I love both, the xenons are totally awesome and the hifi rocks. I know alot of people have given the stereo some bad reviews but I really like it. I do not bass out and i have the radio at a good level most of the time, when a good song comes on I will crank it up but still think its fine.

 

Is the HiFi option just different speakers? If so, seems like cheaper to just buy some better speakers?

 

[quote=poidog;1639848]Yes, get the xenons! I would never get a car without them again. They light up the road so much better than regular hal. bulbs. Also, they turn with the steering wheel, so they light up the road ahead of you in a turn.

+1

I live out in the sticks and the xenons are way way better!!!

 

Xenons no longer come with the sport package...right?

 

No, the HIFI option includes an amp. It is the way to go if you just want to swap speakers to get a reasonably good system. If you want to add your own amp, get the base system.

IMO, the Xenon high beams are nice, but the low beams are bad. If you drive in the dark countryside, but have regular oncoming traffic, you will spend a lot of time running the low beams. The problem is that they cut off sharply, which is good for other drivers, but bad for you. Since they are quite bright in the area that they illuminate, they make it difficult to see beyond their reach. With halogens, the light isn't as bright, and it scatters more into the areas beyond the low beam's main coverage. Driving Carmel Valley Road at night (a 50 mph two lane road with a fair amount of traffic and no street lights) I find the Xenon low beams to be a disadvantage. When there is no traffic, the high beams are great.

If you drive in a typical over-illuminated city and on lighted freeways, you don't need Xenons for anything other than impressing your friends and hurting other drivers with the high beams.

 

I tend to agree with Robin on the xenons, but I also wonder if maybe my low beams are just aimed a littel too low. On the high beam setting the xenons work great. If I had to order all over again I think I would still go with the xenons, unless I was reall trying to keep the price down.

As far as the HI-FI goes, I'm glad I ordered it, although I would be curious to hear an upgraded base system. I just recently replaced my front speakers with the Infinity Kappas (took Robin's idea here) all for under $200 off of Amazon, they do sound better, but the install was kind of pain, and this is coming from a tech who does cinema sound work. The mini uses a proprietary speaker plug that I had to chop off and then solder on new connectors (I just hacked off the wires from the Infinity crossovers)

 

Interesting. I don't have the Xenons and I find the halogen low beams to be just fine (after I had them adjusted) but find the high beams to be kinda useless. I added dirving lights to cure that.

I find the HiFi to be just fine for my needs.

 

If you have the extra money go for it. If you are financing it the extra $1000 will only be pennies per month.

 

This is an older thread and silver arrow's recent post was just asking about the HIFI, not the Xenons. There's been a lot of debate over Xenons and halogens so let's not get into that again.

 

Xenons--definitely. Hi-Fi? Dunno--have a tin ear.

One caution about the xenons--they will probably come from the factory aimed too low. I wasn't happy with mine until I had the dealer raise them. Too high--got flashed. Had them put down a tiny bit, and no more flashes. Lots of light.

BTW, the reason I had the dealer do the job is that there's a plastic screw thingie for the adjustment. Someone broke off one in our 5-series, and we found that it's an expensive replacement. I'd rather have the dealer take the responsibility.

Also--a big PITA is that you can't flash with the xenons. They're bi-xenons, which means the high beams are also xenons. Flashing is a definite no-no, unless you want to replace the igniters (expensive). No problem if you already have the lights on, though--a shutter opens for the brights, and there's no wear on the igniters.

 

actually about $20 per month at 7% on a 60 month loan but still worth it

 

My sentiments exactly - at least the first part.

Have both, absolutely love both. I've complained about the speakers being not as good as I'd have liked, but I'd have complained more if I hadn't have purchased the upgrade in the first place. I love both, every time I use them.

 

I'm not sure if I have "HiFi" or not ... (duh). Bought my MINI off the boat, as well, so I took whatever it came with (and I love it all!).

But, have to say, I LOVE the Xenon's!! Not sure I would have opted for them if I was selecting all my own options. They're awesome!


p.s. 1 month old and couldn't be happier with my MINI!

 

If you have tweeters in the A pillars you have the hi-fi.

 

Mine are in cages...

