It's the same with the manual air system as the auto (i.e., no air when fan set to 'off', even with the recycle button off). I leave the fan on at least the lowest setting to keep fresh air in the cabin. It gets kind of stale if you leave it in the 'off' setting too long.

 

Stupid! The car I had previously (a '94 BMW) would blast you at speed. Great incentive to drive fast!

 

How old are your iPods? There's been a change in the way newer iPods charge, something to do with the wiring, and older models don't get enough power from the MINI USB port. They get enough to play but not to charge. There were threads on it a few months/years ago.... So if you have an older iPod that would explain it. If it's a newer iPod I'd go to the dealer and ask for a new cable.

 

I think I started one of those iPod threads. I have an older iPod, and was experiencing the flat-battery problem. There are alternatives - I've already loaded up a 4GB Flash drive with music and stuck it in the USB port. That actually works quite well, in that you can navigate the folders and titles on the drive using the MINI's radio controls.

And if I want to use my iPod instead, I just run a standard 1/8" audio patch cable from the MINI's aux port to the iPod's headphone jack. It should play for a pretty long time that way - just as if it were driving only the earbuds. Apparently using the MINI radio interface via USB really drains the iPod battery quickly. And for that matter, you can pick up an iPod charger that plugs into the 12V port there on the console, and use that in conjunction with the audio cable. You just wouldn't have the iPod interface on the MINI's radio, but the iPod's own nav system is worlds faster anyway.

Cheers,

Spridget

 

You trade battery life for sound quality if you're using the headphone jack instead of the iPod dock connector in the MINI. The dock connector is a line out and is unaffected by the iPod's volume setting. The headphones are not a line out so the levels get screwy.

The dock connector uses a very simple serial interface (since BMW won't or can't pay Apple to use a more sophisticated, iTunes-like system) to control the iPod, kind of like the old inline remote that used to come with the first few generations of iPods. It keeps the display on, which is what I think drain the battery most.

 

Yeah, I do the same thing, too.

It's another one some of the inexplicably bad design elements of the MINI...I wonder what made them decide to do it this way?

 

I'm new to this forum since I bought the car last week. This thread is great and should be stickied so it doesn't get buried!

 

First car I've owned with TPMS.
Yesterday I rotated the tires and detailed the wheel wells.
Went off for a ride afterwards only to get a tire warning message.
Being a relatively new owner....I Immediately checked the tire pressure.
All was fine, but still had the warning.
Took out the owners manual, and read that I had to reset the TPMS after a wheel is changed. That was easy enough, but gave me a quick scare.

 

Don't ya' just LUV getting warning chimes? I had one go off about a year and a half ago--scared me silly. I lost a BMW engine once when a bell DIDN'T go off, so when they do I'm right on it trying to figure out what's going to implode, explode, or fall off. At any rate, this one had the letter S right over the engine.

Give up? Scroll down.














State inspection due.

 

If this has been covered, my apologies - but I was happy to randomly figure this one out...

Ever notice that with the iPod plugged into the aux port, some songs just never play loud enough? I discovered today that there is an Aux. Volume control. I randomly hit (while the iPod was playing) the 4th button from the right on the radio (there is a row of 6 "dashed" buttons with a dash mark on the right and left side of them that are the radio pre-sets) and up came "Aux. volume". It was set on "1" out of a possible "6". Just turning it to "3" increased my volume dramatically! But don't use the regular volume button - use the bigger **** on the top just under the 6 "dashed" buttons. Hope this all made sense...

 

Wow, I made it to the end of the thread..lol

I have had my 2010 MCS for a month or so, previously had a 2006 MCS. A lot of great info here.

Since my eyes are bleary, I can't recall an answer to the issue of the CD player going back to the beginning of the track when you restart the car. On my car this is resolved as follows:

If you are listening to a CD, BEFORE you turn the car off, change back to audio. Then turn the car off. When you restart, switch from audio to CD and it goes back to the exact spot you left it.

