That I do! Those 2 days of heavy rain per year are pretty rough, believe me!

I've also driven and stayed extensively in Portland OR, Vancouver Canada and Reykjavik Iceland, all of which get a healthy amount of snow, so I have a little experience with it. Although, I have not driven the MINI in these places, I've driven much worse I think! Snow tires should be enough for 99% of MINI customers anyways.

 

For most intents and purposes, especially on the street, AWD is beyond over rated and generally not worth the extra weight and drag. Don't get me wrong, my daily driver is a true AWD Subaru and I love it. But that's because I Rallycross and offroad the car every chance I get. In the winters, I'm still happy to drive the RX-7 or Volvo just the same.

For future MINI's, my one thing I cannot stand on the R56, as hinted at above, is that damned center stack thing. It's not bad if you never ever even have an inclination to upgrade the factory radio. But even still, it could be done better. I thought my old 1997 Escort was bad... Just give me a standard single or double DIN setup and I'll be ecstatic.

 

Would this (2nd power outlet) be for all models to include the convertible? I know they do different things for the convertible like no 2nd outlet in the back ( Wrong - there is an 12v outlet Updated 1/21/2010)) and smaller sun visors which also don't have lighted mirrors.