I asked my SA yesterday about progress on the secret compartment. She said ALL of them are to be locked, and are coming in locked "or else they rattle badly." This is contrary to reports I've read here. Has anyone else been told this?

 

Well, I got my MINI last month and the "secret compartment" was not locked. I haven't noticed any noises from the compartment but do have a very slight dash rattle. A co-worker got a new MINI (also R56) at another local dealer and the compartment was not locked either.

 

My week16 build was not locked.
This thread definitively claims they are not locked after the first month or two of builds.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ghlight=secret
MAs are underinformed-mine thought they were all locked until I showed him mine worked!

 

I didn't talk to Aka about it, but the younger MA at Woodands said they were all coming in unlocked now. Still had a few on the lot that were early builds, but most were later and would open.
Perhaps she was misinformed?

 

They lied to you daffodildeb. The service departments have been issued VIN numbers of the cars which are to have the secret compartment locked.

The problem has been fixed. I do not know when it was fixed, but it has been fixed.

Romi's works like a charm.

 

Deb - time to go over the MAs head. Call Ask Mini, explain the situation to the service REP, tell them to take case notes and let them know 1. you expect Mini to correct this defect, and 2. its about time they got off their duff and did it.

They need to start hearing this from everybody who is affected.

Don't forget to post anything you learn at the tracking thread in the problems forum:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=99015

 

No problem with my secret compartment, which is just the right size to hold a stack of cd's in their jewel cases.

 

Ahhh LynnEl,..you have discovered the "CD Changer" option.

 

The compartment on my week 5 build MCS, works perfectly, and absolutely no rattles.

 

week 10, unlocked, no rattle.

 

even with the 6 CD's compartement?

 

I picked up my MINI S on 5/10 and my MA said that everything they are getting in now has the compartment open. It was only the very early builds that had them locked down. Its not obvious how you open it, so maybe that is where the confusion comes in.

 

What occured was early builds were locked.. then a few builds a that shipped that next month were open but they got a list of VINs for those cars and the SA's were told to lock them.

Since then no new VIN's have been attached so cars coming in with them open are staying open. MINI has not released any info on the locked ones and how to fix them.. they used different parts then the ones opened now it seems.

 

The dealer told me that it now comes standard. For a while, she said, Mini was considering on scrapping the idea of having a secret compartment completely and that she didn't expect mine to have a functional one. However, mine works perfectly well. I'm actually quite surprised that my car came defect free perfect except for the fact that I nearly pulled out my gear shift stick completely while I was driving down the freeway. I'm assuming that a screw came loose.

Also, I ordered one with a white roof but mine came with a black roof. When I saw the car, it didn't really bother me because it actually looks better with a black roof.

 

Ditto for me.

 

Week 13, works fine. Only rattles if I put certain things in it. Guess I should take the rattle out.

 

Week 13, works great with no rattles.

 

Week 10, Mine works. Check my gallery for pics.

 

Okay, that's what I thought. I left a message for the MINI service manager (his recording said "BMW"), since ASK-MINI says they don't handle any service issues. We'll see what happens.

 

Mine's a Week 14, unlocked and no rattles.

Hope MINI unlocks yours...good luck!

 

From what I understand from previous posts, "locked" means sealed with two-sided tape and/or adhesive. If you can get the new latch mechanism, doesn't sound like it would be hard to "unlock" if you can't get the dealer to do it.

 

It is actually screwed close. They even have a part number for the screw kit so dealers can seal the compartment.

 

Week 13 here also unlocked and no rattles

 

That sounds even easier, then. I guess dealers used the tape/sealant just to keep it quiet.

 

How many posts does it take until its no longer a "secret" compartment... ?