Lol, i always see people griping about the auto climate control and using it and just don't understand - I use it manually 90% of the time with ease, don't understand the difficulties. The thing to remember is that it comes with the pollen/pollution filter that I do not think comes with the base AC, and I like having that on cars; I also like the looks of it better . I agree that heated seats are a must - good for taking the chill out but(t) fast, long before the engine is hot and more pleasant then blowing hot air anyway.

I don't think I'd change anything about our MCS, we love all of the options. If I was made of money and wanted to splurge though I'd consider the factory JCW and English Leather seats

 

Hmm. I love my car, so this may be a little tough. I'll have to load the configurator...

I think every car sold (I live in Minnesota) should be required by law to have heated seats (and what other car offers heated cloth seats - a sign I was destined to own one...). The sunroof was the first thing I loved about this car (followed closely by thinking how well it must corner). 6-speed of the MCS, I like to drive not ride. Until I am physically required I will not get an automatic. I had a loaner w/out LSD the last few days - and I would not want that again.

Could live without, hmm. I guess I could do with the stock suspension versus the JCW as I will almost never track it (maybe once a year starting in a year or two if I play my cards right though) and it is a little rougher than I had realized it would be on Minneosta roads.

Would not get. Easy, the armrest. That loaner w/out LDS? Yeah - it had the armrest and I hated it.

Would get next time/wished I had gotten? The Nav I think. I like the center speedo and all, but I want to mod in a computer for the car in a few years (the glove box is already rigged up for cooling!) and the screen would have been great for that.... Also, the JCW illuminated sills (instead of the standard "S" ones). They weren't really out yet when I ordered, and by the time I knew anything about them it was to late.

All that said, I love it and am planning to keep it right up to somewhere between 150K-200K miles. Of course, things could change between now and then I guess.

 

FWIW, you can also get free airflow with ACC - just switch it 'off' and don't have the recirc. button on. Off doesn't mean 'no airflow', it just means the system isn't regulating the temp to the desired level.

Auto wipers - like many, I heard of these and thought . But having had them on a rental in a light drizzle changed my mind to . Can I do one wipe, or leave it on intermitent? Sure. I could also crank my windows by hand, or stick my finger outside to test the temperature. But it's nice to not have to.

 

Hmmmm.... I very well could be wrong on that, I've ordered, but not yet received my car. However, I did try a MCS and JCW back-to-back, one had manual A/C and the other had auto A/C. Cruising down the highway at 75, we switched the manual fan off and still had plenty of airflow - we tried the same on the auto A/C and there was no air movement (that I could tell anyway). Salesman fiddle with it to see if he could replicate the manual A/C, but with no luck, I guess it is possible he missed the recirc. button.

It would be great if that issue was simply due the recirc. button on the Mini. However, my wife and I have owned a number of German cars in both manual and auto A/C varieties and they've all operated exactly the same.... auto A/C w/ no fan = no air, and we never use the recirc. buttons.

Having said all that, I will admit to being overly **** on this point.... its just that I've had some broken and squeaky fan issues in the past that either made the car undriveable or drove me nuts listening to it :impatient.

 

Love:
Automatic climate control. Other people said they don't like it, but I wanted to offer a counterpoint. :-p I leave it set for 72 degrees year round and I'm comfortable year round. I only have to fidget with it if I want the defroster.

Cold Weather package. Ohhhh, heated seats... Yeah.... that's the stuff.... Heated wiper fluid is kinda nice, too. I'm in Maryland which it is not especially frigid but I love those heated seats.

Sunroof. I especially like the MINI's sunroof, which extends into the back seat as a moonroof. Sunroofs really aren't that practical, but I kinda like having the sun come in, being able to open it on nice days and being able to "look up".

"Big" cupholder. Mine came with it but I think that was dealer installed. On the MINI website, it's optional. It attaches to the right of the radio and holds all our lovely oversized American drinking cups. For real, I don't know what I'd do without it. The standard cupholders will mainly only fit cans.

Wish I had:
Rear fog lamp. Mainly I just want another switch. The missing one bothers me. I'm tempted to ask the dealer if they can just put in a blank switch in that spot, for looks.

Navigation system. I really like the way it's laid out and although I have an aftermarket navigation unit, it's hard to find a good place to put it. Putting it on the dashboard gives me a wire that hangs down but there's really no other good place to stick it -- not much spare center console room, what with the shifter and the hand brake.

Glad I didn't get:
Optional extra gauges for oil temp and battery charge. They look cool but they don't serve much purpose and they take up a nice little cubbyhole that you can stick other stuff in!

 

I

 

I drive alot of unlit country roads, so I REALLY regret not getting the Xenons.

I like the mfsw for cruise and being able to operate the radio without taking my eyes off the road.

Altlhough I use it, I got the sunroof for resale, but I could live w/o it.

The factory armrest is too short. I have normal arms--33inch sleeve--but my elbow still slips off the end.

Auto air took some getting used to...mainly remembering to shut off the air conditioner (snowflake button), but at least it lights up to remind me.

If my newly acquired agressive driving skills continue to increase, I may regret passing on the LSD, but not so far.

Since the only color I LOVE, Solar Red, was never available to me, I don't regret my choice of black, even tho it's a bear to maintain, especially in winter. But no other colors or white appeal to me.

I still haven't heard a Harmon Kardon that's worth $600 to me compared to after-market systems at about the same price.

