Oh you are right! It's in the Tach. Ok, well at least you can change it... phew!

 

Good deal!

(Now I have a good excuse to go to someplace that requires it. I mean, I have to check it out personally, right?)

 

My fob opens AND closes the windows buy you gotta know somebody to get the hookup...

 

Rain sensor
Yes, but the manual (at least in Australia) doesn't explain what the heavy rain and light rain settings mean. The high setting could mean the wipers are slower to come on (ie only come on when the rain is heavy) or that the wipers are more sensitive and come on sooner (ie treating all rain as heavier).

A couple of us here have experimented and concluded:

• the low or Light Rain setting is the most sensitive - the wipers come on sooner, in lighter rain
• the setting makes very little difference anyway

Also, the rain sensor works less well at nighttime, especially in unlit rural areas. (Not just MINIs either.) The sensor works by light reflected back and there's not so much at night.


Windows/sunroof and key
More info please?! It would be really useful to be able to close the windows with the fob. As standard, you can only close the windows with the key section (ie pulled out of the fob) in the door lock, so you can't be away from the car and do it.

 

Yes, it does unibus_driver, thank you for pointing that out to richardsperry, I've read my 2008 Manual numerous times, but it does not explain in the literal sense what the (light) vs. (heavy) icons or the boxes in between are acually setting. The Auto Sensing Wipers are also speed sensitive, the Non Auto Sensing may be as well, I live in the PNW so Non Auto Sensing Wipers were not an option, pardon the pun.

 

pw4...you WIN a Cupie Doll!! That's exactly what I was looking for!!

 

Thanks - I hadn't realized the auto wipers were speed sensitive. That may be why I hadn't been able to tell the difference in the settings - I probably wasn't holding a constant speed.

I have the non-auto sensing wipers on my JAC and they are not speed sensitive, except that when you stop (eg at traffic lights), they drop down from "on" to "intermittent", or if you have them on high speed they drop down to normal speed - and, of course, go back to the selected speed when you move off again. On other cars I always switched wipers to intermittent when I stopped, so it was really neat that the MINI does it for me.

 

That's a BMW trait. I've owned 5 BMWs*, and I think every one except the very first (a '69 2002) has done this. I'm glad they adopted that particular habit when they adopted MINI.




*our current one is a rare 2007 530XI Sport Wagon, purchased in Florida. It replaced an '01 530 Sedan, which was running fine but Hubby wanted a wagon. My '07 MINI replaced a '94 325i, which was sold with 190,000 miles, running fine, original everything.

 

I just traded an 09 Justa for an 08 MCS. The MCS has the chrome mirror caps, and now I finally have a good way to see the traffic light when stopped (reflections are visible on both outside mirrors when driving)! I don't know how visible the light reflection would be on painted mirror caps, but I finally came up with something to add to this 91 page list. Thanks for the tips.....

Mike

 

You need...www.lightinsight.com!!

 

+1 Absolutely the best mod (and one of the cheapest) you can get for your MINI. And not unique to the R56; applies to all models and model years.

 

Well, hard to believe but I read this entire thread, in small bite-size chunks over the past 13 days (right after I got my MINI).

Here are a few things I noticed about the thread, and a few things I've noticed about the MINI as well:



Folks post the same info about every 20 pages, which is understandable - the thread is massive.

Most folks don't read the manual cover to cover. This is understandable, as it appears to have been translated from German by a Brit.

This thread started when the Gen 2 2007 MINIs came out. It was cool to see people getting to know the quirks of the R56 when it was first released, and then see the evolution of features being discussed from '08, '09, '10, etc

Turning off DSC is accomplished by pressing and holding down the DSC button. The manual says "press it repeatedly" ... I thought that meant push it over and over. Took me a few days for the idea to click in my head to just hold it down.

Follow-me-home is the most frequently discovered (and frequently mentioned) item in this thread.

I did not realize it before I got the MINI, but the Chili Red paint adds 10HP to the engine! The car zips! (I need to get bonnet stripes, too - stripes add 5hP each.)

Daffodil Deb still hasn't moved North, despite talking about doing so for about 2 years

Some people will not read this entire list.

