Hi,
Our 2006 MCCa came with what is listed as MINI-Alarm and has the red light on the stalk facing the driver side door.

While I haven't tried to 'shake' the car yet, I tried to reach into the car (roof down, windows up/down) and threw a backbag into the frontseat and the space in front of the frontseats... nothing.

I was under the assumption that even with the roof down, certain sensors are active.
I'm a little bit concerned about that as I don't have any confidence in the system at the moment.

Any pointers ?

 

Only a guess, but I would believe the motion sensors would be deactivate when the roof was down. Too much opportunity for falsing. But, only a guess. Put up the roof and test.

 

I have 05 MCSC with alarm. My alarm works with the top down, but the sensors in the front seat really only cover the footwells, not much of the seat area. They also cover the glove box area (one time I reached in to get something and set it off. Of course, the alarm has to be armed (doors locked) or nothing works. The rear seat sensors are a bit better, they are near the speakers.

As a side note, when I am going to be out of sight of my car for more than a minute or two, I put the top up. I have seen the results of bird overflight and, unfortunately, the sight of a presumably jealous individual dumping a fast food drink into an open convertible (non mini).

 

Yeah, I'm almost paranoid to that point too, bird droppings and trash/cigarettes on leather :( So I keep the roof up on public spaces as well.

I really need to test that extensively ... I threw the backbag into the footwell (car was locked and windows up) and nothing happened, I even pulled a jacket from the backseat with no success.

The alarm was priced at $995 installed , for that price it better works

 

It works in mine. Top down, windows down, doors locked. I was at AMVIV...top of the parking structure....reached in to get my camera off of the seat.......BAM!!! The alarm went off and scared the hell out of me, along with a bunch of MINI peeps.

I'm sure I looked impressive, checking my pockets, looking for my purse, searching desperately for my keys to turn the dang thing off, but it definitely does work.

 

Then I consider mine not working... ok, to be fair, I will test again

 

The alarm on the cabrios is a joke. As was mentioned, the sensors in the back seat work just fine. The sensors in the front seat suck. Try this. Set the alarm, then reach in and hit the eject button on the CD player...CD pops out and no alarm. I've opened up the glovebox and taken out my owner's manual...still no alarm. I've hopped over the door panel and jumped up and down on the front seats...no alarm!!! But you better not try to steal my floormats! Best bet if you are going to leave the top down and attempt to use the alarm is to roll the windows up. At least that way, things in the front of the vehicle are out of reach and not so accessible.

Honestly for this price, you can get an alarm that does a lot more and is much more effective. My advice for anyone considering getting an alarm for the cabrio...skip the OEM one and go aftermarket. The only thing the OEM alarm is good for is a discount on your insurance.