Nice try changing the Subject Peter!! Yes, I in fact knew that behind the License Plate on the Boot Door is a Bar Code and a VIN#. I was able to visit Molly Pre-Delivery and found this out!! Oh, yes, and during the time I was putting her Personalized Plate on!!

 

Yea I saw it there when I was swapping out the plates... otherwise I would've had no idea about it.

 

yep standard practice for BMW.

 

Glad we got this back on track.

If you ever get a chance to visit a modern auto production plant, you'll be amazed at what those little lines can do. Cars come down the lines in various pieces, and the point at which everything--top and bottom, with all those order-time checkmarks--comes together, is totally controlled by the codes. That moment of mating needs to be accompanied by silk sheets and a shared cigarette!

Well, not really, but try to see it sometime in your life. In the U.S., Mercedes has a great plant in Alabama (who woulda thunk it?), and the Volvo tour in Mälmo, Sweden is great too.

 

The MINI tour in Oxford would be the best one though.

 

You bet! And best of all worlds would be a Euro-delivery MINI. Are you listening, BMW? One of our most enjoyable trips was the one we started at the Bimmer factory...

 

Trivia question: What large US privately owned retail chain (38 stores I think) still does not use barcodes?

 

"I give up...??"

 

Hobby Lobby (not International).

 

I'm surprised at that because the codes are already there for the use, and it's an inventory nightmare without them. Way back in the late 80's I was using them in my petstore, even when I had to generate them myself! How else would you know how often to order/reorder? Or to know how often you're selling a particular item? Or should kill it?

Do they really do a constant manual inventory of each of thousands of items???

Oh well, it's their nickel, I guess.

 

So I tried to get the rear parcel shelf to fit behind the front seats and couldn't get it to sit correctly. Is it b/c I have the OEM armrest causing it to not fit?

 

I don't know of it's even meant to fit there particularly, is it? I just sort of hang it on the headrests of the folded-down rear backrests. Stops it wandering around at least.

 

Yes, it is supposed to fit. Place it with the "good side" forward, and the arch fitting over the hump. It will fit there even with the armrest (I have one, too).

 

Thanks - that's clever! (This forum thread title strikes again. ) I never thought of turning it around...

 

thanks I'll try it tomorrow

 

Hi all, am newbie here. My girlfriend just bought a 09' Mini with the hardtop. It comes with auto heating side mirrors. When I read the instruction manual, it says:

Automatic heating*
At outside temperatures below a certain limit,
both exterior mirrors are automatically heated
while the engine is running or the ignition
switched on.

My question is: can I adjust the auto heating on at certain temperature for both mirrors or it's preset at the factory? Since there's a bit foggy in the early morning and the temperature usually falls bellow 50*F but both mirrors still not heating on then leave them unable to see the traffic behind the car. Thanks.

 

Hey--didn't they tell you when you signed up for NAM that you had to read all 78 pages of this thread first?

Actually, I have no idea. But I just had to razz you on the occasion of your first post. Welcome...to NAM, and to the MINI world!

 

Deb, good to see you are still posting. I no longer own the "twin" car to yours. Traded up for an '08 Clubman S a few weeks ago. Keep on cheering for the Minis.

 

You betcha--so how come you haven't been to the meetings? Gee, you didn't even vote for me!

 

the other day sitting in my mini wishing i had it road ready already, a friend asked what this one switch was for (one of the switched close to the sunroof switch) and i played with it, moving it back and forth, and i saw all the mood lights were changing colors from blue, to pink red orange etc. i found this really cool

 

The best place to put it is in the 'fold' before you lay the seat backs down. (Good side up and hump to rear, same orientation as removed.)

Perfect fit there and more importantly prevents the center seatbelt receptacles from imprinting on your leather/leatherette seat backs.

 

I didn't realize the "P" on the center console stayed illuminated so long after the car has been shut off and locked. I haven't actually "timed" it, but I know it stays lit for more than a few minutes. It does go off eventually, but there's yet another one of the car's many interesting quirks.
Wonder why MINI set it up to do that?

 

I didn't know that the used engine the insurance company insisted on replacing my seized engine with would end up providing me with an average of 7 MPG better than my previous average. I still lost free scheduled maintenance, but at least I got something out that losing battle.

 

Check your owner's manual for sure, but my bet is you cannot change that temperature. My car warns me about cold temps at 37 degrees. That's probably when your heater kicks in .

 

Some portions of your electrical system remain on for :15-:30 minutes after the car ignition is off.

This powers your interior and boot lights and then turns off when time has run out.

After your car is off, a tap on Volume Control **** will activate your Stereo Radio/CD and it will automatically shut off after time out.

The 'Top Sticky' on the Electrical Board describes what appliances are connected to these "30-G" timed circuits.