Well done. I am in awe of your restraint. I'm curious how the dealer reacted to selling a MINI with no options. I bet that doesn't happen too often.

 

Wow, I'm in awe as well. I couldn't even manage to keep it below my self-proposed budget of $30,000 and that's without NAV, the convenience package, upgraded wheels, or any accessories.

 

I just thought about it and signed up for EZ Pass. For $3 a year, it'll save me a bunch of time, and now I don't have to worry about not having autoup windows in the rain. It'd still be nice to have my MINI shoot quarters at tollbooth attendants.

Thanks,

 

That's all it costs here in PA!?! I may have to sign up for one as well... Can it be done online then shipped?

 

Yep. I couldn't seem to get to the signup from the EZ Pass site, but could from the PA Turnpike site:

http://www.paturnpike.com/ezpass/personalenroll.htm

It's $3 a year, plus $4 if you want statements mailed to you, and you have to put $35 in your account that they draw against till it get below $10 then they charge your CC to reload.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

You get charged a fee for E-Z Pass? Dang. (Maybe I should go and check my statements now...)

On the fog lights--I'm OCD about not using fog lights except when it's, well, foggy out.

 

If you're getting statements, you're paying more for that. And if you live in NJ, they charge a buck a month.

 

Me too especially since it doesn't work. Since I have to turn them on when I sense rain instead of them coming on automatically when they sense rain, I would like my money back!

 

Had my first rain experience in the MINI on Monday. For the most part, the rain sensors worked fine. The exception was after being parked in the rain it was running the wipers rather fast. Unfortunately, it was no longer raining. I had to get going >25 mph to blow it off so the sensors stopped thinking they were under water.

My preferred way of dealing with rain on a previous car was to use RainX on the windshield and not use the wipers when going over 45 mph. It worked well with the long sloping windshield. Don't think it is going to work on the MINI.

 

On our local toll roads, I save a quarter per toll booth. Adds up.

 

Due to our MINIs' less aerodynamic windshields, Rain-X actually works BETTER (for me, at least) than on previous cars with long sloping ones

 

My 2003 Benz's allowed you to keep the auto rain sensors "on" all the time, but the manual said not to. There were 2 reasons: 1. when you first started the car, the wipers would sweep once. Not good on a dry windshield. Why would they do that, you ask? That leads to point 2: If you forget and head into a car wash.....(The one-sweep reminds you). Also, you could encounter road spray filled with sand/dirt/dust, which, if it activated the wipers without the washers, could have disasterous results. MINI has a lot of quirks, but some have some logic to them.

 

Well that does make sense when you put it that way! Anyway, this is Phoenix and we get, what, an inch of rain every two years??? What am I complaining about????

 

I have the same experience. I rarely run my wipers unless it's pouring out.

 

Interesting. The "protective coating" the dealer applied to the windshield as part of the windshield insurance is supposed to function just like Rain-X. I haven't been in enough rain at highway speeds to really evaluate it. That would be great if it worked on the MINI.

I guess what you are saying is that there is more air pressure on the MINI windshield that will blow water off. With the long slope of the Integra, I assumed it worked well because the water didn't have as steep a slope to climb.

 

What's a tollroad anyway? I've heard of them but never experieced one. Is it like the Autobahn?

 

Hardly.

 

Here's something I didn't know about my R56 MINI. The intermittent wipers turn on from a button at the end the wiper arm. The earlier versions used the wiper arm in the first setting. My first setting (pushing up once on the wiper arm) is normal speed wiping. I found a thread on here that explained this for newer models. The dealer had no idea.

 

You may get your chance soon enough

Toll roads coming to Arizona?

 

That's because the earlier R56s didn't have it that way. I think it started about mid-year. ALSO, if you have your car reprogrammed for anything, such as the SZL, it will be converted to the stalk button start.

 

SZL???

 

Don't know what it stands for, but it's a module/switch that controls 4 totally unrelated things--DSC, idiot light for the parking brake, windshield wipers when the car is NOT running, and the turn signal cancellation. Apparently the off-gassing of the various plastic components fogs the sensor and it fails to work. Common, and an easy fix if the part is in stock.

 

According to that article it was brought up in the Legislative session and then QUICKLY died. Plus it brought up by the guy from Lake Havasu which is on the California border and far away from normal travels. If they want to install one way out there, more power to them I say!!!

 

Oh. Must stand for sizzle.