I find once the temps go over 95F the AC has a hard time keeping up especially if it is real humid. It is worst if the car has been parked in the hot sun all day. No sunroof here either.

 

Mine works good. Have had days around 105-106 and it cools down with no problems even with a black roof. I have no sunroof and the windows are tinted so I know that helps.

 

I just took delivery of MY MCS this past Saturday. I love the car, what a BLAST, but the AC is definitely lacking, no doubt about it! I've had plenty of 4 cylinder cars and the AC has been plenty adequate in all of them. I'll have to try the auto circulate thingy to see if that helps.

 

Do the folks who think their AC isn't up to snuff have the manual AC or the auto-AC controls? Any thoughts is Auto-AC is any better?

I have a Ford F150 and the AC is just barely adequate (even with a 5.4 liter V8). So much so that I thought it was broken when I first got it and took it to the dealer to have them check the AC pressure. The (real) issue in my opinion is that there is no fan to blow air over the AC radiator to exhange heat. It relies on the car to be in motion at ~40mph to cool "adequately" when the temp is 100+. If you are in a traffic jam when it is 100+, good luck! Does the mini have fan?

 

I have the auto-ac. My previous car, an Audi A4, had climate control and I never moved it off of 68 degrees, winter or summer. Yesterday I had the Mini set at 62 and it just wasn't doing the job.

 

I have the manual AC. Not sure about the heat exchanger thing. The only time I use the AC is on the highway otherwise I prefer to motor with the windows open.

 

Phoenix, AZ area with a sunroof and the AC does fine. It is does not compare with the AC that was in my SLK which could get very cold, but the Mini's makes the interior quite comfortable in a short time.

 

I've driven mine in 105 degree temps, auto a/c set at 68, even turned it up to 70 when it was too cold. This was on a road trip so there was always a lot of air moving through the radiators. The fan speed never went over half way except when the car was stopped for short amounts of time for fuel. This was a dry 105, not a humid temp.

 

Mine seems weak, definetly not like my other cars. I did n otice that when I wash my car at the do it yourself area, the car gets really cool when I rinse out the radiator and intercooler, Im wondering if a different thermostat with a cool engine would make the difference.....After all, when you ope up the vents it blows warmer air that outside temp anyways

 

My AC was not getting cold at all so i took it in for service. They replaced the compressor and things have been great since.

 

My A/C has been pretty good. My experience with most German/European cars has always been they have weak A/C compared to Japanese and American cars. My MCS is my 5th European car and ranks probably second best A/C, of course it still worse than any American or Japanese car I've owned.

 

Oh ya....does anyone elses compressor make groanning noises when you turn it on?

 

Pepper white car and roof, no sunroof, tinted windows and auto-ac. My car sits in the park & ride lot all day in south Texas. I have a shade for the windshield which helps. The interior temperature is probably 115°F+ in the afternoons. With the auto-ac one button MAX setting (recirc, max fan, max cool) the interior is bearable within a couple of minutes although it never gets to what I would call cold.

My main objection is the location of the dash vents. Aiming them directly at the driver freezes my hands when gripping the wheel at ten and two. Moving them down helps somewhat. The upper vent on top of the speedo doesn't put out much cold air so I get a hot head. I tried aiming the left center vent at the passenger side and the right center vent at the driver but the airflow is diffused either by distance or the converging flows and doesn't really cool either person.

I'm giving the ac in the MINI three out of five stars; it's okay, but it's not great!

 

Don't have my MINI yet (on board a ship) but my wife and her mother's Mercedes don't have impressive ACs compared to my fathers Mustang GT and my mothers Focus. Then again, American/Japanese tend to focus more towards comfort/sound systems, it seems.

The Mustang's 1000w Shaker1000 rocks!

 

I haven't had great AC on any car since the older type freon was phased out. I can remember my 1988 Toyota truck would initially blow fog out of the ducts on very humid days. I haven't seen that on any vehicle since but they now use the newer safer for the environment freon.

 

Clubman owner here: No sunroof; No extra tint; Pepper White; Manual A/C. Rear seat down most of the time: Location: Palm Springs, CA. Temp average 110. A/C is very very cold. Cools car extremely quickly, even after having sat in direct sun. More than 5,000 miles now. . . has literally NEVER been back to dealership. Perfect car.

 

The air conditioner on our MCS doesn't compare to our 99 Lexus A/C. We don't have the auto air and I have often thought this might be the reason why the system seems weak. Saying that, my husband thinks the A/C is fine but it never gets icy cold unless I'm on the freeway and the temp is under 100 degrees.

