Before I get in my car, I lower the windows to let the hot air out. Once the engine is on, and a/c is blowing temps drop quickly. I'm probably going to get the sunroof tinted this weekend. The sunshades, let in too much sun light. I tried sun shades from walmart(the ones with the suction cups), which help a little. But now I can't open the sunroof, because they will probably fly off. Has anyone tinted their sunroof? Can you shime in on this?

 

I've not tinted my sun roof, but I did the rest of the car, including a heat shield on the front windshield. I was thinking of getting the sun roof done as well.

 

We do that in Texas too, or at least the native Texans do. I love that feature on our MINIs. I think that not having a sunroof has helped and I love my manual A/C. I'm not sure that I would ever get the auto A/C because I like to control my air. I usually roll down the windows as I walk up to the car and then blast the A/C when I first get in. Half the time, once the car cools, usually within 5 minutes, I turn the A/C to low and warm the temperature so that I don't freeze my hands. Good luck with your MINI ordering!

 

PA resident.

It's getting hot here I usually have my windows down but its gotten unbearable with the humidity.

Coming from a 1987 volvo with a broken A/C I didn't expect a whole lot, but the mini's A/C blew me away [pun intended]. Manual version and on high with circulated air on it cools down within a minute. No sunroof here.

 

You all with manual AC do know that those of us with auto AC can in fact control the AC in manual mode right? It will perform the same functions as yours if we want it too... Just saying.

 

Yes, and it's as easy as hitting either fan +/- button once to get out of Auto mode into manual mode.

After having both, I do miss the Auto AC. Normally I would just set it to 74 and the cabin would be comfortable regardless of the weather most of the year. On days when it got really hot (above 90), I'd move the temp to 70, and in the middle of winter (close to freezing) I'd have it at 78. That's it, 3 settings for the entire 4 season year.

There's nothing wrong with the manual AC, though, it gets the job done. You just have to fiddle with it a little bit more.

 

I live in Texas, my MINI is black with every black option, a sunroof, and manual ac which I chose on purpose. The manual ac is beyond adequate. I will say the auto ac does "look better" in the console, but in terms of functionality there is pretty much no difference, especially for the price.

It's one of those overblown MINI myths, exactly like the sunroof being to heavy, manual/auto transmission arguments, and somehow not being able to see stoplights through the windshield. All statistically insignificant items that are only "problems" that people go out of their way to look for.

 

You could probably live without the auto AC, but it's really nice to have. "Low" button when you get in the hot car, then "Auto" button once it's cooled down - set it and forget it.

I'd skip the leather and sport suspension as better stuff is available for both aftermarket - put money into the options you pretty much have to get from the factory.

Whether you get the sunroof or not, spend the money for a high quality ceramic tint. The basic tint you get with a cheap job does little to keep heat out. The ceramic makes a HUGE difference.

 

One other thing. When I'm the only one in the car, I keep the passenger side vents closed and the air so that it comes out only in the front vents. Thus why I frequently increase the temp on the air even in summer. If I had all the vents open then I would probably end up keeping the air on the coldest setting for longer. Good luck!

 

Fuctionally, the manual A/C will cool as much as the auto A/C. Usability wise, the auto A/C is miles better. I just set it and forget it, whenever I've had a MINI with manual A/C I'm forever fiddling with it to get the temperature right. Auto A/C is one thing I don't want to do without.

 

I'm from Phoenix AZ and it works just fine, sometimes its gets to cold...

 

I have a gen 1 MINI, but here's my thoughts.

My a/c has always been on the wimpy side - adequate, but not very impressive.
It's always been that way, no deterioration since 2003 so I'm pretty sure I
don't have a leak.
After about 9 years of that I finally put a couple extra ounces of Arctic Freeze
134a+ in (the gauge showed the pressure at the bottom of the usual low side
temp corrected range and I put in just enough to move the pressure up a
couple pounds) and noticed a significant improvement. Starts to cool in about
half the time as before and also gets noticeably cooler than before.

So, those of you with lackluster cooling might want to check if your pressure is a little
on the low side - maybe some cars go out of the factory with a slightly low charge and
correcting that may help quite a bit.
On the other hand, if you've noticed worsening performance compared to when the
car was new, then you really have to suspect a slow leak and that will need to be
diagnosed and fixed instead.