I love having 10 illuminated markers for the fuel gauge. Instead of thinking in quarters of a tank and eighths of a tank, I now think in tenths - i.e., I have 7 tenths of a tank, or 3 tenths of a tank, etc. Each illuminated symbol (or each 'vane' if you think of it as a windmill ... or 'carrots' if your name is Bigprfed22, candy corn if you are RJKimbell) represents .10 tank, or one tenth. The system turns the windmill red at .2 (20%). It was funny when I told my wife I had six tenths of a tank left ... she looked at me like I was nuts.

Daffodil Deb is a very nice person, as is typical of Texans, and is very helpful to newbie MINI owners

Something I didn't know before I bought the MINI: I didn't know the morning commute could be fun. My new-to-me 2007 is low mileage for its age - 38K right now - and it's been an absolute blast for me this month.

Happy Holidays and safe motoring, everyone.

Scott

 

I completely agree with your findings and I did the same thing when I got my '10 Camden in August... read through the ENTIRE thread. I learned a lot! Except I already forgot what follow me home is. Oh yeah, headlights staying on after the car is off!

Odd thing is that Daffodil Deb seems to have only posted in this one thread... I haven't seen her in any others! And she is a nice lady!

Anyway, I always want to find more about my MINI so I always keep my eyes on this thread and others like it.

 

Is this the same Scott Auld from TGP? The TopHat in the back of your Mini was a dead give away.

 

Haha yep, you caught me nnick, that's me. How many could there be?

 

Thanks, Scott & christomapher! Nice to know my peers appreciate me!

Actually, I do post elsewhere on NAM, mostly on the F1 racing thread. I used to post several times daily when I was waiting for my baby; now I'm just too swamped unless I head out of town. That's the problem with the internet--too much temptation to lose an hour...or a day!

As for moving, we ARE making progress. We now expect to move to Hot Springs Village, AR, and Hubby knows I'd be there now if it weren't for his foot dragging. He loves it in Arkansas--enjoys it everytime he's there, and had a blast at MINIs In The Ozarks last month. He takes forever to make a decision, though. I'm still waiting for a new floor in the family room (what color wood?). He DID order all-season tires for the MINI, though--first time EVER that we didn't get the typical summer tires used around here. And I do finally have new carpet in the living and dining rooms.

BTW, I found the perfect house in HSV, too. Depending on the size of the cars, there's parking for 6 or 7 vehicles in 2 garages. Besides the MINI and the Bimmer, we also have a '64 Porsche 356 sunroof coupe and an autocross Miata. And Hubby knows he can buy another car at any time (I'm the ideal car lover's wife!). Lately we've talked about a Boxter and an XK-E.

Besides reading the manual at least twice, I think the other key to happy ownership is a good checkout by your MA when you accept the car. Mine was excellent, and took nearly an hour. Some things you DO find only by driving, but the road is much easier when your sales person does his or her job!

 

 

I didnt read through the whole post(lazy) but on my rear seats I noticed an adjustable latch. Its the one that the seat locks on to when you flip it up. This latch can be pulled up for what seems to be like 2-3" of boot space because it moves the seatback forward. sorry if someone already posted this.

 

Yeah it's a pretty nifty feature. Makes the seats look even more uncomfortable but still is cool.

 

That extra 2" means i can put my amplifier back there without having to fold the seats forward. I like it.

 

Scott Auld - thanks for the stats from the thread - most entertaining reading.

I read the manual when I got my R56 Cooper, but didn't reread it for the LCI Cooper S. Which is presumably why, a year later, I only just discovered that map lights have appeared beside the central interior light in addition to those above the rear vision mirror.

 

I L@VED this...Thank You!!

 

Does this feature also work on the Clubman? I'm curious since I rarely have anyone back there, but like to keep the seats up to stow all my crap without it flying around (like it would if the seats were flat).

Thanks!

 

[QUOTE=Scott Auld;3403042]Well, hard to believe but I read this entire thread, in small bite-size chunks over the past 13 days (right after I got my MINI).



I did not realize it before I got the MINI, but the Chili Red paint adds 10HP to the engine! The car zips! (I need to get bonnet stripes, too - stripes add 5hP each.)


PW adds 11 HP . I love CR also. But my old "beater", 2001 330i with 127,000 mi. since I bought it new, is red.

One thing that I didn't realize right away is just how incredibly smooth
my little MCS engine is. It's as smooth as its 11 y.o. cousin !

 

Jerry? Jerry Sandusky? Is that you!? You drive a MINI???


Too soon?