My Honda was "cypress green", a lighter green by a couple shades with some blueish thrown in. BRG was my runner-up at the time of order, although I think if I were to order and couldn't get LB, I'd get chili red now. I just think it looks great with black or white! I saw a BRG and maybe it was the light, but it looked darker than I expected, and the color wasn't quite as deep as I thought it would be for a metallic paint. The LB really has an aspect that a camera doesn't capture well. I had a few kids in my class telling me I had a purple car. All the other kids were like, "Have you SEEN a crayon box lately?" (They're 5th graders.) The purple kids moved angles by going to a different window and they decided it was a trick of the light. But it kind of was, kind of wasn't: it was just the 9am sunlight and their angle the car came off that way, and it definitely turns slightly purple (Indigo?) on some of the body contours.

Anyway, can't wait to see pics. I haven't seen an 07 BRG in the sunlight, which I'm sure will make loads of difference.

 

Looking good!

Do dealer installed JCW Aero kits come factory painted again/now? I had a really hard time finding one for my R53.....

 

Ken Cooper--it's the price we pay for German brake pads. All my German cars have had this problem. Once you get past the warranty period, try after market pads. Big difference.

 

Just got in from cleaning the wheels. Labor o'love, I say! The fronts definitely get the brunt of it.

Anyone got any tips as to how to clean them easily? I'm going through a lot of rags!

My MA told me the iPod software should be in the day or so, and then I'll have pics of that to put up. I can't wait to see it. I am tempted to get a Nano, load it up with my favorite tracks, and then just leave it in there except for the occasional update of new material. The Nano won't be as sensitive to the interior temp getting hot (especially behind that black trim) since there aren't any moving pieces. Last I heard, the listings were limited to the first 255 songs/artists/albums/etc in a list, so I'd have to trim my 80GB iPod's collection back a ways anyway. I dunno... anyone have experience with the NEW iPod adapter?

My MPG seems to be sitting at 99.99mpg. While delightful to think about, the realization that it's highly inaccurate is starting to trouble me. Anyone else have this happening?

 

Stop coasting?

 

oh noes. its an autotragic. nice car though, i really like the new interiors, but im not sure about the revised speedo. Can u get the nav in there like in the previous one?

 

Tragic for you perhaps. Drives great for me! I've read plenty of rave reviews about the auto, and I'm counting myself amongst its fans, definitely. That it beats the manny off the line doesn't hurt either.

I'm not sure I understand your question about getting the Nav in there. It's already there. They don't move the speedo over the steering wheel with the R56 though, if that's what you mean. The Speedo stays put and the Nav goes inside it. It seems like you missed it in the photos, maybe?

Does anyone know if the DVD drive is useful for anything but the Nav system?

 

Today's minor victories:

I figured out how to get the universal remote to work with my garage door opener. Yay!

The dealership contacted me to come in and get the ipod software installed. I went in Wednesday for the same purpose, but as it turns out it is so new it's a download-only upgrade, and not on the dealership discs. I got a cool tour of how the R56 gets the software upgraded, although ultimately they couldn't install the software at that time. I DID get the tailgate hatch fixed, and picked up my Mini sunscreen.

I was considering JCW carbon tailgate handle and hood scoop, but I believe I'll wait for the holidays. I think I'm going to get the 'I have one and you don't" shirt when I'm there tomorrow... since it's true now!

 

Took the car in last night for the iPod software update, and to get a leak from the rear window washer fixed. (It drips, staining the paint and the chrome beneath it.)

I get there, expecting a 20 minute install, and it turns out it is SIX hours for all the software, as it has to have the other required updates installed prior to the ipod stuff being added. Sigh.

So, I arrange for a loaner (yay! I actually got one this time!) and leave the car overnight.

I call on the way in to pick up the car. Another problem has arisen: software install didn't take (again). Apparently the HUGE 112 minute install gets done and then causes problems. (It doesn't even GET to the 154 minute one yet...) They need to restart it, but at least some of the updates got done. On the downside, since of the 8 upgrade files are only 1/2 done, the Nav system and associated software is hosed for now. I have no choice but to leave the car. Not good... planned to go motoring around Sugarloaf Mountain on Sunday, but still might get done and I can stick to the plan. I choose optimism. I leave, run my errands, and return home.

I call at noon: first update file still being downloaded. I let them know I'll call back in 1/2 hour.

I call back at one: I'm told service is closed until Monday. Talk to the general manager, and he goes back to look, returns to tell me they need the car until Monday. Still didn't take. They're going to call a specialist Monday morning.

