Ah, but there is! I have some straps that loop around the rear headrests, hang down about a foot, and brush up against the seat back carpeting with velcro just to hold them in place. I don't recall where I got them (I'll do some research), but they weren't expensive. You could easily make them--these had a little D-ring type of dealie that went through the loop of some strap material--pull off the head rests to install--and the other end had the velcro strip. Everything's available at your local fabric store, and it was a 3 minute mod!

EDIT: Found it--you can make them cheaper, though:

http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...eat-pulls.html

 

What kind of problem are you having with the wipers? Are they automatic or manual?

I totally agree with you on the 1st/reverse situation. It's ironic that the shift pattern is exactly the same as with my '94 BMW I had just before I got the MINI (1 more gear), and on that car you had to really slap the shifter over to get it in reverse. I've also noticed that the shifter is "looser" some days than others. In other words, some times it's pretty easy to pick the wrong one; other times, it's difficult. I make it a point to creep forward a couple of inches to make sure. It's a bad design though, and asking for trouble.

 

thanks so much!!! i think I will follow your advice and make them myself! looks pretty simple indeed! Much less than $20 definitely if home made!! plus i can use red fabric so it matches with the redwood interior

 

Great. I'd use strapping material, though, which you can probably get in red. Isn't the seat back black, though?

 

yeah, I think you're correct.. I just couldn't tell exactly how it went over the seat but i think I figured it out now. PLUS, I'm a girl and you know how we like matching things anyways....

 

I made my own seat pulls for less than $5 bucks!
Here's the original post: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...eat-pulls.html

 

...couple of things that have always annoyed me w/ my MINI:

1) don't like the fact that I can't see my entire tach gauge as the top is obscurred by my steering wheel. There is no apparent way to alter the angle of the wheel independently of the tach (they move together).

2) after 1.5 years of owndership I still don't quite get the radio controls ...they just don't seem intuitive to me.

that's it, other than that it's a great car

 

oh my god! I completely agree with #1!

I have always wanted the tach to sit on the dashboard,

kinda like the speedo in the current Civic

it's annoying not only having to look down to see the tach,

and then not being able to see it at all!

 

Mine is outta gas -- again.

 

Hey, seriously though folks, is it possible for one ot the enterprising vendors who have limitless resources (ahem) to conjure up an aux gas tank/fuel cell that might sit perfectly in the space left by removing the rear seat? It seems to me that having about an additional 15 gallons on board would make long trips much more enjoyable. As I remember, there were some devices of this type available back in the 1275 days. Why not now?

I recognize that there are probably all sorts of legal, environmental, and safety issues involved but other than those things, it seems like it should be a simple accessory.

Now I'm going to go on with my plan to raise the Titanic and build an amusement park around it.

 

great idea about the gas tank ...wonder if there is additional room to squeeze in an exra couple gallons in the current location ..via a larger and better shaped tank? I believe I've seen aftermarket tanks for other cars that used all the crevaces and nooks to get extra gallons in the tank. The tank wasn't rectangular shaped but rather oddly shaped to fill all spaces. (hope that makes sense)?

as far as amusement park ideas, ..i've always thought it would be cool to create an amusement park theme around all the lost machines and items that have disappeared in the Bermuda triangle. the idea is that the amusement park would be the other end of that worm-hole where everything shows up. So you'd have lot's of WWII themed rides ...i propose to have it all in the desert or antarctica. Somewhere remote where you'd expect to have all these things turn up.

 

If you've got the cash, fuelsafe can make you any shaped/capacity fuel cell you need.

 

Fuel tanks aren't as simple as they once were. There are emission standards for the vent system, accident safety standards, etc.

BTW, which vendors have unlimited resources? I'd like to see one of those. Most of them are small operations with very limited resources. Notice how many of them dropped out of NAM with the economic downturn?

Looks to me like the OEM tank may already be using the nooks and crannies.

 

Yea, the only way you can see more is to lower the seat and/or raise the steering wheel. I want the wheel where it is comfortable. That said, I can't see where else to put it that would be better.

MFSW and an iPod. What more do you need?

 

THANKS!! that looks really good and I can't wait to make some of my own!!

 

Robin:

I clearly realize that the vendors work on small margins. What I said was tongue-in-cheek. I even addressed the safety, environmental issues.

But I still figured that if one retired guy from Florida could raise the Titanic, the a larger fuel tank should also be doable.

I did forget to mention that I didn't want to spend over $100. I'm saving my other money for the theme park idea.

 

Wouldn't trade it for the world, but would change a few things...

1. I cannot adjust the volume of the hands free system.
2. Remote start - they won't let you install it because the electronics are "too complicated". The car is a computer, so all they need to do is add code that says "hold lock for 3 seconds to start, check if the car is in gear, if not, start". Reverse that to turn it off. Poor decision on their part not to make this available.
3. Moonroof lacks 1-touch open/close. Their explanation of "if there is a malfunction in the rear sunroof then the 1 touch would cause it to smash both the front and back sun/moon roof" was a joke.
4. When putting my daughter in the back, the seat always ends up positioned differently. It is supposed to go back to where it was. I'm sure there's a way for me to do this right, I just don't feel like having to figure it out.
5. Putting the heat/cool on Auto always turns on the air conditioning, so I have to turn it off. It should look at the temperature (remember, this car is a computer) and know if it needs to turn on the air.

 

^1 Re#4. I've found that the "auto-stop" or whatever sometimes gets out of whack (there's a small mechanism/latch that gets out of position on the floor-rail when the seat is moved forward while the seat back is moved back to position). With the seat in the upright position, move it all the way forward, then all the way back. This "resets it". It should work now.

 

"In a broader sense, the term can refer to any form of cooling, heating, ventilation, or disinfection that modifies the condition of air." wikipedia

It conditions the air. It looks at the temperature to determine if it needs to be heated or cooled, not whether or not it needs to be conditioned.

From the miniusa.com website:

"Normal Air Conditioning comes standard in all MINIs, but we also offer the option of an Automatic Climate Control system that will continuously regulate the cabin temperature to match whatever temperature you've selected. It also features an HVAC Carbon Air Filter System, which will clean up the interior air -- a good thing for those sensitive to allergies, pollen, or just plain bad odors. Driving past the town landfill? Skunk in the vicinity? Got a co-pilot who hasn't showered for days? No worries. Your nose is safe in a MINI."

 

Thanks for the tip dvhone!

 

lol - and make sure to ships with a pack of cigarettes....

I can't wait to get into an accident with you so I blow up with you.

 

Yeah, and I agree 100% with the OP - it's stupid. I don't want the AC compressor running when it's 55f outside. Complete waste of energy. The logic is apparently that it's drying the air - ok, AC does do this - but what if it doesn't need drying? Sure as heck doesn't here where I live, where humidity is often barely into double digits.

 

In the rest of my post, in the part of the quote that you deleted, it shows the logic.

 

I read all that, it's irrelevant to our rant. If the compressor has to be on for the air to be filtered (they don't seem to be implying that, and I can't understand why that would be the case), then the system is 2x more stupid than originally thought.

 

Am I confused or has the automatic HVAC system changed since '07? It seems to me that in the winter I leave my automatic HVAC system in "auto" but I manually press the snowflake button to lock out the AC compressor. The system goes about it's business maintaining the temperature I set without running the AC. In the spring when it gets warm enough to need the AC I will press the snowflake button again to allow it to come on.