R57: Things you may not have known
 

I've had my R57 (non-S) for a week now and I'm starting this thread to benefit interested 'vert folks. Here's what I've learned so far:

- US cars are delivered with no spare tire. However, (for non-S only!) the mounting bolts are under the car so you can add the tray, spare and hardware to mount the compact spare in the usual (R56 non-S) spot.

- Bluetooth Microphone is now located on the steering column by the wiper stalk.

- Suspension is a little bit softer than the R56 for both the standard and sport suspensions.

- Bike Rack Prep is no longer available, but the first batch of 'verts do have it (if ordered that way). No one knows if/when a bike rack will be available or what the future alternative will be.

- Black Mirror Caps no longer appear on the configurator.

Two Questions:

#1 - The manual on page 78 makes reference to Hill Start Assist, but doesn't indicate if it's for both the Automatic or Manual transmission. Any ideas if it applies to both? I'm thinking of Automatic, but I could be wrong?

#2 - You can plug in a USB memory stick with your songs into the USB slot. The manual makes no reference to the largest USB stick supported. I want to use a 32GB stick and have all my music on it. Will this work? Can you have playlists on the stick and can the Mini play individual songs as well as the songs found in the different play lists?

Hill Start Assist is a part of DSC. As long as DSC has not been disabled, this should work for Auto or Manual Minis.

USB sticks work fine. Check out the 2nd Generation Navigation & Audio Forum for lots of details. I have a 32G stick. It takes a minute or two for the car to sync the USB directory.
Basically:
- Format FAT32
- use MP3 or AAC formats with bit rates below 256 kbit/s
- minimize tags on each song (keep title, album, artist, genre and delete all others) There is a limit of 20,000 total tags
- if you have a large number of artists, place the artist directories into superdirectories such as "A to D", "E to H"... (If you don't do this, then each time you hit DIR on the stereo, it will start at artist Axxxx and you will have to keep turning the selector knob until you reach your choice. It's really annoying if you want to hear Zappa).

Hill assist is a manual only feature. It keeps the car in place while you push in the clutch. Keeps the brakes applied for 2 secs or until you give it some gas. Keeps you from rolling back on a hill with a manual tranny. I don't think the feature is for automatic or if it is its not of much utility.

Automatics don't have the roll back issues that a manual has, so hill assist is not necessary.

Unless they discontinued it, you are mistaken. I have an 07 MCSa with hill assist.

Living in the San Francisco area, I can tell you that even automatics rolls back on those steep hills, albeit not that often, but I've had it happen to me on numerous occassions in my Infiniti FX35... That's on the extreme side I have to say.

It's not necessary like the manual, but I think you get the feature if you have DSC.

Well, I finally tired out the Hill Decent feature in downtown San Francisco, and wow. What did we do before that on such steap hills... Handbrake comes to mine.

So I have three more question for this thread:

My 09 Convertible is just about fully loaded except for the Parking Distance Control. That being said, I still have two buttons that don't do anything and aren't labeled.

(1) Above the drivers side window button, there is a blank non-operational button. To the right is the rear defroster. What is this button for, and why is it non-operational?

(2) In-between the Sport Button, and the DSC/DTC button, there is yet another blank non-operational button. What is this button for, and why is it non-operational?

(3) In the glove box there was this iPOD to USB cable (p/n: 61120440796). I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but is the new cable that will charge an iPod 3G when connected to the Mini? I recall reading that the original cable was not the right cable, and Mini started to include the proper cable for charging.

The button above the drivers window switch is for the heated windshield and the button between the sport and DSC is for the auto engine shutoff at stop both not offered here in the states.

Thanks for the information. I was wondering what could go there becusae there wasn't any other factory options I could have picked...

It's a shame they don't offer those two items in the US, but I don't know how useful they would be.

Do you have an Iphone 3g to test it? I'd like to know - tho I will be finding out next week when I get my car.

As soon as the wife gets home, I'll be testing that out for sure. I'll let you know what I find out.

Did you get a chance to test it out? :popcorn:

:)

Ohh yes. I did test it out and it does indeed charge, but that was just a quick test late last night. Today will be the big test as we're taking an hour drive...

BTW, if you ordered the Comfort Bluetooth with USB/iPod, then there's an additional cradle you can purchase which allows you to dock your iPhone 3G in the center arm rest to recharge it and I hope use it as a phone and MP3 player controled by the MFSW. I don't have this cradle just yet, but I was reading a thread on NAM and they provided part numbers. I'm going to confirm with my dealer next week and if the price is right, I'll pick that up.

BTW, I do like the fact that I can put all my music on a USB Memory Stick along with different play lists and play back music from that. Even if I remove the memory stick, and insert it back in at a later date/time, it knows what song I was playing last from the exact play list, and starts that song from the begining. I'm impressed with all the electronics so far. Pretty awesome!

How about this one.

Quick press and release the drivers or passenger window button down, and the window continue to come down without you holding the switch. Too bad it doesn't work going up.

Quick press of the button that roles down the rear window will cause all four windows to go down at the same time and you don't have to hold the switch down for the entire operation to complete.

Too bad this doesn't work for the sunroof and/or the entire roof.

I thought that the second-gen cars had an "auto window up" feature if you "double-clicked" the window toggle?

As for putting the convertible top down quickly, here's the absolute fastest method for the first-gen cars - I'd be curious if it's the same for the new ones:

1) Press and release the "rear window down" button.
2) Immediately press the "open top" button to open the sunroof.
3) Just as the roof opens to the "sunroof" position, release and re-press the "open top" button until the convertible top is fully open.

This is significantly faster than just using the "open top button", plus you end up with the front windows all the way down instead of only a third of the way down.

Hey Scott,

Your right. It was must quicker since when you press and release the rear window button, all four go down at the same time, so that sames quite a few seconds, then while they are going down, you can open the sunroof, and then the top goes down shortly there after.

The only think that is nice with using just the top down button, is that when it's all said and done, the four windows go back up to their original position. Makes top down motoring a bit more enjoyable when it's in the mid 40s...

Hey

My wife want to know if you found the secret compartment?

Absolutely. It was described in the manual which I read a few months before my Mini arrived. I use that secret compartment to hid our sunglasses, two pens (in a felt pouch to limit rattling, and a pad of paper). This way I can keep the manuals, my FastTrack toll device in the locked glovebox. I have the Comfort Access option so I never want to take the key out of my pocket, so I like the Glove Box always locked as well as the rear seats. For large item I hide them in the back boot and it's locked and secure. I sometimes leave the top down with the windows down as well if I walk into a store for a short period of time.

So, how do you like your Mini so far? Still have the big grin on your face as you travel down the freeways with the top down???

Yup, still smiling..

How about this one.

If you ordered the option 6NE (Comfort Bluetooth with USB/IPOD) which is also part of the Convenience Package and you own an iPhone 3G, you can purchase the Cradle that plugs into the center arm rest. This cradle will properly charge your iPhone 3G, and allow your phone to use the external antenna.

The part is only branded BMW, but it works perfectly in a Mini without issue. That's why I couldn't find a Mini dealership with it in stock, however I found three BMW dealerships that had many of them.

Part Number: 84-21-2-151-038

Zanary, do you know how much it cost?

I couldn't wait, so I picked it up at my closest BMW dealership with my BMWCCA discount. I think it was $130 including the 9.5% sales tax in my area of California.

I think someone said that Morristown has it for cheaper, but I couldn't wait for it to ship as I use my iPhone 3G quite a bit and the battery doesn't make it through the day some times.