Reminds me of something I read here on NAM before I got my R56 in 2/07. I won't swear to its veracity, but the poster said both inside door releases (driver's and passenger's) broke at about the same time. Apparently the earliest MINIs to come to the U.S., in about '03 or so, had a problem with this. At any rate, he said he loved MINIs so much that even though they both broke, he'd crawl into the back seat, put one down, and then let himself out through the hatch. And kept doing this for quite a while--week? Month? Can't remember, but it was a long time.

Must have been a bit slimmer than I am!

 

By release of the key/fob, do you mean you can take it out of the dash? What stops a thief from starting the car without the fob?

 

I would assume pilotart is referring to the comfort access which allows you to start the car without inserting the key, but the key needs to at least be in the car.

 

No, not Comfort Access, but standard key/fob.

I think it is only available for twenty seconds after shutdown and before a door has been opened.

You do (of course) need to press the clutch (or brake on automatic) for it to start.

There have been sad stories from folks who have done this and then drove off to destination without remembering to bring along the key/fob and then were stranded after arrival.

 

One of my biggest complaints with my mini is the Key/fob. First of all i think it's stupid that they don't have remote start. Second it really bugs me that the car doesn't auto lock when the key isn't in side the car/around the car. I got the comfort access so i didn't have to take my key out to lock and unlock my car. but now i have to hit a button on the door to lock/unlock it that kind of defeats the purpose. I know some one with an Avalon and all they have to do is be near their car and it will auto unlock. Also when they get far enough away it auto locks. no stupid buttons on the car that you have to hit. Also, why doesn't the car turn off when the key isn't in my car. I mean that's really stupid. If someone were to car jack me i would like for the car to turn off when the guy drives away. What good is it for your car to let you continue driving with out the key?

 

^^^^^^^
Valid complaints. However, I'd like to actually KNOW that my car door has been locked. Having it lock when I walk away wouldn't be reassuring to me. Hitting the button does seem kind of an odd way to lock the doors and I've actually forgotten to lock my doors a few times...recently, and I've had my car for 8 months now.

 

+1

I was with andcbii when I first got mine. I thought the comfort access meant I didn't really have to do anything. But now that I know the system and I use it regularly, I agree with you that I like knowing that my MINI is locked/unlocked. I figure, you gotta pull the handle to open the door, what's another second to push the button to unlock it. I still don't need to get my key out.

Thanks pilotart for correcting me. I didn't know that. It's very interesting that it works that way.

 

Here is another type of emergency that the release cable would be handy...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...1&postcount=11

 

That's funny!

Andcbii--why do you want remote start? Are you worried about bombs?

 

Secret glove compartment. I wonder what I could put up in there?

 

these stories are only for folks with comfort access. They can start the car without putting the fob in, throw away their keys, and drive away without the fob. I guess unless you toss your keys out the window, because if you open the door you can't re-start without the keyfob when you don't have comfort access. Quite honestly, it doesn't make sense that the car would do this. The only reason I could see, is that you might need to give your keys to someone else to go open your house and you want to keep the car "warming up"...

but, that is all defeated with the fact that you can pull out the door key (along with all other keys attached to the ring) and not remove the fob.

 

Remote start is a good feature during cold winter season where you want to warm up the car (thus heating up the heater elements) so by the time you get in the car, the heater will be ready to go. However, MINI recommend that we don't "warm up" the car; they said to drive immediately after you started the engine. Though I really don't see how warming-up the car would do any harm.

 

Telescoping? How? Details/instructions please!

 

Where did you get that info?

 

When you release the 'tilt' lever, you can push or pull the wheel (along with TS & WS) in or out about two inches.

The "...no warm up..." is straight from the MINI Owners Manual.

No doubt saves fuel and it does warm very quickly anyway.

 

The manual. The idea is that when the engine heats up as it "stands," it's not distributing the heat as designed.

I think this is pretty typical of modern cars. Even my '94 BMW told me not to idle to "warm up." FWIW, it's also a waste of gas.

Buy bunwarmers!

 

Lots of stuff. CD's. Plastic grocery bags to use as trash bags. Radar detectors if going through an area where they'd be a problem (Virginia, for example). Those are what I use mine for.

Also, candy bars in winter. Elves.

Whatever floats your boat!

 

The warm-up story I've always heard suggested that warming the engine while parked caused a warm engine to be driving a cold transmission. Thus you end up having full power available, which could overstress the cold transmission. Who knows! Maybe just another urban legend...

 

Maybe in FLORIDA!!! I can drive the whole way to work and the car isn't blowing out warm air yet...

 

Hm, what kind of MINI do you drive? Mine takes about 5-8 minutes for my water temp to reach 220F of light driving, depending a bit on ambient temps. I wonder how much having a supercharger/turbocharger/natural aspiration changes the warmup times.

 

Got an 08 S here, the snowflake has appeared several times already and each morning the car is warm in about 5 minutes.

 

Have had the snowflake bong me, too. Took me a little while to figure out what was going on.

 

I remember the good 'ole days when our Porsche 356 was our daily driver. It goes out on pretty days now, but back in the 60's and 70's that was all we had. We had a lot of COLD days, too. St. Louis isn't too warm in the winter, and (relatively) small air cooled engines take a l-o-n-g time before they put out heat. As a passenger I spent a lot of the time with a blanket over my feet. As a driver...I was just cold.

 

That's odd. I have a cooper and last winter at 10 degrees I have heat after 1 mile, no idling warm up. This car heats up faster than any vehicle I have ever owned.

When first starting these engines the water pump does not operate until the thermostat signals it to operate.

 

Congratulations - you live in a climate where the temperature drops to 37 degrees (and yes that is what the "snowflake" is warning you about - impending doom if you drive across frozen bridges and overpasses (they freeze first) and black ice.