Are you warm with the car set to 72 or so?

Its been very cold in most of the UCS lately. Do you have auto climate control and leave it on auto? Do you notice that compared to other cars you that you have to put the heat up higher than normal. For example I have a 08 Toyota Highlander. I leave the climate control on auto and the temp at 72. Stays nice and warm. Same thing on my 06 BMW 300xi. On my MINI i have to turn it up to 78 or 80 for the temp in the car to be warm and comfortable for me. I noticed the same thing last year but not do anything about it. Anyone else experiencing this? Should I bring my car back to the dealer to have them check this?

 

onefish2,

I have a 2009 Clubman S with climate control set at 68*F.

As an example the temperature was -8*F and the car was very comfortable in about 5 minutes after starting. Do you have the vents opened so hot air can circulate?

 

Yes. all the vents are open. I was driving the other night and the car was so cold I had to turn it up to 80 with the fan on 3/4 and heat coming from the footwell. Its very strange. And it does not always do this. Seems to happen the longer I drive the car. its OK on short trips. Water temp was 200 for most of my 3 hour drive.

 

onefish2,

I think it's time to take it to your dealer! By the way, with all the extras you have on your Mini I'm sure the dealer has you on the top of his list and will do just about anything to keep you happy! Nice car!

 

Oh...just thought of something! Is the Mini's heater electric or does it use engine coolant?

 

That is a good question. I do not know. And I don't think the dealerships treat people any better if they have a more expensive JCW then if they have a Just-A.

 

I put it at 74-76 and that's fine for me. It maybe a bit cooler than the set number, but its comfortable. Now Quentin the 05 had big problems with his auto A/C, I could never pin down exactly what was wrong despite several complaints to the dealer, but I'd have to set his to 80 or so to feel comfortable.

 

Union of Concerned Scientists is cold?

I have Auto Climate Control and usually leave it at 72. Sometimes it is too warm and I'll drop it to 68. Sometimes I'll bump it up to 74. However, I think this is due to the state of my internal furnace, not the MINI.

 

More and more mine was taking forever to get warm inside.. I would let her run for 20 min or more and it would still be cold inside with temp on high. She would not warm up until driving.. engine light went on and i took her to the dealer... I had a faulty thermostat.. it was replaced. Now it takes 10 mins and its warm inside.. Definitely go have it checked out.. Its cold in Nanuet!!

 

My Clubman is warm enough when set to 70 if the seat heater is on. I never try to warm the car up by idling. I just start it up, idle for a short time, and drive. This is a habit I picked up from driving a TDI, which would never warm up unless it was under load.

 

My problem is not about the car warming or how long it takes for heat to come out the vents nor the thermostat. What I am trying to find out is why does it take me setting the climate control to 80 to make it feel like its 72?

Anybody else have this same problem?

 

I leave mine at 70 and it is very comfortable in the car. We have been getting some 20 degree temperatures in NC lately and no issues getting the car warm inside. The fan will initially be at low speed and once the temperature is warm enough it will kick the fan to high speed. A little after that you will hear the vents changing from front windshield to inside the cabin.
It sounds like you do have an issue with the heater in your car and I would definitely take it to the dealer.

 

I always move the temp setting up and down to suit my mood. I seem to run cooler than average myself, so I have the auto climate control set at 76-78 to be comfortable this time of year. It's a 2010 Cooper S.

 

I'm betting on a bad sensor. Mine sits on 72º over 90% of the time. From time to time I go to 70º or 74º but that's it.

 

Sounds like something may not be calibrated correctly. I believe the Mini (other new cars too) tries to anticipate. So when the temp is colder outside it tries to make it warmer inside to compensate for the heat loss. For me this just makes the system more complex. I would like it better if it just used my input and left it at that.

All that being said, I think a trip to the dealer is in order.

 

I wonder where the cabin air temp sensor is, too - it seems like the fans settle down a good 10 or so minutes before the cabin is properly warm. I'm sort of learning to game the system. For really short drives, I'm just thankful I have the seat warmers. My 4-5 mile drive to work, I have to run it up to 80 and I'll be warm-ish by the halfway point. A 45 minute drive and I have to take it down to 68 or lower, otherwise it's ridiculously tropical. So it's not _quite_ as set it and forget it as I'd like, but so far I haven't had to fight with which level of vents to use, which is a win in my book. (Except for when it decided that recirc was appropriate, and I kept having to turn on the defogger. I'm starting to discover what is and isn't part of the automatic controls. )

 

I see the same problem. I have an '06 MC and I have to turn it up to 78 to feel right. Last year I had an '08 from the dealer for a day in winter and it was nice and warm when set at 72, so I figured maybe the newer (07+) cars had a better temperature control system. But my dad has an '09 and he said theirs didn't put out much heat when it's cold but I don't think he's tried turning it up. I suppose he should take it in?

 

My '03 has the auto climate control and I do have to turn it up a bit more when it's 5* like it has been lately. I also noticed it's a bit of an overachiever at times, getting the cabin a little too warm, then backing off till it's almost too cool, then warming up again. On a longer drive it settles down nicely...

My '09 has the manual HVAC and I'm a bit worried about it, it's supposed to be -15* here tomorrow and on my drive home tonight it took almost 15 minutes at hiway speed before I felt any real warmth - I wonder if my thermostat isn't working right too?

 

I made an appt with the dealer. I brought the car in last year for the same thing and got the dreaded "could not reproduce". We will see what happens this time.

 

I notice the same thing. I have to set it to 80 to get it warm enough, anything less than it feels like cool air coming out.

Also after a while at 80 it will eventually be too hot and I turn it down to 76.

Let us know how it goes with the dealer.

 

Measured on the floor according to my SA. I had mine in last summer complaining that the auto AC was not accurate and he advised that the sensor is in the center stack near the floor.

 

My 08 I set it about 76 most of the time here in the winter. But I find the fan calms down too fast. Then I start getting cold, my feet and hands. What I discovered is that when the outside temp is below 5 or so degrees the fan stays blowing harder much longer. But when the temp is 5-40F I manually override the blower to 3/4 speed to stay warm. After an hour and half the car finally gets to hot where I turn the temp down to 72.

 

In our '08 MC I run the Auto A/C on HI and have the Driver Seat Bun Warmer set to High until I'm a bit warm on the backside!! This only takes about 5 minutes for both Systems to get to my desired temperature. Hubby of course has to endure my Oven Pit for the 40 mile round trip commute we do daily!!

 

I have noticed both on AC and Heat the temp indicated is not always repeatable. I suspect the the sensor location is not optimal. I also know that I want it hotter or cooler some times. I just leave it on auto and adjust the temp to suit my mood.

 

I was the same way, wondering why it was so cold. Even my bride complained, and compared to our 4Runner, which will bake you!
I normally like to have cool air in my face and warm in the footwell. If you open the dash center level vents, it seems like the system vents outside air and lowers the overall temp. I don't use "auto" now; to stay warm, I now leave the very top vent and foot vents open. After it warms up, i keep the thermo set on about 72 and it's good. I'm in N.VA and I seem to always be cold. This approach helps a lot.
fig