CR/W-anthracite or grey interior dash/panels?

[merbel]

OK-I have switched my order to CR/W from DS/W and am feeling good. Then I realize I have another choice to make. Grey or anthracite/dark. Any CR/W owners/orderers that can advise?

[CooperS4us]

I have the Anthracite trim in my new CR/W MCS. AVOID the Alloy Patina and Silver Trims at all costs. I am serious. The Patina and Silver both have paint peeling prone door panel pull tubes and dashboard down legs. No matter how careful you are, the cheesy silver paint will peel off in 6 months. Trust me I have a '02 Cooper with the Silver trim and the dealer had to refinish both door panels and dashboard downlegs with aftermarket stronger paint finish under warranty. It looks great now (Will post pics later) but the process wasn't fun and it was time consuming as they had to outsource the work to an outside auto interiors vendor.

Anthracite on the other hand will make your car look darker if you go with black panel and black seats but it looks classy and it is so much better quality over Patina and Silver it is unbelieveable! It does not peel like the other 2 trim options and it is more durable.

Here is a pic of my new '04 MCS with Anthracite interior and Leatherette black sport seats:

[bentley/cooper]

I went with the silver dash on mine. I think it looks the best. I seriously hope it does not peel off in six months! It has only been 4-5 weeks so far & it is still all in the right places!

[CooperS4us]

Silver brightens up the cabin, that's for sure. But unfortunately the unlacquered trim pieces subject to the most wear and tear (Door pulls and dashboard center tubes) will eventually scratch and peel. My dealer's and MINI has acknowledged the fact that owners of Silver and Alloy Patina trims with white silver trim bits have defective trims from factory. Ironically BMW refuses to fix the problem at the factory production floor and instead has adopted a costly and time consuming policy of re-painting the door panels and dash center legs using aftermarket repair methods for those customers who complaint the loudest, like yours truly.

I treat my cars with white gloves and trust me, your silver trim pieces will flake and peel, so prepare yourself to have your door panels repainted 2 to 3 times until the aftermarket vendor gets them right.

Notice that MINI put a nice coat of lacquer on the dashboard trim pieces as well as the door panel oval surroundings. Those pieces will never see a scratch because they have LACQUER. It boggles my mind as to why MINI refuses to put a coat of lacquer on the door pulls and the dash center legs, makes absolutely no sense.

It is the typical BMW way of approaching trim related problems. They must have a gazillion of these white silver unlacquered trim pieces in factory inventory that they don't want to do anything about it until they deplete the exisiting inventory.

When we bought our 2002 Cooper CVT, Silver trim was the only trim available in the Cooper and Alloy patina in the MCS. Anthracite was introduced in 2003 for both the MC and MCS. I got Anthracite in my '04 MCS and it is much higher quality than the Silver as it holds superbly when compared to the other 2 trim choices.

I wish I could retrofit Anthracite in the Cooper CVT but the door pulls and dash legs are already refinished to my satisfaction with higher quality silver paint texture than the original from factory.

I'll said this one more time: Prospect buyers: Stay away from Silver and Alloy Patina trims until MINI cleans up their act of putting a coat of lacquer or improving the quality of the silver paint used in these trims.


Anthracite is the only way to go. It wil save you many headaches.

[Spy Car]

I dunno.

My alloy patina and silver trim is holding up brilliantly...and for my taste is very much better looking than the anthracite (which IMO is oppressively gray and lifeless).

I'll take the mat finish on the Alloy Patina over shiny plastic with embedded glitter any day.

[RVW]

Had silver trim in my Cooper NO problems with it.
Now have it in my S 10months old still like new
Can only think you guys the other side of the pond are a bit ruff with you cars

Silver brightens up the interior especially if you have black panel trims

[CooperS4us]

I treat my cars with "Silk gloves". My '02 CVT looks showroom fresh after 14 months. The silver trim is a piece of junk. My regional MINI rep admitted to that and it is a known issue. That's why they paid for refinishing the trim bits out of thier own deep pockets.

I love the silver trim otherwise because it adds light to the cabin, but the quality is insulting.

Alloy Patina uses the same exact unlacquered white silver door panel pulls and dash downtubes. I have seen plenty of Alloy Patina MCS with scratched and peeled door pull tubes. The Alloy Patina itself in the dashboard holds pretty well.

[B4d4Bing]

check out my gallery...chilli red anthricite and beige leather!

[milliethemini]

We had the same dilemma when we bought our MCS. She liked the anthracite, I liked the look of the alloy patina - until I got into the car and looked at it close up.

The silver is nice, but a little nondescript. Not so the alloy patina, which has a very nice texture-look to it. But the look is too faux for my liking, very much like the faux interior decorating paint jobs they do in TV shows like Trading Spaces - it looks great from a distance, until you get close to it, then you notice that it's not what it seems. Not to mention that it then looks cheap. The alloy patina finish looks a little too plasticky, and lacks 'heft'. It would look a lot better if they used a denser plastic and actually scuffed/textured it, and then lacquered it.

IMHO, the anthracite is the most 'grown up' finish of the three. It's the most car-like finish, it looks substantial, and the texture has depth to it. That may not appeal to some people because it is almost anti-MINI like because of the 'maturity' of it's look, but to me it makes the MINI more like a real car and less toy-like. I think it gives the interior of the MINI a good balance of style and substance.

As to whether it darkens up the interior too much - we have the Space Cloth seats in our MCS, so our interior is already quite bright.

Ultimately, the interior is the part of the car that you are going to see the most, and really relates to YOU more than anything else. Ask yourself if you will be happy to see that interior day in and day out, after the novelty of having a unique look (ie alloy patina) wears off, and you start noticing the weaknesses more and more.

[myspeed]

I went for Anthracite and it really looks the bizz, especially when the sunlight shines on it, it matches and compliments the metallic dark silver body beautifully.

[merbel]

Goin' for the red-anthracite still OK?

[CooperS4us]

Sounds like an excellent choice, Merbel.

[Rainbow-Walker]

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[sergio rollerfunk]

Same as you, I switched from DS/W to CR/W and I felt gooood!

About the interior, I went with Alloy Patina. Anthracite looks nice too, but silver looks kinda "plasticky" to me...IMHO.
You can't go wrong with antharcite or alloy. Just flip a coin!

Sergio

[merbel]

Leaning towards the alloy, like the matt finish rather than shiny...