I've heard lumbar support is better if you buy leather, but then again, I've heard it makes no difference.

That's about it...my '05's a keeper. I'll wait to hear how the new '07s shake out and then think about an 08 or 09.

 

I'm pretty new to the MINI scene, but the way I see it, the '07s are going to be real different and probably introduce a lot of new problems. The '06 is going to be the best model for the next couple years. The '05 is sounding like another great model though, very few problems.

That being said, I can't wait for my new '06! Come'on end of March!!

 

Johnathan:
As a veteran of a mere 11 mos of MCS ownership, I welcome you! I believe alot of the growing pains found in 02s--04s have been ironed out, and we're lucky to have waited till 05 or 06 to buy.

What will ordering be like on the 07's. Three expected models: 115hp, 150hp & 170hp. I can't help wondering if certain desired options, colors, etc will be restricted to the more expensive models or if we'll still continue to be able to 'build' our Minis ala cart.

 

Love Xenons.
Love Cold Weather Pkg
Love Sport Pkg
Love the NAV

Glad I got Leatherett
Glad I got Primume
Glad I did not get stripes "i put on custom stripes from cooperflags.com "

Regret- Wish I had not spent $600 bucks on CD Changer. MP3 players make changers a big waste of money

Wish I got the crome

 

Wish I would of got JCW seats....oh yeah they're not available here in the US...mAybe the recaro's oh yeahhh they're not available either


Paul

 

Must have heated seats!! I can't express that enough and we live in sunny California where it's 72 every day. They calm your back muscles on long drive. It's like rays of sunshine. Love em.

Xenons, Multi Function Wheel and of course must have Auto A/C.

Oh, and the auto wipers are the coolest. I go out to drive in the rain just to see them work. I still get tickled every time I go under a bridge and they pause and then start back up when out of the tunnel. So cool

 

I can't believe no one has mentioned the iPod adapter!!! That's a must have! And if you don't have an iPod you should get one.

 

Here's a different perspective. I like the chrono pack. I use the oil temp gauge on every first drive of the day. The water temp goes up faster than the oil temp. So, I baby the motor even after the water temp comes up, until the oil temp is up to operating level and oil pressure is down.

I wish I had the LSD. I would have bought it in a heartbeat if it had been available when my car was built.

 

I like all that light coming in.

Love the xenons. I find myself listening to the engine more than the stereo, so perhaps I did not need H/K, although I think it's great.

Auto-dimming mirror/rain sensing wipers are fab.

 

I'm happy with pretty much all the factory options I chose (all 3 packages), but I especially like the heated seats (especially this time of year) and the rain sensing wipers. I hate having to keep changing the speed of the wipers on our other car. I also love the look of the chromeline interior - especially at night!

Wish I'd gotten the anthracite headliner - ordered before it was an option and missed by 2 days that month or 2 in the early 05 model year when they included it with the anthracite dash. Oh, also LSD - but that's not an option on the MC anyway...

 

I'm getting the auxilary audio input. I don't have an iPod...don't really like 'em...I'm weird like that though. lol But I LOVE music, and I have other things that play MP3s, like my cell phone for example. The aux input is much more flexible, because no matter what the latest greatest music player is, you can use it with your MINI stereo.

 

I don't get why people hate the armrest. I'm very happy with it. Maybe it has everything to do with seating position and body proportions... I've got long arms (34-35") so maybe the fact that it's a tad short isn't an issue for me whereas it is with others.... anyway, I would SERIOUSLY miss it if I didn't have it.

 

arm rests are great on AT cars, but for me, not on a MT car. that's all.

 

Really happy with:
HK w/ Sirrius - top of the list for a reason, HK is awesome
Xenons
Auto wipers
Cloth seats
Anthracite HL
Chrome Line w/ anthracite dash (cool as a combo)
Euro Parcel Shelf
Whalen **** (OK its not stock, but I really like it - I put it on at the dealer after picking up the car...)
Sunroof
MF steering wheel - its odd driving different cars now, when I want to turn down the radio !

No preference either way:
Auto Climate Control - works OK, but I'm used to using manually to get what I want now anyway. It gets the job done just fine.

Good and Bad:
Arm rest - cheesy construction compared to the rest of the car, but I do use it all of the time, even with manual transmission.

Sunroof 'screens' - so so in my area during summer - I bought dedicated shade inserts for the summertime. Not enough to make me give up the sunroof though...

I really did not end up with anything that I have not been happy with, and I got practically all of the options available at the time. My JCW upgrades are great - I am quite happy with the suspension, which I find quite comfortable for my needs.

Did I mention I was happy with the HK stereo?

Tom

 

wish I'd gotten JCW (7000 installed at mini sf, HA!)( and that doesn't include brakes or intake, HA!), beige leather seats (for BRG)

glad I got heated seats, sunroof

on the fence about sports package, DSC is hmmm, wheels suck, got aftermarket by about 1500 miles.

 

FYI, I checked this out last night. With Auto Climate Control (ACC) off, there is indeed airflow. When I put it on auto, then turned it off, I had airflow out the bottom vents. Then I put it on 'dash vent', and turned the system off - still had flow out the dash vents.

 

Put the system on recirculate....

Matt

 

the worst option for me is 'chrome interior / exterior',
especially if you have to pay for it..

 

Worst because of the quality, or just because you don't like the looks?