Hey Y'all... I may be the only one that finds the manual's description of how to use the climate controls a little bit... obtuse... but then again, I have an 06 Cabrio manual with my 06 MCS hardtop, and I don't know if that's nomral, or if there were two manuals and I got the wrong one. ANYWAY, for those well comfortable with their Minis and the interior controls, riddle me this:

I have been ATTEMPTING to use climate controls without AC. This being ticking the top right air button to the left of my auto climate control dial, once, to get the set temp at a single wavy-bar of flow, then using the **** to adjust the desired target temp (60, 62-66 whatever) and then using as is, without hitting AC, and without using AUTO. I *thought* that it would be managing the air necessary to try and hit that temperature benchmark, without using AC< since it was set manually. But perhaps that's an incorrect assumption. But if it IS manual, without AC, is it really trying to target the temperature selected? How would it cool the car without AC in the first place? louvers on fresh air intake?

To get true self-adjusting climate control, you hit Auto only, and select temp with the dial, yes? It automatically uses AC as needed? I haven't been using AUTO because I wanted to minimize it's use of AC unless necessary.

Am I way off base?

Also, hitting the front windshield defrost fires up the blower at max flow, aimed at the windshield, with no apparent adjustments allowed, and not able to be used concurrent with interior air. Is this really true?

Thanks for indulging my confusion...
t

 

You seem to have it pegged pretty well. Unless it's hot enough to run the AC, I turn the auto "off" and set the temp to "Lo". This lets in fresh air through the vents and allows me to set the fan speed and which direction the air flows (feet, vents or both). If you set the temp to something other than "Lo", you will get some warmer air when it's needed to adjust the temp to your setting otherwise it will just try to adjust the airflow to maintain what you set. I don't like running the AC unless absolutely necessary. I agree the manual isn't all that great but as I mentioned first, you seem to have a handle on what to do to avoid the AC.

 

Huh, do you have the automatic climate control feature (part of one of the packages)? I don't think I noticed a LO. Maybe it's there and I never realized it. I always see the last number I set with the jog dial.

 

One more click below 60 degrees is LO on the Auto climate control (at least on the '05 and '06 MCS).

 

aha

 

When you press the defroster button once, you will have the fan come on at its max speed.

If you press the defroster button and keep it depressed for a few seconds, it will than allow you to adjust the fan speed.

What irks me is when I have the unit in automatic mode and I than try to select where I want the air-flow to go (head-on or at the floor) it then shuts-off the automatic mode. Pressing any button while in automatic mode will shut it off and seemingly put the unit into manual mode.

I have put over 8K miles on this MINI and still haven't figured out how to correctly use the climate control. It's is far from being user friendly.

 

Yes, it is a very wierd beast. I used to hit the defroster button (the one on the top left with the squiggly symbol) to defrost the windows. That places the fan on uber high and turns on the electric rear window defroster. Holding this button does not affect the fan speed and will only cycle between on and off ('05 and '06). Someone told me to use the up arrow indicator on the right side of the controls to defrost with.
I also find that if the temperature is left on low and the vent button is pushed in (the middle <- button on the right), once you restart the car, the auto AC will be on. If you don't have any buttons pushed in and have the temperature set to low, on a restart the AC stays off and air comes through the vents (if the fan speed is on). Very strange device.