According to the insert in the owners manual, the HK radio's automatic volume control is non-adjustable, ie: always working. Well mine certainly doesn't work and I can't seem to adjust it. What am I missing here?

 

You're not missing anything - the insert/brochure is wrong.

We have two '06 cabrios with the H/K stereo, and we wondered the same thing, so we asked the dealer.

It's possible that the Euro cars have the feature and the US cars don't, but it's more likely that the feature just didn't make it into the H/K system as planned, and MINI never fixed the owner's manual.

Your owner's manual probably still says that you can save different vehicle memory settings for each key, too. That's been in the US owner's manuals since the beginning, even though the feature was never available on US cars.

Regardless, enjoy your new cabrio! We love ours, and I'm a particular fan of the Cool Blue, obviously.

 

So its possible/probable that this feature doesn't exist on my car? The MA told us we had that feature too...

 

If you're talking about the key-specific vehicle memory settings, then no - you don't have that feature either.

It sounds like your MA needs to spend a little less time reading the owner's manuals and a little more time playing with the cars.

Although, the key-specific vehicle settings *are* available for the new R56 models, so I guess he can use that as an excuse for his confusion now. And when the 2009 models come out, the last of the first-gen cars will be gone, so the errors in the owner's manual won't be an issue anymore.

 

The H/K system that was made for the BMWs starting in 2000 has this feature. . . I guess MINI originally assumed their H/K system would also -- but it doesn't.

 

Or are you talking about the speed sensitive volume control? It is part of the HU and not the H/k system.

 

To clarify:
Although both base and H/K systems provide speed sensitive adjustment, the base unit allows the user to adjust the sensitivity from 1 to 5. The H/K system's speed sensitivity control is "automatic" (i.e. non-adjustable), but supposedly still there and operating.
I haven't heard the base unit enough to comment on that system, but in the H/K, the speed sensitivity, if really present and working, is so subtle as to be non-existent. some claim this is because it is smoother than in other cars which have a more dramatic change at certain speeds, but I think that there is not nearly enough compensation, if any, bewteen driving at 25 and 70mph.
The H/K speed sensitivity adjustment really works in my BMW - I can drive in the city and get on the highway without having to adjust the volume up and down.
In all fairness to the MINI though, the compensation may be more noticeable in a hardtop -- the cabrio requires more volume adjustment as it speeds up than would a tintop.