Lack of non-runflats option
Atrocious radio layout - Hopefully someone will design a blank one so we can put in whatever we want instead.

 

+1 for the double door pull my 03 nearly had its handle ripped off from my idiot friends that just keep pulling like it will give up and open for them


and the radio! why couldnt mini keep it the same as the earlier modles!

 

#2 is also a problem in the first gen MINIs.

#1 first gen MINIs had one touch sunroof and as part of their cost cutting, they took it away on the new cars.

 

Lack of a decent tire air pressure system monitor. BMW/MINI are way behind the times in this arena. For a company that has been at the forefront of OEM runflat tire technology and has pushed it on nearly every product they sell, the MINI still has a subpar tire pressure system. Instead of an idiot light (Or icon display) give us a system in which you can quickly at a glance cycle through the air pressure readings for each of the 4 tires at the touch of a button.

My sister's "lowly" 2008 Chevy Impala has such system. In that car you can view the actual air PSI reading for each tire on the LCD dash display at the touch of a button (And that car doesn't even have runflats). The system is pretty damn accurate too. You can see immediately which tire(s) have less or more air pressure and make adjustments as necessary.

My $28K Clubman S has an idiot icon instead of a system that tells me with 99% accuracy a snapshot of the air pressure on each of the 4 tires. Unacceptable for a vehicle fitted with OEN runflats and no spare tire.

 

Bring back the Harmon Kardon stereo, please!

 

My only major complaint is the torque steer. On uneven road surfaces under acceleration things can get very exciting very quickly. It's the kind of excitement I could do without thank-you-very-much.

 

Let me preface by saying I absolutely love my Mini.

my criticisms:

1) Radio controls are funky to learn -not intuitive
2) Lack of a Turbo boost guage
3) Lack of water temperature guage


I think that is it. #2 and #3 are fixable and may be a future mod for me.

 

Auto-up windows, and the ability to close them with the remote.

 

One of my favorite quotes:

"Dodge's SRT engineering team finally developed what they hope to be a cure for torque-steer issue in high-powered front wheel drive cars... it's called wheel spin."



And trust me, you don't know what torque steer is until you drive something like my other car (300 ft-lbs at the wheels going through an open diff to unequal length drive axles...)

 

I had the pleasure *ehemm* of driving a Cadillac Allante once. That car was monster fast and the torque steer would literally rip the wheel out of your hands. The Mini certainly isn't that bad but it's annoying to say the least. I opted for the LSD on my MCS and now I'm wondering if that was a mistake with this FWD car.

 

- One touch sunroof, please!
- Rattles
- Cost of options - some of this stuff should just be standard on the S", like the rear fogs and some of the convineince package
- Factory iPod adapter location in center console - it should be in the upper glove box - cmon!
- Location of steering wheel radio controls - it's easier just to reach for the radio.
- can barely see where the redline is on the odometer.

Of course the car is way too much fun to really care about any of this.

 

The R56 does have auto-up windows. At least mine does. Are you saying you don't want them?

 

awkward cup holders. it's hard to roll down the windows when i have a cup in the cup holder.
my seatbelt buckle always gets stuck between my chair and the door... i basically end up yanking it out of anger every time i buckle my seat belt.
sound system is not that great.

 

I have one-touch to open, but my R56 does not have the same ability to close the windows, and I wish it did. Sorry I was unclear.

 

That is strange. Is yours a 2007? Cuz it looks like they fixed that for 2008. Mine work in both directions.

 

Wait, I'm still confused.

All R56's *do* have one-touch auto-up windows, I thought.

EDIT: Hmm... maybe '07's didn't. I'm basing this on what I've been told about '08+.

 

things I don't like:

1. large cups block the windows, so when I go to a drivethrogh I have to roll up my window before I put the cup down.

2. I hate 6th gear. It does absolutely nothing.

3. random rattling around the top of the dash

4. larger blind spots than you would expect

5. when I can't open my door wide in the garage the only way to get out of the car while holding something is to roll the window down because the window angles in

 

my 07 R56 does NOT have one touch up windows

 

There's a clip on each seatbelt that can be adjusted so that the buckle sit's up higher when it retracts into the wall, thus preventing it from getting stuck between the chair and door. I just learned this from another thread. I was in the same boat as you. Try it, you'll like it.

 

Yeah, I edited my post to say that maybe '07's didn't have that feature. I guess that's the case.

 

1) Stereo layout making it very difficult to swap in a different head unit
2) Wheel-Fender gap
3) No spare option
4) Orange displays - wish you could change it like the mood lighting
5) No chrono pack
6) The seatbelt ding comes on when there's any weight in the passenger seat, including a gallon of milk or my backpack.
7) Options are too expensive and no LSD for auto
8) Air has 2 options - nill or full blown

but I still love it!

 

Looking through this thread, the complaints are all over the place. Any car built is a compromise and is impossible to make everyone happy all of the time. No matter what you drive it is never going to be perfect.

With that said, I don't have any complaints at this time.

 

just remembered another one.

No latch to open the boot from inside the car

 

And 99% of these complaints are ones that you can find out during a test drive. Guess that fits the thread title. The car is still awesome even with it's quirks.

Some one mentioned the un-intuitive radio controls. I agree. I got the Nav instead.

 

+1. Darn it.