[kmpowell]

Apologies if this is going over old ground but I had a quick search and everything was all related to the R53 or had no definitive answer for the R56.

Basically I have changed job and my commute has gone from a couple of miles a day to 60 miles a day, with 50 of those miles spent on the motorway. I bought the car brand new back in Oct last year and didn't spec Cruise simply because I didn't anticipate the need for it (the car up until monday this week had only covered 2500 miles!).

I'm now wondering if it is possible to retrofit Cruise Control? I am guessing I would need the MFSW as well?

Thanks in advance
Kevin

[BrianDromey]

It can be fitted. I had it priced up for a car I was considering. Twill cost about £1000-£1200 though. Apparently a very, very labour intensive job.

Brian.

[kmpowell]

£1000!

So it's not like Audi's then where the wiring is already plumbed in and you just buy the bits to connect?

[coupe-se]

No one seems to be able to provide proper clear information why retro fitting cruise is so labour intensive. I asked the dealership what was so complex and time consuming about the process and they couldn't tell me and were frustratingly vague. I've only ever seen vague answers on the subject on here.

I owned an A3 previously and retro fitting cruise was a 1/2 hour job!!

The mini has the loom required and necesary connection points behind the steering wheel, it seems its a simple enough job to fit the button panels to the steering wheel.
This only leaves the coding, which is done via a pc/laptop and I do n ot believe for one minute that a Mini mechanic has to spend hours tapping away at keys. No other brand of car requires hours of coding to enable additional functions. No car manufacturer purposely makes the recoding of a vehicle unecassarily complex and onerous.

I'd really like to get to the bottom of this Mini myth!!

Shame no-one outside of Mini has the Mini equivalent of VAG com to let the general public do their own recoding and tweaking.

[Japper]

Quote: Originally Posted by kmpowell (original)

£1000!

So it's not like Audi's then where the wiring is already plumbed in and you just buy the bits to connect?

Do a search on NAM, as i believe this has been covered and is no where near 1k. New steering wheel button panels ( all 3 spoke steering wheels are pre wired ) and a 'control module' is required + coding.

C.

[coupe-se]

My dealer quoted me £800 to £1000 to retro fit the MFSW buttons after he had a lengthy conversation withe the service department.
I don't believe that the service departments know exactly how to do the job as there doesn't appear to be a Mini bulletin/document covering this job at the moment.

Thre Mini dealer gave me the same yarn as the Audi dealer regarding cruise control, which turned out to be nonsense. Audi has a policy of not retro fitting factory options and is actively discouraged from doing so from those at the top.

A VW technician did my A3 cruise retrofit for £200 (parts and labour)and the mythical coding of my Audi took him 5 to 10 minutes. I wish I knew a Mini mechanic to get the truth. Fingers crossed that eventually an X Mini mechanic sets up on his own to do all the retro fiitng jobs that so many people want.

[Japper]

Quote: Originally Posted by coupe-se (original)

My dealer quoted me £800 to £1000 to retro fit the MFSW buttons after he had a lengthy conversation withe the service department.
I don't believe that the service departments know exactly how to do the job as there doesn't appear to be a Mini bulletin/document covering this job at the moment.

Thre Mini dealer gave me the same yarn as the Audi dealer regarding cruise control, which turned out to be nonsense. Audi has a policy of not retro fitting factory options and is actively discouraged from doing so from those at the top.

A VW technician did my A3 cruise retrofit for £200 (parts and labour)and the mythical coding of my Audi took him 5 to 10 minutes. I wish I knew a Mini mechanic to get the truth. Fingers crossed that eventually an X Mini mechanic sets up on his own to do all the retro fiitng jobs that so many people want.

Can't locate the thread on NAM yet, but sure the buttons were £60-70 and the control module around £200-300. Coding is required on top of this.

Real OEM has the part no's.

[coupe-se]

Quote: Originally Posted by Japper (original)

Can't locate the thread on NAM yet, but sure the buttons were £60-70 and the control module around £200-300. Coding is required on top of this.

Real OEM has the part no's.

I did look on the NAM thread and comments about the retro fit.

I have looked for the part numbers on Real OEM and couldn't find any for the R56.

This is the downside of buying a Cherished Mini that always seems to have one desirable item missing that is a pain to retro fit.

[mikeythemini]

It may be the coding thats putting the cost up
Coding on the r56 seems to be very hazardous as it can freeze or even crash, then the whole car needs recoding - this is going from my experience getting something as simple as an ipod adaptor coded. My local dealer now says they need 24-48 hours to code !!!!

[coupe-se]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikeythemini (original)

It may be the coding thats putting the cost up
Coding on the r56 seems to be very hazardous as it can freeze or even crash, then the whole car needs recoding - this is going from my experience getting something as simple as an ipod adaptor coded. My local dealer now says they need 24-48 hours to code !!!!

How can BMW/Mini have designed such a unreliable and twitchy 2ng generation system thats a b'ger to work with?? Not exactly progress is it?

[kmpowell]

Don't suppose anybody has any update on getting this cheaper? I REALLY need to get CC fitted ASAP if possible, as the journey is now becoming very monotonous each day.

[Mooyer]

I used to work in the service department at a BMW dealership, so I know a little bit about the coding process.

Internally its known as programming. Its basically a reflash of the cars DME to code the new bits to the car. Charges vary, but the norm is 1 1/2 hours labour, but it generally takes about 4 hours to do.

The reason why they quote 2 days for it is that it has a tendancy to crash half way through, and they have to start again, which if they have a few programming jobs in means that it either may not get started on the first day, or if it has crashed or has taken out one of the control units then you are left with a dead car.

Just a little explaination for you