I took a friend for a ride in my MCS today...
As I was whipping through some extreme twisties, quietly trying to ignore the frantic flailings of the dude next to me trying his mightiest not to flop around like a freshly caught trout, the realization hit me..
The MINI is missing the one piece of equipment that is absolutely necessary when going for a "spirited" drive with a buddy..
An overhead grab handle!!

 

well for them to use the nicely placed and sometimes usefull overhead grab handle thingys. Mini would have to get rid of the over head air bag system. Don't know witch I would rether have. I'm thinking the Air bag thingy...

 

Thanks littlecajun for supplying the reason for this omission. It seems so obvious once someone points it out. I'll have to use this the next time my wife complains about the lack of the handle...which is just about every time she rides as passenger in the MINI. It's interesting, I've gotten used to having these in most cars over the past 20 years or so and it does seem very strange when the MINI doesn't have one!

 

When the wife forces me to be navigator, I have a tendency to grab for the "missing" overhead handle. The airbag makes sense.
Since we do a lot of "spirited" motoring, maybe I can convince the bank (wife) for some 3 point harnesses.

 

the sport seats seem to hold you in place good, but the passenger can also grab the door handle (if they must)

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Grab handle would be nice--but even better would be auto dimming mirror. Every SUV has headlight right in my rear view mirror at stoplight!
MCS pure silver, all packages, nav,black grills

 

>>Grab handle would be nice--but even better would be auto dimming mirror. Every SUV has headlight right in my rear view mirror at stoplight!
>>MCS pure silver, all packages, nav,black grills

The auto-dimming mirror is an option for 2003. It's in our MINI. According to the manual it even un-dims when you put it in reverse. Smart car!

 

>>Grab handle would be nice--but even better would be auto dimming mirror. Every SUV has headlight right in my rear view mirror at stoplight!
>>MCS pure silver, all packages, nav,black grills

that's why your MCS has a 6th gear vrooom.....see ya

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The auto-dimming rear-view mirror is great (I have it) but they also need an auto-dimming drivers-side side-view mirror.

 

Auto-dim side views would be great- I'm always raising mine a bit at night to keep headlight glare away. I just sit up a bit higher if I need to look, but auto-dim would be way cool. Wonder if they could ever be an after-market item??

 

You mean a handle on the dash for a passenger?

 

Can't put a handle in front of the passenger (like on old VW beetle) cuz the airbag is there. Can't put a hanlde above the passenger cuz there's an airbag in there as well.

Maybe 5 point seatbelts would do the trick

 

is there a way of mouint a strp or handle in the door jam... seem that woud be easy and teh window coudl be down.. It would be kind of like the hooks you see that hang over doors in you house,as long as it matched the framework it should work well, Mayeb I'll take some measurments when I get my mini in april..

 

>>is there a way of mouint a strp or handle in the door jam... seem that woud be easy and teh window coudl be down.. It would be kind of like the hooks you see that hang over doors in you house,as long as it matched the framework it should work well, Mayeb I'll take some measurments when I get my mini in april..

there is a grab handle on the door already (to pull it shut / hold on)

 

Even if you had the handle on the Air bag panel? Don't know how sturdy that would be.

 

Yeah I know that. I mean mount one over head.. like this

 

>>Yeah I know that. I mean mount one over head.. like this

sorry, i see what you mean now

 

Overhead grab handle? I believe the technical name for this is "Jesus handle".

Not that it matters much though -- in my experience, women complain just the same whether there is a Jesus handle or not.

 

>>Overhead grab handle? I believe the technical name for this is "Jesus handle".
>>
>>Not that it matters much though -- in my experience, women complain just the same whether there is a Jesus handle or not.<<

I've always heard it referred to as the "Oh *****" handle.

 

>>>>Overhead grab handle? I believe the technical name for this is "Jesus handle".
>>>>
>>>>Not that it matters much though -- in my experience, women complain just the same whether there is a Jesus handle or not.<<
>>
>>I've always heard it referred to as the "Oh *****" handle.
>>

me too, i never heard it called the jesus handle only the Oh Sh*t handle

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As a matter of fact, my wife's very first complaint about the MINI was something like:

"OH, ***** - there's no "Oh *****" Handle!"

 

I have also heard it referred to as the "Suicide" handle. :smile:

Yep - that door handle gets grabbed a lot

 

>>I've always heard it referred to as the "Oh *****" handle.

No that's the one over your head or between your legs which trips the ejection seat.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned this: The MINI is designed perfectly to allow the passenger to wedge himself into a stable position. Place one knee against the door and the other against the center-cluster riser and hold onto the door handle. Three-point stability!

2nd

 

Handles or straps hanging down- what is this, a subway car?!! Sports seats and door handles will do just fine, thanks. However, if more is needed, I think the best option would be like a second steering wheel, kind of a driver's ed attachment, so that the passenger, already having a full view of the speedo, could also go through the motions w/ the driver. Give 'em something to do

 

>>As a matter of fact, my wife's very first complaint about the MINI was something like:
>>
>>"OH, ***** - there's no "Oh *****" Handle!"
>>
>>