So of the first 10 days of owning the car, this stupid iPod software has caused me to drive out to the dealership (only 30 minutes each way, but not what I planned to do quite so often already, especially since it's always rush hour when I leave there) at least 4 times. (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and whenever I can get my car back again.) I'm not really too frustrated with the dealership, I'm much more unhappy with MiniUSA for having such a dumbazz way to update their cars. If they're going to REQUIRE an update, they should be making darn sure it can be reliably and consistently delivered to the car, just like Apple's software update system. And why, oh why, can't the dealership download it to the computer, know that it's all there, and THEN put it on the car? It has to be downloaded directly to the car, apparently. SO frustrating!!

Anyway, that's my Mini ownership story of the day. Thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the epic saga of the indefinitely backordered BLACK driving lamps (why are they so far behind the chrome ones?) and the especially confusing backorder of the $12 piece of plastic that can be installed between the headrest and the seat to hold the seatbelt closer to the seat's occupant, and present less of a risk of spraining something reaching way way back to get the seatbelt. (This is more of a short person issue.)

I love my car, when I have it. The loaner, by the way, is a Chili Red Cooper. The nice thing about it being a loaner is I have no problem stress testing what it can do. The downside is, it definitely isn't the "S" model, and I can really tell. The sport button brings it closer in feel to the standard "S" I think.

 

You mean to say that they download the software from the internet - from Mini? They don't have it on a computer in the service bay? What's the bottle neck here? Do they not have broadband? Are they using a serial port? What could it cost to have a USB plug in the car for this kind of update?

 

Sorry it's been so frustrating for you. So when you do get your car back, do you think you could post what version your Nav system is now?

My car is due in next week, and I would love to know what the VPC or the dealers are putting in. It seems strange to me that updating it would be such a hassle and drama. From reading the posts that I linked earlier, it sounds like updating the Nav system involves ejecting a disk, putting another disk in, and putting the original disk back in.

When they gave you this tour of how the software is updated, is it the software for the entire car, or the software for just the Nav system?

 

Here's what I know, cuz I asked a lot of questions. (My MA will tell you that he's not surprised to hear that.)

When they first got the car, and installed the hardware, they found that the software they have on disc (CD or DVD, i dunno which) was not as current as what my car came from the VDC with. Apparently MINIUSA sends out update discs every 3 months.

So... the dealership had what they thought were the correct discs sent to them from another dealer, which is what I went in Wednesday to have installed. Apparently, even THAT wasn't the right stuff. The data on the CD has to be uploaded to the computer, and somehow integrated into their local system (which seems to be an HP tower or something), and then it's available to the car interface.

So Thursday they called or emailed or whatever and found that they needed to do an update that is apparently only available over the internet, at least for now. Which brings me to Friday. They hooked it up, the computer downloaded from my car the current versions of all the systems, and then looked it up against the current at BMW HQ. It determined the size of the updates and gave a time estimate for completion.

I was fairly staggered that the download was 2 hours, and that was just one... at broadband speeds, that's got to be several hundred megabytes of data at least, and I just don't see a car system using that much. Car computer systems are supposed to be lean & mean.

Apparently, in the week since my car left the VDC, the bluetooth, transmission, SatNav, and the audio systems all needed updating.

Before starting the check, the car had to have hte battery hooked up to a wall charger, and then a data cord was run from the computer to a panel on the left side of the driver's footwell, above the clutch area. Another one, fibre optic, was run to the back of the car. Apparently the data goes from the computer, to the car, and the car then sends it back to computer, which I assume is some kind of vertification/data accuracy check. Don't want to have a bug in the transmission system! :-) This download from the BMW mothership goes directly from the computer to the connection box, and then to the car. It doesn't get stored locally, apparently, which makes even less sense to me, but whatever.

That's the scoop. I'm calling the dealership mananger Monday morning to find out what happens next, apparently they are calling BMW HQ to get a tech to help them get this upload completed so I cna get off their cases. :-)

I was worried that the driving lamps would also require a software update, and this process would be repeated. The tech told me no software is required for those, which makes me ask: MINI WHERE ARE THE BLACK DRIVING LAMPS AND THE SEAT BELT HOLDERS?!?! HOW HARD CAN THEY BE TO GET OUT TO THE DEALERSHIPS?! I HAVE MONEY TO GIVE YOU!!!!! (Honestly. I don't get the delay. There's nothing new here that needs development time or anything... I've given up hope at having the driving lamps before I leave for the summer in a few weeks.)

I was told the software update would not provide any new functionality, but might make things run more smoooothly. I assume he meant the techno-goodies, not the ride quality.