 

3 Things I have learn as of late.
1st. Anything can be retrofitted to the MINI R56/R55/R57 as long as you change the vehicle order and have the money to do it.
2nd. You can turn the radio on without the key in but just hitting the volume button.
3rd. Regardless if you have comfort access or not it is impossible to look the keys in a MINI. If the fob is in the car even with the doors looked the MINI will automagically unlock the doors.

 

I disagree. You can do it the same way my husband locked our key in the trunk of a rental Chrysler on a Hawaiian beach several years ago--lock the side doors with the trunk open. At the last second, as you are slamming the hatch closed, decide to throw in the key, too. Say a dirty word or two, and call the locksmith.

 

I think there's a time delay on it. If I'm away from the car for 5 or 10 minutes, the CD picks up where it left off. If I'm away for an hour or more, the CD starts at the start of the track I was on. I've never bothered to work out when the cutoff point is that it resets to the start of the track. It would probably be useful to work it out - some of my music has very long tracks.

It remembers the CD track whilever the CD remains in the slot, even if it's days. (I have MP3 CDs with 60 or 70 tracks so each one tends to stay in the slot for some time. ) Even if you change to the radio, it will still remember the CD track when you go back to it.

 

This has been my experience, too. I did some checking a year or two ago, and was told that there wasn't any way to extend the period it would last before reverting to the beginning of the track. As I recall, this came from the MINI engineers (but I can't be sure of that).

I listened to one audiobook (all I ever listen to) that was a comedy show. The idiots had recorded everything on 1 track. My typical non-travel trip profile is about 20 minutes. I can't tell you how many times I had to fast-forward before I managed to finally hear it all the way through. Fortunately most publishers are a little more intelligent!

 

Yes, and it's a pretty slow fast-forward too, I find. I've never been game to attempt the old Jethro Tull "Thick as a Brick" - it's 50+ minutes all in one track with some of the best bits at the end. You can't even rewind from the end because there's nothing to get to to rewind from. I've always thought they should put a short, silent track 2 at the end just for that purpose.

 

Totally agree!

 

I HAVE locked my keys in the car. And almost locked my keys in the car a few other times, too. Being in a less-than-caffienated state I will sometimes throw my belongings into the locked car through the boot. When closing the boot hatch, sometimes it doesn't close all the way. The car will flash it's lights and you'll hear the click of the boot hatch trying to open. But... if the hatch hasn't completely closed it may or may not fly back up. A couple times I have been able to throw my weight against the boot hatch to fully close the hatch- which enables the car that auto release to work properly. But one time I was not so lucky and my keys were truly locked in. Luckily I was close to home and able to call home on a borrowed cell phone to get me out of the fix.

I try to remember to unlock the car BEFORE opening the boot because of this.

 

Yes, the boot thing is a problem in other ways too. I hate it when it looks like it's closed then when you start to drive off it decides it's really not closed and tells you about it then.

 

Everyone of you that says you have locked your keys in your must have done something strange because I have tried it multiple times and it will unlock itself in the keys are inside.I have done it through the boot and both doors. Itjust unlocks it. The only time I have ever gotten it to lock was when I put the fog in the cubby and taken the key and locked it. And when I did that it wasnt guarantee that it would lock it either.

 

It can be done, in just the way Morris08 says. Actually, I've found that the trunk lock is a bit peculiar in other ways. For example, If you unlock the trunk but don't open it, and then shut the driver's door (just shut, not lock), the trunk is no longer unlocked!

 

what's a trunk? My car never came with one.

 

I few years back I left the MINI running and ran into the house to get something only to come back and have the doors locked. I don't have the comfort access and have no clue why the doors locked themselves. My other fob was 500 miles away and the locksmith wanted $200 so I broke out the blood pressure cuff and a wire hanger.Done!

 

BP cuff??? What did you use that for?

 

You slide it between the glass and the rubber seal and pump it a few times to create a gap for the hangar.