Hi everyone!

I am ordering a pretty basic MC tomorrow morning, but have some questions about some things before I sign on the dotted line...

Does the DSC really make that much of a difference for general commuting, 3 hr road trips on mix of highway and country roads?

Can you order the 6 speed automatic WITHOUT the shifters on the steering wheel?

Is there a low tire pressure indicator on the computer for the standard 15 inch tires or does that only work with the 16" run flat tires?

I like the look of the 16 inch tires, but don't like the idea of replacing an expensive run flat tire, your thoughts?

What do you think about the heated seats and the rain sensor?

Thanks so much for your help!

LG

 

Although I have an MCS, I may be able to answer a couple of your questions. The Heated seats are really nice, a great feature if you live somewhere with cold weather(like Chicago ). In my opinion, runflats just detract from the overall ride quality and are expensive to replace, so I would just go with whatever wheels you like best that have non-runflat tires.

Hope that helps a little, and good luck tomorrow!

 

Thanks! My dealer only gave me the option of 15" all season or (I think) 15" performance tires. I was too excited when I was there, so don't really remember if those were the two 15" options. I will need snow tires too, so wonder about buying a second set of wheels to have a dedicated snow tire set on. Are the regular 15" rims expensive?

LG

 

Dynamic Stability Control will help you remain stable in situation in which you may become unstable. If you forsee yourself driving in heavy rains, snow/ice, or otherwise unsafe conditions AT ALL, that should weigh into your considerations. If you're hardly ever in these situations, then you likely can ignore DSC. If you may be in these situations, and want to be on the safe side, thats where the DSC factor weighs in. It's really your call though. If it was a garantee'd life saver, it wouldn't be optional.

I don't know about 2007, but I believe previous year the MC came with CVT (no shifting at all) automatic, and the S came with a step-tronic paddle shifted automatic. I don't believe you can order an S automatic without the paddles... But you can probably remove them, and I doubt they'd be in your way anyhow if not inclined to use them. They will not work unless you move the automatic shifter into sport mode anyway.
The way the run flat sensor works in the Mini, is that it measures how many times the tires turn. If 3 tires are running in full circles 40 times a minute, and one is running 38 times a minute, the car will see that as a low tire, because 1 tire is not rolling as much as the others and will trigger the alarm. The tire pressure sensors do not actually measure tire pressure at all.

A full size spare will not fit in a Mini, and a Mini spare will take up a lot of trunk space. Paying for runflats is like paying for insurance that you should never be stuck on the side of the road, immobile, due to a flat tire.

I think the rain sensor is silly, but heated seats can come in handy anywhere it gets below 40-50 all winter long.



EDIT: I just looked for 2007. The MC comes manual, or with an algorithmic paddles. So those are your only choices. Seems the convertible still has the CVT, but also somehow incorperates paddles this year. odd.

 

[QUOTE=Wagnbat;1509874]Dynamic Stability Control will help you remain stable in situation in which you may become unstable. If you forsee yourself driving in heavy rains, snow/ice, or otherwise unsafe conditions AT ALL, that should weigh into your considerations. (/QUOTE)

I will be driving my mini in all of those conditions so I am wondering about upgrading to the DSC. Does it change the feeling of the ride at all? I guess my worry is that it sounds too good to be true so I don't really know if it will help.


[QUOTE=Wagnbat;1509874]They will not work unless you move the automatic shifter into sport mode anyway.(/QUOTE)

Oh ok. But does the Automatic have a sport mode?


[QUOTE=Wagnbat;1509874]The way the run flat sensor works in the Mini, is that it measures how many times the tires turn. (/QUOTE)

Thanks for the description on the run flat sensor. I was under the impression that there was a sensor for the regular tires as well, no?


[QUOTE=Wagnbat;1509874]A full size spare will not fit in a Mini, and a Mini spare will take up a lot of trunk space.(/QUOTE)

I think the spare tire (donut) is mounted under the car in the 2007s.

Thank you so much for your advice!!

LG

 

It might save your life. Or, you may never need it. If you have maneuver quickly to avoid something, it might keep you from losing control. You never know when something will happen. For example, I was driving back from the grocery store on a midnight milk run (gotta have it for breakfast cerial ) and a possum darted out in front of me. I figured I could go around him. They had just repaved this section of road and it was dry. What I didn't realize is that they hadn't finished the repaving. The surface still had a lot of tar and needed more gravel. It was actually quite slick. I ended up in someone's driveway with iceplant on my bumper. The point is, unexpected stuff happens. Something falls out of a truck ahead of you, you swerve... A colleague swerved to avoid a hitchicker who jumped out and surprised him. He ended up losing control and flipping his car. The Macintosh he had in the trunk was, amazingly enough, undamaged. Oh yea, no one was hurt, either.

Since DSC-like systems have (according to insurance statistics) saved lives, it is scheduled to become mandatory in 2012, IIRC.
I would think so. It is built into the onboard computer in the S. I suspect it is also in the MC.

I'm going to switch to non-runflats on an MCS and carry a pump and emergency tire goop. Sudden deflation accounts for less than 15% of flat tires. Usually it is a slow leak. So, you could pump some air into it and get to somewhere it could be fixed. It is much easier to find a place that will fix a standard tire than fix a runflat. If you get quality tires and don't run them bald, your chances of getting an catastrophic flat tire is fairly slim. You can use instant repair goop on a MINI because there is not pressure sensor in the wheel. It is done by monitoring wheel speeds.
A friend talked me into them, and I'm in California. Haven't used them yet. Car is due any day now.

 

I thought the paddles did work in without going into the manumatic mode. But switch back to the fully auto mode in a couple of minutes. At least that's what it says in the manual.

 

IMHO, DSC is probably the most important safety feature to come along since anti-lock brakes. You may never need it, but when you do, it is pretty amazing...Last winter, I was a little too confident driving my X5 in very light snow. I took a corner a little too fast, and the rear began to go into a spin. DSC took over, and it was like an unseen hand that stopped the spin, and righted the X5. It has also saved me countless times in heavy rain. I would never buy another vehicle without it. For $500.00, it is pretty cheap insurance.

 

An added bonus with the DSC is the "hill assist" feature, which holds the car from rolling back for a couple of seconds when you are taking off on an incline - great for new manual drivers like me!

 

Even for a driver that has been driving a stick for awile, I love the hill assist! It takes the stress off the clutch, and the worrie of a roll back. BTW it working in reverce too. I was parked on a decline nose down and put the car in to reverce and it held it there for me to back up!

 

Regarding the rain sensor: I love it, so does my wife. We got it just for the heck of it when we ordered her car. Now when I drive a car without it, it's really a pain to be constantly adjusting intermittant settings. With the rain sensing wipers you turn it on once and then just forget about it. It does all the work for you. In the Pacific Northwest, it makes a big difference.

When I ordered a MINI for me, I got the rain sensing wiper again.

All that being said they are another level of complexity - in other words, another thing with the potential to go wrong.

 

I believe the MC comes with a compact spare whether you get 15s or 16s in run flats.

If you like the way the car looks with 16s then by all means get them. When the tires wear out you can get less expensive regular tires because you will have a spare.

The spare in the MC is a compact and it mounts under the car, not in the hatch. Storage space in the hatch is the same as all MCs and MCSs.