Oh, I don't think the the bars in the radio are bluetooth strength. I believe it is radio station strength. The other day it was rainy and cloudy and the bars were down. I listen to XM and I know the signal is affected by the rain. Also, my phone was in the same position so I don't believe it would have had a lower signal to the bluetooth.

 

Oh yea, one more...

My car will not start by putting in FOB, hitting start, then pushing in the clutch as others have posted. Have tried it 3 times. Same result. Needed to hit start again after pushing in clutch. I have a 2013 hardtop S. Not sure if that makes a difference.

 

Mine is the same

 

On mine, I only get the bars when paired with the car...

It's your phone's signal strength.. (Interms of a cellular signal..)

 

So if I remove my phone from my car so it is not paired, then I will get no bars? I will try that tomorrow and see.

 

Thanks! I'll try that tomorrow - it will be a great help. I've never come across that in 5 years of owning MINIs!

 

I find the CC very nice. I use it 95% of the time to disengage cruise when getting off the highway to coast down to the exit ramp.

 

You were right about the bars in the radio. It is the Bluetooth signal. I turned my phone off and bars went away. Turned it back on and bars came back.

 

Maybe this is an issue of semantics but I am reasonably sure the bars indicate the cell phone signal strength, not the Bluetooth signal. Maybe this is what you meant when you said Bluetooth signal but the two are not the same. Turning off the cell phone would also make the cell phone signal go away.

 

The bars do indicate cell signal strength. Mine vary exactly where & in the same manner that the indicator on my phone does. For example, when I'm home, I get an almost full signal, but when vacationing in the Adirondack Mts. in upstate NY, I usually have no bars on the display, and no cell signal (AT&T needs to get on the ball: people with Verizon phones have service there!).

Since your phone is in the car with you, just a couple feet away from the receiver, it doesn't make sense that the bars would indicate Bluetooth signal strength, nor that it would vary as you traveled through areas of varying cell coverage.

 

The original poster indicated it was Bluetooth signal. It did not make a lot of sense to me. But when I saw it went with my phone, I assumed it was Bluetooth signal strength. What you say about the phone signal strength, i.e. phone bars makes a lot more sense.

 

Just removed the plastic grommets on the rear headrests that keep them from going all the way down. Did not notice them or that the headrests were not all the way down until I read it in this thread many pages back.

 

Yah those things bothered me too. As if rear vis isn't limited enough those stupid headrests block it more .

 

I have also learned that the brake lights do not go on without the car running. Every other car I have owned will light up the brake lights by stepping on the pedal whether the car was running or not.

 

I removed my rear headrests altogether and usually just keep them in the boot. I tried driving with the rear seats folded down, since I often need the space in the back, but it turns out that the rear seats & shelf block a LOT of road noise!

 

Yah, thought about that, but I'm too lazy to put them on and off :P. and they don't really store nicely with the pokey bits sticking out hehe

 

The little "dot" above the trip reset.. behind the clear plastic on the tach...

That's the "dimmer" for the dashboard/carrots. Found this out by accident today!

 

Hey hey, settle down. I repeated what my MA told me when I asked. And mine does not seem to match what the phone shows. But, it works. My dash bars are always 3 or 4, never 2 or 5. So I don't know. I agree it would make more sense to show cell signal strength.

 

This just Made My DAY!!!! And I was having a **** day til this point so thank you!

 

How do you, by accident, hold down a button for about a minute? Did you fall asleep?

 

Having just bought my first MINI Sunday, I think the "oooh"s must surface at least twice a day, including for the same experience you noted here.

 

I was in the MINI checking out more things I didn't know about my R56. Had already started it with key in pocket, then girlfriend and her friend wanted to run an errand. You all can probably guess what happens next. Off they went without key! Fortunately only 4-5 miles down the road when they realized it and made a U-turn.

Today I tried the repositioning of the rear seats to a more upright position as I've seen described here at least a couple times. Those of you who have had passengers ride in seats positioned so are no doubt sadists.

Love this forum and especially this thread. Way better than any manual! Certainly more entertaining!

 

I have 2013 JCW R56 Hardtop. By accident when cleaning the dash I pulled back on the turn signal stalk. The headlights came on. That is with no fob in place, or anything else turned on. To turn off the headlights turn the headlight switch to park, and then back off again, and the headlights will go off. My wife's 2011 MCS Clubman will do the same thing. Can't find this in the book??????

 

Yup. It's called follow me home or something like that. So you don't have to walk up to your house in the dark. Will turn off automatically in about 20 sec

 

I saw this somewhere in the book recently, tried it on my car and it works! There's a procedure described in there to set the length of time that the headlights will stay on after that. I think I have mine set for 40 seconds.