Hi all,

This is my first mini; I have a 2012 R56 manual... I noticed now with cool temps in New England that she is very hard to warm up; my wife complains that the cabin is cold for a long time when driving.
I just did a test today, and she is right. Even after idling for about 7-8 minutes, the air was not warm coming in the cabin, very very slightly warm... My BMW 335i warmed up in 5 min, you could sit in it like in a sauna.

Is the thermostat known to fail (53k miles) early in life ? I think the water pump is new (previous owner had it replaced under some recall), but I am not sure they changed the thermostat. The coolant level is fine, over minimum.
Thanks all.

 

I've driven/owned/leased three MINIs to date. The heating & cooling system is awful IMO. No other brand of car has ever confounded me so much on getting heat.

You really shouldn't sit and idle the car for 5-8 minutes. It is meant to be driven slowly pretty soon after start up. This true for cars that no longer use carburetors. https://www.popularmechanics.com/car...-harms-engine/

I've found that if I change the temperatures and settings when I first get going it kicks the system in the rear and it starts to work. Play around with manual vs. auto settings as well.

Beyond that, you could have other issues as you mention.

 

Same complaint

I use sport mode for higher RPMs & also run defrost initially - that runs A/C compressor & puts extra load on engine.

 

 

There's always the redneck thermostat enhancer - - cardboard in front of the radiator!

 

One of 3 things. Air in the coolant, coolant low or the thermostat is stuck open. Coolant low is the easiest to check, if full then open the purge air valve (lots a threads on how to do that). If no love, look into replacing the thermostat housing which is a known problem on this auto.