Hi

For you American Mini owners, does the 2008 model allow the driver to switch between mph and km/h on the speedometer?

Also, I assume the US Mini Cooper does not have Daytime Running Lights? Please confirm.

Many thanks

 

You can change the settings of the on-board computer to display metric units. Also, you can activate daytime running lights, which turns on all the lights, headlights, foglights, and taillights full-strength. It maybe annoying to others, but I guess that's the point.

 

thanks.

That makes it very easy to import in Canada then.

 

Hmmm. Importing?

If you are used to km/h, you would be stuck with the USA center analog speedometer faceplate only listing mph numbers. It does not even have km/h in small lettering.

While the electronic OBC will display mph, it is not the default display and would require you selecting it everytime you start the car.

If it does bother you and you're brave enough, you could probably swap the speedometer faceplate or maybe use white-out and a Sharpie marker.

Here's a partial view of the speedometer.

 

thanks for clarifying it.

That means I'll have to have the speedometer faceplate changed then. It's a requirement of the Canadian "DOT"... new cars can be imported but have to be modified to get daytime running lights and km/h speedometers.

 

The manual says that you can actually select whether or not you want to run the DRL. You can actually select them?? Unheard of in Canada. Is it worth $10K to you to import it, cause that is the price difference between Canada and USA.

 

You do not know the price difference, because the 2008 configurator is not up and running on the Canada Mini Cooper site.

for the 2007 model, the difference was 7k. With our dollar on par, 7k is well worth the 6% custom fees plus the cost of converting the speedometer to km/h.

 

Would you have to convert the main faceplate to KPH if the tach also displays it? If I lived in New Brunswick/Quebec or anywhere else in Canada, I would definitely be buying in the US.

The only noteworthy option you can't get here is this electric front windscreen defroster. Also, you have less customization in Canada vs. the US.

Which dealer are you going to be working with? Buying off the lot?

 

From what I understand, in Canada your speedometer needs to be modified to display km/h. Also, the car needs to have 5 mph bumpers (do you know if the Mini USA has that?)

I don't know where I will buy it yet. My estimates, including the various fees, show savings of 6-7k on a regular Mini (loaded with options).
I have a thread in the Canada section where I will list the details.

From the pics I see of the speedo on the US and Canada site, the max speed are the same 150mph / 240 kph, so I assume it just needs a faceplate change, not an actual changing of speed instrumentation or anything.

 

That is my only dissapointment in the R56. I miss the old center speedo that had bot MPH/KPH plus the needle gauges. I like the size but it looks empty.

 

Not quite: on my US R56, the "mode" you set the tach display to will stay as-is between starts. So one could use the kph display there full time without having to reset every start.

 

I agree

 

As well as displaying liters/100 km, kilometers/litre, and imperial or us MPG, and Celcius or Farenheit!