 

I have a somewhat similar story. I had ordered an iPod adaptor, which required new software to be installed by the dealer. For whatever reason, perhaps because of a failed installation or something, things went bad. When I picked up the car, the iPod adaptor did not work. The sat/nav did not work. Voice reco did not work. Bluetooth phone did not work. The radio did not work. The CD did not work. I can't configure anything except to set the time with the turn signal stalk.

I picked it up anyway and had 8 days of listening to the great sound of the engine, burble or not, instead of the radio. I brought it back for the necessary software upgrade/repair this past Wednesday, and the dealership is still struggling to get things to work...they've also mentioned a many-hour download to try to fix things, and a PUMA, which, as I understand it, is a cry for help to MINI HQ.

I'm sure hoping BMW is better at building cars than they are at deploying software!

So far, for the MINI I picked up on April 23, I've driven it for 8 days, and am now about to begin day 5 (and counting) on a loaner...the following beauty from Hertz is now my MINI-substitute:

 

The tech at the dealership told me today over the phone, "I hope you like the loaner." I guess I'm now trapped in software deployment hell. Or, rather, my lobotomized Mini is.

I'm not thrilled to find out that IF they get hte software to install, it will likely be an older version, possibly even older than the one the car came with. In addition, after all this it likely won't have iPod capability still. (As that requires the software to be updated... and the circle continues.)

BMW needs to get their act together on this. It's embarrassing to have this great new car, everyone knows I have it, and I have to explain that it's at the shop because it needs software upgrades, and they last "patch" was botched so badly that the car needs a total restore of whatever OS it runs.

I'm betting Microsoft is inside that car someplace... nothing else makes sense. :-)

 

Well, my MINI is going in for the 7 hour update this week. I'm hoping this attempt to fix a relatively minor problem won't cause a cascade of other ones.

 

Lynn,

I'm warning you... be VERY careful. Make sure they have a backup plan in place for if it doesn't take. I don't know what the problem is, but it seems there isn't much in the way of an easy fix. The problem very well may be a recurring one, but I don't know if it's the update, the PCs providing the update at the dealership, or some other issue

 

I'm set on the iPod adaptor as well, but I don't have the SatNav system. Does this software upgrade issue apply to NonNavs in some other form?

Gotta agree with jmelrose - sounds like Micro$oft in there! Have you decided on your spyware and anti-virus software yet? Don't forget to turn on the firewall!

 

Thanks, jmelrose, but there isn't much I can do, other than accept not having vr, which I am not about to do.

 

I just ordered my L. Blue MCS on 2nd Apr.
w/ All the packages plus the aero kit.
w/ driving lamps, break kit, black18 in. rims.
I have been checking the progress of my car online every day.
It has been awaiting transportation for the last week.

You're so lucky to have one.
I'll be sure to post mine once I get my hands on it.
I'll miss my current car (BMW 330i Performance package)
But now that it's been ordered, I can't wait to get my car!!

This is also my way of going green.

 

My car will be at the dealership for another 7-10 days. The "CCC" unit has to be replaced, which requires one to be generated, programmed, and shipped over from Germany.

I'm suddenly kinda wishing I'd found a car less stressful to own. I'm kinda kidding about that. I'm kinda not.

(And please, no posts about "How great it will be once you get the car back." It's too soon for that.)

I was signed up for the Patrick Air Force Base car show in a couple weeks. Looks like I'll be cancelling, unless things happen a lot faster than I expect them to... *sigh*

Avoid the iPod adapter, that's all I'm saying. Avoid, avoid, avoid. At least, if you have the Sat Nav.

 

That sucks, jmelrose. I am going in tomorrow for the software "fix". I don't have the ipod adapter, but I hope I don't share your experience. Suppose the paint color is in the software???

 

For those still caring at this point (and thanks to those who are!):

Car still sits at the dealership. Nothing more to do but wait for this part. Boy I hope it fixes it.

I have been in touch with MiniUSA's sales manager, and he has been helpful, at least insofar as he has asked how things are going and hasn't sounded too annoyed that I contacted him about this. I just wish there was some way to get this sped up so I can get back in my car!

I did mention that there was no way I'd get the Sirius until I was definitively assured this situation couldn't happen again. If they can't give that assurance, then that's one sale they've lost for sure.

So now I'm thinking they are going to send me the CCC with the defective voice recognition software... I just know that when this part is in, it won't be over. I'm not that lucky.

 

Hang in there! My car was actually fixed by the software download. Except that my radio suddenly spoke spanish. Coincidentally, so did the people who washed and retreived my car.

 

Makes me glad I do not own an iPod at all.

 

Really. Glad I thought the $770 quoted to me was outrageous.