I know this has been brought up before, but I can't find the thread.

The keyless ignition thob has a little silver button that pops a valet key out.

What is the purpose of the valet key? I mean there is no keyhole to insert it into to start the car, and you can't lock the glovebox, so what is the purpose?

Not that it really matters, because i never have my car valet parked.

 

my MA told me that due to radio interference, occasionally comfort access or remote unlock may not work. You can use the key to open the door, and then once the fob is placed in the cradle, you can start the car.

 

i guess that makes sense, thanks

 

If you leave your windows and sunroof( if you have them) open and you just locked your car already. the key can be inserted into the door handle and turned and held in that position, then it will automatically close all windows and sunroof.

also unlocking and locking your door manually.

 

You mean fob or throb? I've never heard of a thob.

So you can unlock the door if the battery goes dead. Otherwise, you might not be able to open the bonnet to get at the battery.

 

Yes fob is what i meant, sorry.

Just talked with my brother who raised a point. Can you get an R56 without the push button start? I was under the impression from the configurator online that the $500 option was for the pushbutton and without it you just got a regular key.

 

Its always a push buttom start. The $500 option relieves you of the burden of unlocking the door.

 

sweet, saved myself another $500. haha, now a metalic paint job is in the works haha. I'm trying to keep my config around 27,500.

 

They key is also nice if you want to go swimming, snorkeling or scuba diving. You can leave the fob in the car and just take the key. Also when you valet park, some keychains are difficult to remove the Mini key fob. You don't really want to hand over your whole key chain with your house key to some random valet. So all you have to do is push the release button and give them just the fob.

 

And also the tiresome task of putting the fob into it's slot.

I'd imagine the valet key would also be handy if the car's battery was to die and you were locked out?

 

I tie the key to my shoes when i run so the fob isnt bouncing around in my sweaty pocket....

 

lets not forget that the wireless uses a battery and charges in the car. in theory if the fob is not charged for a while it will not open the doors. At that time the "valet key" is your only shot at opening the door.

 

Cars with the convenience package have a fob w/ regular batteries; i.e. not rechargable. The batteries are easily obtained at any pharmacy.

 

You know, the interesting thing is that in 3 1/2 years with my Prius with the equivalent package, I still haven't had to change the remote batteries...

 

A little off topic, but...

Can anyone with the Comfort Access option get the comfort opening or comfort closing feature to work? Our Owner's Manual claims that when you have Comfort Access you can hold down on the Comfort Access button on the door handle to perform the comfort open and/or comfort close action (where the windows roll up/down and the sunroof vents/closes). However, for the life of me I can't get it to work. The comfort open/close works just fine with the key if manually inserted into the door lock though.

Any ideas???

Also, what happens if you leave the key fob in the car and then get out and try and lock the door with the Comfort Access button on the door handle? You would think that the car would beep at you or something like that to let you know that you've left the fob inside the car. However, ours does absolutely nothing. It simply won't lock the doors and we sit there dumbfounded as to why the doors won't lock.

Strange...

 

Isn't that a feature? I thought the jist of the info I read on the mini site was that you shouldn't be able to lock your key in the car. Would be nice to have it tell you if you left them in the car or not, but I guess refusing to lock the doors might indicate that

 

Yes, I agree that it shouldn't allow you to lock your key in the car (and it doesn't), but it should indeed let you know the reason that it won't lock the door (using a beep or something).

Our neighbor's Infinity makes a nice subtle beeping noise when you try to lock the door with the key inside alerting you to the problem. Seems silly that the MINI doesn't do this.

We find ourself constantly running into this problem for some reason. I can tell already that we're going to end up losing one of our fobs since the Comfort Access option takes away most of our reliance upon it. I'm constantly forgetting that I still need the fob in my pocket when I get into/out of the car. Before we had this feature it was always second nature to have the key in our hands at all time. i.e. if you don't use it you lose it...

 

when pushing the button on the handle to roll up or down the windows you have to hold it for a couple seconds before it starts to do either. hope that helps?

 

Thanks, but I've tried that. It just sits there and does nothing when I hold in the button.

So I take your's works then. Hmm... I'll have to ask the service department about it.

 

I've had it roll up the windows if I hold the black door handle button down long enough. I don't have a sunroof. I've not tried it on opening.

 

Do you take the fob out of your pocket when in the car? There is no need to. Just put the fob in your pocket when, you put your wallet in, and leave it there.

 

I will try it tomorrow, as I have always observed the same as you. I have no sunroof

 

yes mine works. ive also noticed it wont work if i have just recently used the fob to lock or unlock the door.

 

Normally, I'd just leave it in my pocket... However, with the car being brand new and all (and us being in a frenzy to examine every inch of it), we are loosing the fob all over the place.

I'm sure that once things settle down, we'll get into a groove and it will all workout fine (i.e. it will remain in the pocket as it should).

 

Ah... Maybe that's it. I'll have to try it again.

Thanks!