I just ignore both and use the speedo in Waze. My iPhone is mounted above the tach and there 99% of the time.

 

Has anyone found a fix to this Speedometer error? I just bought my first Mini, a 2013 Mini Cooper S HT, and have about a 6% error in the Speedo. I have owned 8 cars prior, and rent cars on a monthly basis for work, and have NEVER seen more than a 2% error. I see everyone has this issue, but after hours of searching, don't see a resolution! I can't imagine that there is not a mechanical or computer adjustment that cannot be made to correct this garbage! Anyone have a fix to calibrate the stock mini speedo? I hate to have to constantly do algebra every time I want to know how fast I am going!

Thanks!

 

there is no fix. In the US, it is a civil and even criminal offence in some states to tamper with this. The odometer is accurate, but BMW chose to put an error factor in the speedo to keep you from getting a speeding ticket I guess.

I use Waze on my iPhone. It is pretty accurate, and I always have it open when driving.

 

I haven't tried this. Are the mile markers pretty accuate along the freeways. Then you can test mile 1 to mile 2 in 60 seconds at 60mph. Should give a pretty accurate reading. i know I know...hard to go 60mph for a whole minute :>) My other cars are way under actual speed. Camry sez 75 and I'm only doing 67! Ha! no wonder why everyone is zipping past. Mother in law likes it :>)

 

Crazy! Even crazier is that the dealer said I should get a gps if I wanted the correct speed! Interesting though in that I found an article in which the head test engineer of edmunds.com mentions that there is federal law stating that the speedometer can't be off more than plus or minus 2.5 percent. Per my calculations mine is off by more than six percent, meaning that it's outside of the federal legal limit. Still Mini will not address it!

 

Wouldn't that also mess up the legal odometer reading too? when getting to 100,000 miles, wouldn't that be false? I'm at 70K on my '05 S. Love it after just 2 months with her. No oil leaks, added a bit of oil and coolant, but nothing out of the ordinary. Thermo was replaced just before I bought her. All great...so far.

 

Pretty sure this can be fixed with NCSExpert.

 

I am told that the speedo and odometer are separate, and that only the speedo is incorrect. Apparently they can calibrate one but not the other!

 

Can you expand on the NCSexpert fix? I read this somewhere else but do not know if you need specific diagnostic equipment to do this or there is a way to plug in standard PC into the Mini computer to apply the fix...

 

Me Too Fishngolfken. Love the name! Im all on that!

 

I have a Hypertech programmer for my Vette and Suburban. I can enter different tire diameters to correct the speedo when I change to another type tire. You could experiment with different inputs to compensate for speedo error. Don't see why someone can't come up with something like this for the Mini.

 

if you divide 3600 by the time in seconds it takes you to go 1 mile, the answer is your speed in MPH for the mile

scott

 

I'd never used NCSExpert, but this is the setting you need to change:

--------------KOMBI MODULE--------------

Disable Over-Estimated Speed Reading
BC_DIGITAL_V_KORREKTUR
nicht_aktiv

Read this thread for more: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=208843

 

I use Go Point BT 1 ODB port Bluetooth and input a 6% increase in the settings in their Dash Cmand iPhone or Android app. Displays. Corrected digital speed and all the other engine data, skid pad, or mileage info you need. Mark

 

I don't know if it was mentioned before, but with bmw software you can code both the speedometer for the uncorrected speed. I find that it's about 3-4 miles off

With that being said with the uncorrected speed activated, it seems like the digital read out and speedometer are completely out of sync so I do not use it.

Sent from phone

 

There is no law against changing your speedometer accuracy. If there was, then everyone who ever changed wheel/tire size, or changed differential gear ratios would be a criminal.

The speedo inaccuracy is a European regulatory issue. Manufacturers can be fined if their speedometers read too slow. To account for this, Europeans deliberately make the instruments indicate too fast. The amount of error they introduce is enough to account for the largest wheel tire combination available for the car. I think BMW also throws in an additional fixed error of a couple MPH.

My Justa had an error of about 3% + 2 MPH. Larger tires got rid of the 3%, but the flat 2 MPH error still exists.

In the US the standard is not a plus or minus. It's +10/-0 MPH. Since you'd have to exceed 167 MPH before your 6% error would be greater than 10 MPH, so you are within the standard. And I'm not sure it's "a law", but a "standard".

I'm gonna hqve the throw the BS flag at the Edmunds "test engineer". No way 2.5% is the standard. Based on the anecdotal evidence presented in this thread, no MINI would be allowed on the road if it was.

Based on the experience with my Justa, this is correct. The 3% error in the speedo is gone, but my odometer now reads 3% too low. Oh well.

 

I just do the free thing. Go a bit faster than the speedo by 3-4 mph. I don't really need to see the real thing, if I know the speedo is 3-4mph over. I do it with the Camry. No tickets, friends since I first had my RX in the early 90's. Went from a VW Bug to that; 3 tickets in 2 months!! Learned my lesson. Then again, I don't push anything unless out in the country where I can see a mile in front and a mile behind me! LOL. Easy to do in Nebraska lol. Finally figured out that 4K on the tach is about 90mph in 6th gear! Awesome! My RX-7 was only 85 at 4K. Happy dance!

 

You may find that the speed reading you get from the OBD2 port (e.g., with the app mentioned earlier, or a Scangauge, Ultragauge, etc.) is much more accurate than what is shown on the speedometer in the car. The readout on my SG pretty much matches the GPS speed, while the speedometer (both the dial and the digital readout in the tach) read a bit faster than I'm going.

 

BTW... I've ridden motorcycles all my life, my current one being a BMW. All BMW motorcycles have the same margin of error built in. So I was used to this anomaly already when I bought my Mini.

 

Something I got maybe 4 years ago from a MINI dealership:
https://i.imgur.com/aJufNFI.png

 

It would suck to be 7.4 MPH off and still be considered within spec. I guess I'll count myself lucky to be only 3 MPH off.

 

My Go Point ODB-II module and Dash Command app on my phone with 0.97 correction reads accurate speed when checked with GPS apps.

 

The mini r56 is calibrated for 25" tires or 835 revelations per mile in non metric round off numbers, both your digital speed and odometer is effected when using a smaller diameter tire.

Why, the cars are engineered for the speed not to read slow using the upper sizes most common in snow tires. The center speedo commonly reads faster than your digital because the manufacturers performance deviations are calibrated to the plus side.

The confusion comes when trying to find the magical mph to subtract because the digital is a percentage based on tire size and the center speedo is a fixed plus value of the digital.

Hope this helps....