.

 

West Covina has been known to get down to 60F during the winter months

 

People who park on the street. Narrow streets. If you have ever driven the residential streets of Capitol Hill (laid down before cars were considered) you get the idea pretty quickly.

 

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The only thing I regret not getting are the rear fogs. Everything else I'm pretty satisfied with, especially the comfort access stuff. I guess it would be easier to list what I didn't get and that would be the NAV, the Ipod adapter, the Bluetooth stuff and garage door opener.

The sport suspension is stiff, and after the beating the roads took around here from the harsh winter, the ride is a bit of an acquired taste. But, when you do get an unblemished road, I just love how it rides and handles.

Now, having said that I love my extras, part of me also thinks it would be cool to have just a bare bones MINI. Almost like a nod to the old school ones.

It's really hard to say because everyone is different. It's too bad you can't test every option before you buy.

 

Well I can't fathom when I would ever need PDC on such a short car but some people get them as an option.

Me personally, I like to fold my mirrors when I go through drive-thrus. I don't like how close the pillars/posts and the drive through window box comes close to my mirrors. of course I could fold them in my self but that just wouldn't be 1/2 as cool

 

Very helpful thread... has helped me a lot in figuring out what options I do and don't want.

It would be very nice to combine this thread and a few more into an Options FAQ and make it sticky. Since not everyone does have the same opinion on things, then a Pro/Con for each would be the best way to go.

I think like most buyers considering the Mini, this is the biggest issue that we face is what's worth it and what's not when it comes to options.

Thanks again for those who contributed... this thread was very helpful and a few options wound up on my "must have" list that I probably wouldn't have gotten without it.

 

lol, I said to my sales lady in reference to PDC that I can just stretch my arm back and stop when I feel the car behind me.

 

I was the same way until I met my wife. Shes under 5 feet tall and used to driving cars even smaller than a mini. Her car in Malaysia was a 4 door but was a full 12 inches shorter and almost 13 inches narrower than a mini. I could lift one side of it off the ground by myself. My Mustang, Mountaineer and especially my 69 dodge coronet are HUGE to her!

 

Thanks to this thread, I canceled my armrest and ordered the rear fog light. I am getting a sunroof, but what do you mean by a ceramic window tint? Is that the type I should get when i get my sunroof tinted?

 

I remember those cars! I was in Malaysia for 3.5weeks training new employees and several of the girls in my class had them. apparently they are popular with the women because they are so small

 

I thought they were the most ridiculous thing in the world too, and would NEVER have ordered them (They were included as part of a pkg.)! However, I recently found a purpose for them which we now use ALL the time! We have an average two-car garage with all the usual stuff crammed in there, 2 cars, bicycles, washer & dryer, shelves, tools, etc.... plus a Vespa scooter. There was no way we could arrange everything to get all the "vehicles" out easily without running the risk of scratching something, particularly when passing the Vespa between the two cars (Miata and MINI). Then presto...activate the power-fold mirrors on the MINI and ride the "scoot' between them with ease! To go one even better, we also manually fold the driver's side mirror in on the Miata now to make the job effortless! I say, "If ya got 'em, use 'em!"

 

Not to get too far off subject but yes they are very popular with the girls. Almost everyone in M'sia is taught to drive in one as all the driving schools use them(great marketing gimmick). 0.66 liter engine baby! not even 1 full liter displacement. It puts out a massive 29 hp according to wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perodua_Kancil

Back to the subject. My wife loves cars with the parking sensors and im glad she has the option. If it was me i wouldnt need them. But to be honest that is one of the reasons we are shopping a mini. There are very few if any other small cars with "premium" options like that. It gives her peace of mind while driving and it gives me piece of mind we wont have an insurance claim :-P

 

I just got back from Disneyland over Memorial Weekend...and it was 55-60 degrees

Or you are little old lady with back problems I met the husband of a justacooper owner...she likes the heated seats cause she has back problems.

 

I was in Danville during that weekend so I don't know what the weather was like in West Covina

I'm not a little old lady or little or old or a lady. I've had 2 other cars with heated seats but never really used them. I prefer cloth so I didn't bother getting heated seats which prompted me to skip the cold weather package all together.

 

My husband has had 3 accidents backing up. One was a 2' tall directional boulder/stone near a golf course. The total cost for the accidents out of pocket was close to $2000.00. There was no way I was gonna get any car without PDC!!

 

You may not need it in NY, but there's a new type of window tint (actually, not that new, but seems to be new with some tinters), that's specifically called, "ceramic tint." Local installers will know what it is. It blocks not only UV rays, but also infrared rays, thus blocking much heat from entering your car. You can decrease the darkness of the tint, but still block much of the heat buildup insdide. NOT completely heat-blocking, but a significant difference. I paid about $100 more (where I live) for this type of tint, and found it was well worth the extra $. We break 100 degrees here in the summer quite often ...

And, I left this off, but get the front fog lights, too. They are on this toggle switch panel ... confirm with your dealer to get all the toggle switch options to fill the panel.

 

Wish I had gotten:
Rear fog lights -- Just to fill out the toggle bank.

Wish I had not gotten (aka Could have lived without it):
Oddly, nothing. No regrets.

Glad I got (aka best option added):
Sunroof. Definitely the sunroof.

 

That 29 hp is with the older, supercharged engines. The new model (1969 onward) is a French-designed turbocharged powerhouse, spitting out 29.5 bhp. Incredible torque steer on that sucker.

Maybe with a cold air intake and a better exhaust you could get it to pump out 30-30.5 or so.

(I saw a few of these in KL & on Tioman in my travels.)

 

Maybe fogs, but dont really ever use them, happy with my navi choice and not getting the sunroof, way to hot in Florida.....my current one has one:(

 

Yea rear fogs are big obsession on this site, I've had them in my last two cars and I don't remember one instance I ever used them. As far as filing out the toggle bank, I'm just not that ****.

 

i haven't even received delivery of my car yet, but one thing i wish i had added was the anthracite headliner. i have a piano black, creamy white interior, and i think that would look better with a dark gray headliner vs a light gray headliner. i just didn't give the issue much thought when playing around with the configurator, maybe because the configurator view of the interior does not include the headliner, so whether you choose it or not, it looks the same.

 

Amen. I use the window toggles on either side of that bank and couldn't care less if there weren't one other toggle down there.

 

Girlfriend demanded it, and offered to pay for it out of pocket. Works for me.

 

r56sm8o I love your SL! The only option I don't like on my Mini is Sun roof. There's people that love em but I'm just not a sun roof person. I still absolutely love my Mini though. I'd say no matter how much you dislike your options or lack of options the Mini is still a great car!