 

I had halogens on my R56; they were poor compared to the Xenons on my R53. I have since then drived an R56 with Xenons, and I was utterly impressed with their output. Like Robin said, you have to adjust them up because the factory puts them too low, but once you do that, their lighting is excellent, well worth the money above the low-light halogens!

 

The Xenons are indeed a no-brainer..YES! Traded my Jag 'cause it didn't have them, they were projector halogens, good, but not as good as MINI xenons. Well it (the Jag) was out of warranty with 94,000 miles too and I still owed two years on it.
The HI FI- well that is a toughie. I do not have it, bought mine off the lot, and opted to NOT test-hear one that did have it, just like I didn't want to drive an "S". I know myself, If I drove the "S" and heard the HK HiFI, I'd have eliminated too many cars on the lot.
Now I'm looking at upgrading the base system.
Point is, if you go to the audio navigation grouping of threads, you'll find a ton of information and come away very confused on what to do to upgrade.
But you will see that most people with the base spent about $1500 on an upgrade. If I was building a car I'd get the HK HiFi and put in better speakers in the front after I got bored with it. But I'd probably get an "S" too.

 

Hi everyone,

Sorry to resurrect this discussion again, but the one thing that no one discussed was the replacement costs on the xenons. I've heard it can be near $800 per side to fix. Have thse of you who love the xenons ever had to replace them? If so, are they still worth it?

I'm contemplating getting them on a 2009 this summer...

 

bulbs are cheap, if you have to replace the whole thing that means you broke it and are probably having insurance pay for it

 

Get them!

DO IT.

 

If I ordered again and needed to spend the same amount. I would change to a non-metallic paint (red,white, or yellow) saving $500.00 and put that into Xenon's. Not only would I see better, but people would see me better coming up along side them. The Hi-fi is nice to have (you really need to listen to a base -vs- hi-fi to decide for yourself).

 

Over the years (yeah, I sound old), I've had quite a number of cars. Right now our stable includes a BMW with xenons and the MINI with bi-xenons (an old Porsche, too, but that's another story). There's no comparison between "regular" headlights and xenons, and no comparison again between "regular" xenons and bi-xenons. Each one is light years apart from each other, if I can be indulged a pun.

The other day we were traveling through woods in the Bimmer, and needed brights. The halogen bulbs used in the single-xenon were immediately seen to be too dim to be of much more use than the xenon dims. Going through the same woods in the MINI, though, it's immediately obvious that there's plenty of light to see the deer, trees, and occasional boogie man.

Get 'em!

 

I have both. My next car will skip the HiFi (for $500 i can get better speakers than what mini sells). I will get Xenons again. I love them.

 

OK, a year later...
I don't think I'll have another vehicle without Xenons.

US automakers are STILL so stupid to only offer them on the high end models in packages!
American aren't stupid, it's the automakers that are! That's why we buy other brands!

After a year of driving with the base stereo, I'm OK with it.

However, I did SERIOUSLY upgrade the home stereo. Made more sense.
Real significant improvement that doesn't go away with the car.

 

+1

My commute to/from university is up/down an unlit mountain road, but it has enough oncoming traffic to make high beams inappropriate. Before I got the MINI I'd driven back and forth using my parents' Civic (halogens) and Audi (xenons) and found I could see better with the halogen low-beams. The halogens mean I can see better in the surrounding, unlit areas because with the bright, sharply cut-off xenons, my eyes adjust for the bright areas instead. So when it came time to spec the MINI, the choice was easy. Though, I do prefer how the xenon clusters look.

It'd be nice to have the xenons if I drove the Sea-to-Sky regularly (I think the turning/adaptive lighting has more to do with this), but I don't. So, driving lights will have to suffice for that.

...plus... xenon projectors on most other cars on the road bug me when I see them oncoming or in my rearview, because I see that sharp point of light instead of the dispersed halogen reflectors.

Regarding the stereo system. I have to say I'm disappointed with the base system. It doesn't sound much better than the system off a base Civic (which costs $10,000 less). But I wouldn't have been satisfied with the hifi either. So, as soon as I have an income again, I'm going to upgrade the system myself.