Has anyone else discovered Valet Start? (what i'm calling it, not correct name) Basically you are able to start you engine without having the key in the dash. (THIS IS NOT COMFORT ACCESS/START). MINI's not equipped with comfort access has this feature as well.) Basically one can turn off the engine, take the key out of the dash, place your foot back on the break and start the engine up again without the key being in the dash. Now you can start/stop the engine as many times as you want within a certain time frame between start up's and stops. HOWEVER, if you open the driver side door you cannot continue you can't restart your car once it has been turned off without putting the key back in the dash like normal.

I'm assuming the idea is, if you happen to want to utilize valet parking, you can stop the engine, take the key out and restart the engine, then open the door and allow the valet to park your car without keeping your key. Now the valet only has one shot to get the parking right, IF they turn the car off (or stall-out with a Manual) they can not restart the car because the door has been opened (when you stepped out of the car). Note that the passenger door can be opened during "valet start"/ "valet mode" and you still have the capability to stop and start the car. Only when the driver side door has been open and closed does the system allow that one start to happen. Pretty cool feature.

Go try this in your MINI.

PS. Not sure what model years this feature works for. 2012+ I'm assuming. If you have a earlier model with this feature, let me know!

 

Wow very interesting.

 

Indeed

 

My MA said that if you pull "the inner key" out of the fob.. That's Valet mode... A maximum 4 mile run before the engine powers down.. And the car has to be towed back to the dealer.. True?

 

I think your MA is talking about the Mechanical Key that you can pull out of the actual Key fob. This key can be used to manually lock/unlock your doors. This is also known as your Valet Key because (especially for coupe/roadster and convertibles) one can lock the glove compartment/secret door(coupe and roadsters)/and the back seats of the convertible to disable access to the trunk via back seats or door(cp/rds) and the glove compartment. If you give the key fob to a valet, and keep the mechanical key, they cannot access these different compartments where you would want to store personal things. Are we talking about the same thing?

 

I'm pretty sure you can drive your car without the mechanical key in the Key Fob and it will not break down after 4 miles of driving. I happened to have taken my mechanical key out of the key fob to unlock the door to the trunk of my roadster and forgot to put it back in, and drove all the way home. I'll need to double check on this but i'm pretty sure that isn't the case. Did you try what I was describing as Valet Start or Mode in your MINI?

 

My 2010 manual works exactly as described except for stepping on the clutch rather than the brake.

 

Not yet, but I'll give it a try that's for sure.

 

I only use this for running into a store for just a minute and have my dogs with me. I shut the car off, remove key, restart, leave and lock.

One cool quirk about this though, if you don't pout your foot on the brake it will bring the radio back on and such and then I tapped the brake pedal and did not touch the push button to start and it fired right up by just tapping the brake...after the button was pressed.

 

My wife swore she had the car start after pulling the key, once. I told her she was crazy. Must try it. Kind of hope it works. I will have a lot of fun with her for that one.