

 

Sequence- funny you bring that up. I heard about that earlier on this thread so today I tested it. I stood in the parking lot far enough away and pressed unlock.. no lights flashed. I kept moving closer and pressing until they did finally flash.

So, I walked back to the original spot and tried again. No flash. I pressed the key up to my chin (the back of the plastic part), pressed unlock, and FLASH! THEN to make sure I wasn't totally crazy, I held down the unlock while keeping it pressed against my chin and the windows and top opened! FREAKIN' weird, but equally, freakin' cool.

Consequently, I was wearing my Bluetooth headset at the same time and heard a voice... something about "Ground control, this is Major Tom...." ???

 

FACT!!

But while you may have your wife's driving habits being used for engine peformance while you are driving with her key for that session, you will also have her key's memory preferences.

ie. She DOES like Daytime Running Lights, she does NOT like having the passenger door unlocked when she unlocks the driver's door with her key, she does NOT like the doors automatically unlocking when she shuts the ignition off (or removes the key from the ignition). Each of you can have the MINI your way!

 

Um, I don't think so. Memory settings for those things are stored in the car
and not in the key. To my knowledge (!), this functionality does not exist
in the MINI.

When the key is inserted the data on the key is updated, not the other way
around. The car does not change the way it runs based upon how it was
last driven with a particular key.

 

my mini taunts me in my dreams, driving me to wake up very early on saturday morning to motor 30 miles away just to get coffee.

is this a free factory installed option?

 

I'm not saying that the key stores those settings. The key only has to be recognized as Key #1 and then the MINI uses settings #1. Every key is unique (of course since it doesn't open the car next to you) and the MINI merely has the ability to store multiple sets of memory settings.

 

Most remotes work better when held up to your head... I've been doing this since the mid-80s when I had a garage door remote that worked much better this way. I don't know the science behind it, other than assuming that my head in some way becomes part of the antenna to boost the range.

 

This is absolutely not true, the MINI has no memory settings based on the Keys.

Steve

 

Transmitter, Shramsmitter....

You are giving the key 3 more feet of altitude when you press it which helps the signal get past all the ground clutter of other cars and people. This is why radio towers are 200 feet instead of 2 feet (that, and the curvature of the earth - but the key transmitter is not strong enough to have that problem).

It would probably work even BETTER if you held the key high in the air above your head and pressed it.

B

 

Sorry, but you're wrong. I have proved this to myself and others many times.
Try it. It actually works.

 

I have to agree with PeteCrosby... I went outside and tested it. I walked far enough away where the lights didn't blink, held the key straight up and they still didn't blink... pressed the key to my chin and BLINK!

I can't remember my name now, from doing this to my head so many times... but I know I can get my MINI to unlock!

 

Ever try unlocking with the remote over a cell phone?

Scott

 

Yeah... I fell for that BEFORE I finished reading the big debate earlier in this thread. I tried it on 4 different kinds of cell phones and on 3 different kinds of cars! THEN I came back and read the rest of the thread.

What can I say... I'm male... I don't ask directions and I don't read them either!

If anyone has any swamp land in Florida they're interested in selling, I'd probably be game for that too.

 

I have an 04 MCS. The clock after midnight shows the time as 0:15. After noon it shows 12:15. Good to know if its dark out or not.

 

You can set the clock to either be 12h or 24h.

Steve

 

What?? It didn't work for you?

 

This was a great thread!
My head is swimming with stuff to remember that would be forgotten specifically when useful, like the battery charging deal. But I love these idiosyncracies, especially the mirror-tilt for draining, and the parcl shelf re-location. t

 

This thread is awesome! Will a moderator "sticky" this thread?

I am suprised it hasn't been already. Anyone else vote for sticky?

 

[Homer Simpson voice]

Mmm, sticky....