Purchased my 2013 Clubman S (no navigation) on Friday. Paired my phone to the Bluetooth ; however could not get the voice commands to work. No response of any kind from voice command button on steering wheel. Asked for help on forum under Newby needs help with bluetooth. Followed manual to the letter as well as the Mini online help site. Still could not get it to work. Called local mini service department to set up appointment. Service advisor stated that all minis except those with navigation have no capabilities for voice command. He stated because of poor quality of system Mini Removed voice command capabilities and I was told to use my phone to dial or call out. There is no mention of this in Owners Manual and the online help still gives directions for voice command. I find it hard to believe that Mini would remove this feature (I consider this to be a safety issue) without mentioning it on the new car sticker, the owners manual, online help site or via the sales staff. Anyone with more information regarding this issue would be appreciated.

 

Mine has the same issue the service guy told me Mini is working on a software patch and will have us bring the car in for the patch.

 

just note that "voice commands" don't control the phone. you have to enter the names and numbers you want to voice call into the MINI, it won't do it from the contacts on your phone. So when you hit the face button, and hold it for a few seconds, it never beeps at you?

 

It's a pain in the butt to enter the names and numbers, so much so that I gave up. The voice command feature is real primitive, you're not missing anything.

Dave

 

Yes but you should still have the capability to speak the dialing directly. I never bothered to program numbers, as that IS a duplication of effort over what's int he phone already, but I do regularly use 'dial number' 'xxx-xxxx' 'dial number' to dial out stuff from memory.

Also, now that Siri is on iphone, if you use that device, you can press-hold that and then ask for the contact in question to be dialed by the phone itself through the car's mic/speaker system. Very convenient.

 

it si easier to scroll thru using the buttons on the steering wheel. The voice command junk that BMW/MINI uses is junk! Every now and then it will dump everything out and you ahve to go back in and reprogram the thing to use voice commands for like 10 numbers, not worth it IMHO.
I had a Ford Superduty that just connected via bluetooth and dial whose ever name you spoke. It was so much easier and user friendly than MINI

 

I would be thrilled to be able to disable my Mini's voice command in favor of using Siri on my iPhone. Trade you for my '09? ;-)

 

I was wondering if I just forgot how to work the Bluetooth voice commands. This is good to know. I have a 2013 Clubman S without the Mini Connect or Navigation system and the Harman Kardon system sounds like a station that is not tuned in. It is not just the radio. The CD, Aux input, XM and radio all deliver poor sound. I was shown at the dealer that all 2013 MINIs with this configuration exhibit this issue. I wonder of yours does as well? BMWUSA said that the engineers state the system meets specifications. Well, the specifications for 2013 are pathetic. I have not given up on some type of resolution as it will cost me close to $2000 MORE dollars to replace the system. However, I am working way to hard to fix a car that cost 10s of thousands of dollars. MINI is really starting to irritate me with their little annoying changes, poor testing before marketing, and lack of interest in admitting when they screw up their product. This is not the first issue I have had with this car. Anyway, probably will be my last MINI if they don't get their act together. I should have spent a third of the money this 2013 cost to refurbish my 2003 and kept it for another 130,000 miles. Oh, well.

 

I agree....I gave up on my voice commands long ago.....it would be a safety feature if it worked, but it simply doesn't.