That's probably why the MA make a point of clarifying!!!!

 

I imagine they'll have to de-badge her and then charge the owner for the operation.

 

Are the mirrors on the R56 supposed to point downward when in Reverse? I thought I read somewhere that they do but mine do not so perhaps they don't?

 

No, they don't.

 

Ok thanks!

 

I wish they did though. Very handy feature!

 

I've been down Lombard street several times in other cars. I thought they blocked it off except for local traffic recently. It is happily apparently not true.

 

We had more than 300 Minis go down Lombard during last month's Magical Mystery Mini Tour.

I think they talked about it a couple of years ago, but there was an outcry that it might keep tourists away and having tour buses come by to show it to people would not have been a great alternative, either.

 

I lived in the Bay Area from 1986 to 1999 and SF seemed debate Lombard St. pretty much annually. I seem to remember they actually closed it off briefly in the early 90's and it was a disaster. Nice to know things haven't changed.

Lombard St. was where I burned out my VW's clutch in 5 minutes while climbing the hill.

 

just found out that the mini has no indicators to let you know when turn signals or brake lights go out.

anyone know how the heated mirrors turn on? is it just with the defroster?

 

I think they activate when the heated seats are turned on and its a certain temperature outside.

 

It doesn't have anything to do with the seats or the defroster. When the outside air reaches a certain temperature, they turn on automatically.

However, you don't get any indication that they have turned on. You just look over and see the mist gone or the frost melting.

 

You are right Sowellman, I stand corrected.

 

Don't worry about it. When the R56s first came out, there was no explanation from Mini about how they worked and nothing in the owner's manual. I still don't know the temperature that they turn on, but I know they worked for my car last winter when it dipped below freezing.

 

i wish they would turn on when i tell them to.

there's a lot of dew around here right now and they're covered in the AM. It's not cold enough to turn them on but man I can't see a thing out of them.

 

Yeah that's frustrating. All last winter I couldn't really tell if they were doing much or not.

 

I remember asking my MA about them and he kind of gave me that RCA dog look, tilted head and all.

 

Do the amber rings around the cig lighter and the DC port in the boot light up at all? Mine doesn't, not even when I turn the headlights on.

 

YUP. Sorry, dear...sounds like somethin's up with your car...

 

Weird. Both ports have power but the rings on neither ports would light up.
Looks like I would have to take them apart.

 

Okay, I have a question for y'all (I can say that--I'm from Texas).

I normally drive with the headlights on (headlights, not running lights). When I park, I always leave them on, and I always lock the car as soon as I get out. Now, here's the question--why do all lights go out immediately SOME of the time, but stay on SOME of the time? If anything stays on, they are the parking lights, not headlights. And if they do stay on, how long before they turn off? I turn them off manually in that case, afraid that they'll stay on and run the battery down.

Anyone know?

 

Could be that you are using two different key fobs which have been programmed differently for "light the way home" function.

 

Your MINI uses a light sensor to determine if it is necessary to keep the lights on for a while after you leave the MINI. That is supposed to help you find your MINI in the dark when parked or help you find your way from the MINI to wherever...

Also the MINI has a failsafe "I'll turn off my battery after 10 min. just to be sure no one drains it accidently". Even the 12V cigarette lighter thing will go off after a few minutes.

Don't worry an leave the light "on" (or on automatic), you should be alright.

 

Cigarette liter plugs go off w/ignition and the 'circle glow' lites mentioned above are relatively dim in comparison with other lighting.

There are many circuits (like the HiFi) that do remain 'Hot' for up to thirty minutes after ignition is off and keyfob is removed, on automatics you can see the status by the glowing 'P' on shift.

There are also some that are always hot, like the parking (turn signal turn on) and they might kill the battery.

 

Since the SSA (start/stop-automatic) electronics are on the MINIs (since late 2007) there is some pretty sophisticated computing going on in the background as to dis-/charging of the battery. I'd be surprised to learn that you can actually kill the battery by leaving on any (stock) "user" in your MINI.