Gah... Apple is so annoying....now my wife is gonna be real mad cause I'm about to steal her Ipod touch I just bought her! lol

 

That is, of course, if you even HAVE a USB connection.
Otherwise you'll have to use the auxiliary jack to play music from any MP3 player, your phone, laptop, tablet, whatever you want.

In any case, the MINI stereo also plays MP3 CDs I believe. So just burn the songs you want onto the disc in MP3 format.
Each MP3 file is roughly 3.5MB, a disc can hold 700MB, so you can store up to 200 songs on just one disc.
If each song is about 3 minutes, that is about 10 hours of music. That should be more than enough for your commute

 

Ya that's what I used to do.... I just enjoy having Folder's to flip through and random off those....o well I'll figure something out and if need be I'll hook my external hard drive up to my phone and run the Aux cable out of it with folder control off my phone!! wewt!

 

Is that specific to an '07? A thumb drive with music on it works fine in my '12.

 

:( ... imagine that.... lol

 

You can also just use an MP3 player and run an aux from that. It's what I do. A modest 8GB mp3 player will run you a devastating $20 at the most. I hope your wife doesn't kill you for overspending on your new car just for some tunes

The USB thumb drive (with music) didn't work on my friend's 08' S. We tried putting the files into folders, or just leaving them in the root directory. Nothing worked. So I don't think ours with the older N14 engine got that feature in our stereo setup.

 

Yep, mini must have added the feature in later models. It's pretty cool, when ya first plug in the drive, the radio scans it. When switching to USB mode, I get several new options to explore the drive (Dir, Genre, Artist, etc).

 

If it is an auction car, check for signs of body work and re-painting REALLY carefully. Carfax only shows what was reported.

A few years back my wife bought a lightly used, pristine Subaru Outback from a Subaru dealer, only 18K miles, leather, etc. for a great price. They had bought it at auction, the Carfax was clean. What we didn't see was the roof had been repainted, a year later the clearcoat faded and failed and the respray became obvious. Took it back to the dealer and they said "not our problem." Subaru NA said "it has been repainted, not our problem." In hindsight and knowing what to look for I might have caught it before purchase, but I would have had to look really closely.

So check all the panel alignment to make sure everything lines up well with consistent gaps, sight along the body to make sure there's no spots that haven't been faired in quite right, make sure the paint is consistent with no strange dull spots or signs of respray, etc. Check at the spots where trim meets the body panels, often if there was a respray you'll see signs of it there where they masked off the trim before painting. Good luck!

 

Well thanks for all the advice everyone! Everything checked out great! Took it out and test drove it engine sounded and pulled great...no clurch rattle AC was working good everytginf functioned! I was satisfied with everything I saw and felt from the car so I went in and ralked them down to 12k for the car....got a 3 year warranty along with it that covers everything including preventative maintenance for seals and such! Almost all the way home from the 80 mile trip the AC started to get... no so cold with the climate control on.... so I hit the max button same thing... so now im scratching my head on why it was good for 75 miles... then got warm... any ideas!? Other than that which im not terribly worried about since the warranty will cover it anyways.

 

nice, I think you got it for a good price. I got mine for 12,100 before tax/tag/warranty. same model/year with 57k miles. mine has a lot of packages though, that doesn't seem to affect real world value, maybe kbb. also pays to get a warranty, cause these cars aren't cheap to fix and if timing chain issues come up that will/should be covered. carbon buildup should be covered as well. cabin air filter and intake filter may need to be changed so check those.

just curious, is your clutch engagement late in the travel? mine is, I wonder if its just the way these cars are or clutch is getting worn.

 

Ya it seems the smoothest at about 5.5-6k. Some one said that bmw was issuing the recall on the tensioners in sept-oct. Time so ill get it swapped out just in case if so!

 

whats smooth at 5.5-6k? do you have a link about the tensioner I could read? I just looked at the recalls on the www.nhtsa.gov website. about the "auxiliary water pump/possible fire" recall. I wonder if I should call up the mini dealer and see if this has been or should get fixed?

 

Shifing is smoothest in that area but yes my clutch engages almost at full depress from parked it was tricky feathering it to where it disnt feel like it would die. I haven't looked at any of the recalls yet but I qould call them at the least.

 

What I'm reading is there is a recall supposedly coming out in September for the timing chain and tensioner issues.