 

Is it possible that the A/C in the clubman is more powerful since there is so much more interior space to cool? Or that the '08 models have stronger units? OR: Perhaps the fact that around town, the RPM's stay much higher with the six speed MANUAL transmission cars. I remember that the automatics were shifting quickly to keep the RPM's low. Again my A/C is up there with the best cars. I did in fact consider buying the new "1" series BMW coupe. I vetoed it strictly because of the A/C. Could not cool the car down in Palm Springs. Took out a second "1" series (not the convert) and could not cool it down. Just a LOT of noise. Living in the Desert, that reason alone was enough of a reason not to own the car. Clubman A/C is A+.

 

With a boot full of fresh T-Bone from Costco, I stopped on an errand and left Trixy locked with idling engine running A/C.

Kept the Steak plenty cold, but dropped the average MPG down close to 20 (for the previous 50 miles).

Know I should have finished errand quicker, but hate rancid meat

 

I have done that before too. Now I carry one of the collapsible cold bags when I go to the store. Throw my cold items in and it works great.

 

I have the auto air con, with sunroof and tinted windows and when driving through central California to and from last week's Mini Takes the States gathering in Pasadena, it was 104 degrees during a good portion of the time.

The air con worked great and I was surprised when I looked down at the temperature gauge and saw how warm it was. I've been pleasantly surprised by how good the system is, because many first-generation owners complained that the air con wasn't up to snuff.

 

SFla here too. 2005 R53 S and 2008 Clubman S, no sunroof, both have tinted windows and manual A/C systems. You can hang fresh meat off the air vents of either car as the A/C is fairly cold. Remember boys and girls that R134a refrigerant based A/C systems are not nearly as powerful as the old R12 refrigerant based systems. The A/C, specially in older American cars, you could get ice cubes out of the vents. Having said that, I think the cars with the best A/C systems have to be Chryslers. My father and mother in law both have lowly Chryslers ('06 Sebring and '03 Neon) and while those cars suck in so many levels, yet their factory AC systems can give you frostbite in 90F+ degree weather!

I had a 2002 MC and the A/C on that car was very weak. MINI really did improve the A/C system of their cars after the 2004 model year. And they put a more powerful. quieter fan too.

The sunroof is a constant source of heat inside the vehicle. Another strike against it and why we have always avoided this seemingly "popular" option.

 

Romi does not have a sunroof (a huge source of heat inside a car), nor tinted windows, but does have the auto A/C. She sits all day outside while I am at work. In North Texas it is hot and humid.

In the 100+ degree weather we have the A/C works much better than in our Lexis IS250. I have a 2 mile commute and Romi will get comfortable in a mile or so, after leaving the office.

Now, I do what I can to help. I have the windshield reflctor from Mini (works really well) and keep Romi pointed at the Sun so the reflector can do its job.

Keeping the seats out of the Sun as much as possible seems to be the trick for Romi. If the seats are in direct Sun light, then they never really get comfortable to sit in, no matter how long the A/C runs.

That may just be me. I hate the heat. I love cold weather. It is my dream to retire to Nothern Alaska one day. The Wife unit is convinced I was a polar bear in a previous life.

 

Should add that my South Florida MINI has a Black Roof around the Sunroof...and no shade or tint added...
My only reason for choosing the Auto Air was I had to have the Sunroof and I couldn't resist "Buy One-Get One Free" deal on AutoAir and HiFi.

My first experience with Automatic Air was a New '62 Chrysler and it would drive you crazy with flipping from full cold to full hot

I still doubt that Auto Air provides 'colder' than a properly functioning Manual Set Air, but were I to have the choice again now,
I would gladly pay the full price for that option.

Only time I get heat in from Sunroof is if I have it at "Vent" (both panels tilted up at rear) and stop in traffic with a wind coming from behind.

>>>> This changes exhaust of air to air blowing into car and then I must close or open fully.

Of course to have a Sunroof and not enjoy its use would be second only to having a convertible and never putting the top down.

I would be in complete agreement with never buying a sunroof because it's popular, it's unlikely that your 're-sale' will recover more than half your cost.
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Those '03 and '06 Chryslers you mentioned would be R134A systems, ...I always thought Chevrolets blew the coldest air.

Our '88 LeBaron and '90 Spirit did lose about 20% of cold when converted from R12 to 134,
but C425 Aircraft (basically an Electric Compressor Powered Ford Type System) lost nothing in conversion.

 

Mini A/C sucks. I'd say it blows, but it just doesn't. Well, it does blow hot air. I took our '03 to the dealer once for the A/C not being cold. He said it was normal and that the air intake was too close to the ground. Whatever. Of the 20+ new vehicles I've purchased, Mini is by far the worst A/C ever.