 

A few things:
1. I had an 09 MC with bluetooth and the USB port near the shifter. I was able to read music from a USB without an apple device. My 08 MCS does not have bluetooth and does not have a USB port.
2. I paid $14k for my 08 MCS with 50k on it and very similar options to this one. It is listed as a good deal.
3. Laser blue is a great color, but I think it looks better with the black top. You can always do the black top as a change. Don't avoid the car because of the color. The stripes are vinyl and can be removed as well, if they are not your thing.
4. My car had the factory sport suspension, and came with the crown spoke wheels, just like this car. There is a good chance that you will have the sport suspension.
5. In 2007, cruise control was an option (I think), so it is good that you have buttons.
6. Plan on having some money set aside for maintenance. You will want to have the car checked for carbon buildup (unless it was an enthusiast owner, it has probably never been done). Get to a MINI dealer, they should be able to tell the history of what maintenance and recalls have been done. They can also tell you what options that the car was ordered with.

Have fun,
Mike

 

3. He already bought the car lol
4. I don't think there's a direct correlation between sport suspension and Crown Spokes. I certainly want to check my vin soon for all that info just to know each detail my car was ordered with.
5. You are absolutely right. My 07 does not have cruise.
6. Couldn't be more true about having it checked out for carbon build up. SOME parts for this car are more expensive than you'd expect from some other cars in it's price range, but if you're a DIY guy, these cars are not hard to work on nor are most of the parts THAT expensive. Think of how much more fun that new Cooper S is compared to the Civic or Corolla you could buy for $12,000 just for cheap and reliable transportation.

 

hm, thats kinda high rpm to be shifting often. I usually shift at 3k. also when I shift into second, I usually let the clutch out at 1700 rpm, its pretty smooth. I'm new to manuals.

 

3k is a good medium for daily driving as far as gas-mileage-to-get out of my damn way at a light ratio goes lol. You're doing good.

As for the clutch engagement questions, my 07 Cooper S is one of the easiest to get familiar with, smooth, forgiving clutches I've ever driven(and I am far from new to manuals lol). So if you're having issues getting used to the clutch, Ryan, I'm sure it will come quite quick, or there's a bit of a possibility a clutch job was done in the past and the previous owner upgraded to a performance clutch which will engage sooner and more abruptly than a factory style clutch usually. My clutch does not fully engage very close to the floor. I want to say the majority of the actual engage/disengage work the clutch is doing is in the top 50% of the travel, hence people running clutch stop risers without hurting the clutch. The last 50 or 60 percent of the clutch travel seems to be nothing but a leg workout lol.

 

Lol ya... I had a 66' mustang and an 05' RX-8 thats why I said its just weird to get used to. Im really enjoying the car though and contemplating dipping the white top black. For some reason the exhaust doesn't seem stock... it looks stock but its got more growl than I remember most 56's...maybe ita just me though. Ill have to take it up to the bmw dealer and have them check it out here in the next couple weeks. Im not sure what all the warranty covers yet though just a general idea!

 

speaking of exhausts. in sport mode theres suppose to be a pop/burble sound but I have not heard it yet on mine. maybe I need to put the windows down and give it some revs but kinda pointless unless I hear it while driving. is it easy to hear for you guys or do you really have to listen for it? I only know about it from reading/watching youtube vids.

 

I'm blown away by the amount I've read on this forum lately about how important it is that people hear the sound of unburnt fuel igniting in their exhaust..... Of all the priorities.

 

some dealerships sell older cars that are traded in at auction, esp if they don't sell right away. Mine was the same. Just to get what they can for it.

maybe AC is low on freon? Haven't had that problem, but I also do a lot of short trips. AC definitely doesn't blow as cold as most of my other cars.

Clutch is pretty late, especially noticeable in first gear.

Hit the sport button, the throttle is more responsive and you won't kill it. That's how I notice I don't have it in sport mode.

Not all years have it. They discontinued it for a bit, then brought it back. Mine has never done it to my knowledge and its a 2007. Its just a programming trick with the ECU.

 

Well I do have the built in ipod 30pin in the hideaway compartment! The dealer listed the car as a 6 speaker... non harmon kardon system... but I found what looks to be a stock amp in the back hatch area and it has some ridiculous bass... so I dont know what the deal is.

 

you know, I do have that hidden cubby. Maybe I should buy the cheapest ipod (30pin) and dump some music on it just for the car. I just hate dealing with itunes...

 

Do you have th connector in there? If not I dont think you can hook up qn ipod if the connector cabl iant in there. Ho do you tell if its the Harmon system? I thought that system had the tweeters but my tweeter space looks empty.