Options, options... and a few q's

[Rich C]

OK, after the excitement of yesterday here's my first pass at my spec (thanks to whoever posted the pdf here):

Cooper Cabriolet:

Chili Red
Black Soft top
Black leather/cloth

Chili Pack
TLC
17" BULLET alloys
Interior Trim Red
Wind Deflector
Heated Seats
Xenons
Manual a/c
Radio BOOST
Single CD
Heater Washerjets & Mirrors

Plus possibly:

Chrome Line Interior (once I've seen it)
Visibility Pack
Cockpit Chrono (once I've seen it)

Works out just over 18K

So the questions:

1. What does 'BOOST' bring to the party? Have to have if for CD but does it change anything apart from the headunits power rating (ie speakers?)
2. Visibility pack. Loved the Ford quickclear screen and as the car is going to be kept outside and my winter drive a good feature - hopefully as well integrated as the ford one - after 2 days you never noticed the lines. BUT can I over ride the rain sensor - these things are generally crap in my experience - can I select the delay?
3. To have sport suspension - too much with the 17"? Especially given the scuttle shake in a cabrio no matter how good it is.
4 Xenons - how good are the ones on the Mini. Always doubted the need for these until my Lupo GTi had them as standard. The Lupo's were 'awesome' (sorry too much time in the US ) but have heard the performance can be mixed depending on car.

Think that's it for now - dealer confirmed he got my message so the Sept car is mine!

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rich C

1. What does 'BOOST' bring to the party? Have to have if for CD but does it change anything apart from the headunits power rating (ie speakers?)
2. Visibility pack. Loved the Ford quickclear screen and as the car is going to be kept outside and my winter drive a good feature - hopefully as well integrated as the ford one - after 2 days you never noticed the lines. BUT can I over ride the rain sensor - these things are generally crap in my experience - can I select the delay?
3. To have sport suspension - too much with the 17"? Especially given the scuttle shake in a cabrio no matter how good it is.
4 Xenons - how good are the ones on the Mini. Always doubted the need for these until my Lupo GTi had them as standard. The Lupo's were 'awesome' (sorry too much time in the US ) but have heard the performance can be mixed depending on car.

Think that's it for now - dealer confirmed he got my message so the Sept car is mine!

Boost is discussed quite a lot in the interior and ICE forum, I'm not entirely sure anymore what you get for your money! Sorry.

Vis. pack is well worth it, and you cant overide the sensing mode, but you can get it adjusted if you need to, I think it works very well.

Sports suspension should be fine.

Xenons are good, we have one Xenon, one Halogon fitted MINI and the Xenons are much better.

[Lexuslover]

On the subject of specs for the convertible, I've spec'd Climate Control, but would I be better with Man A/C? Or, to put it another way, is the Climate Control any good on a Mini?

Nice Specs by the way,
same as mine except for the above mentioned climate and I've decided to go without sports suspension when I'm having 17" alloys!

Thanks

[Paul]

Climate control seems to be a very personal thing, I'd personally not bother, after having driven thousands of miles with auto, and even more with manual, I have no problem with the manual at all. The auto seems too fiddly for something that's supposed to make life easier. However some people swear by it!

[Rich C]

Climate control will struggle in a convertible with the roof down as it will never be able to attain a constant temp - and with complaints elsewhere on the board about how noisy the fan is....well.

And yes, I run the a/c with the roof down, on a really hot or humid day you want the roof down and a nice cool breeze wafting over you.

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rich C

And yes, I run the a/c with the roof down, on a really hot or humid day you want the roof down and a nice cool breeze wafting over you.

Or on some really cold days in the south of France (?!?!) you can have it blasting hot air so you can still look "cool" with the roof down!

[Rich C]

Has someone been driving in the south of France then recently!!?

So typing these replies and get that review on-line!!!!

[hectic]

What's your thoughts on the dark interior. I'm worried about having it out in the sun all day and then sitting on those seats.. they could be quite hot!!

[Rich C]

Wouldn't worry too much about a dark interior getting hot, but leather seats are notoriously hot in summer and cold in winter - the winter thing is why I've ordered heated seats (plus for those cool summer evenings) and (don't laugh) it's not unheard of for me to carry a couple of beach or golf towels in the summer when I'm wearing shorts to put over the seat base to stop the hot leather burning my legs. This is why I've stuck with the cloth/leather sports seats this time - I favour the seat base in cloth or alcantara with leather bolsters over a full leather seat.

I'm out in Chicago at the moment and you see many premium cars with fur seat covers for that very reason because their summers are so hot - for example over taken by a lovely Z4 (well I like them) with brown fur seat covers yesterday. Looked crap but probably does the job.

Now if we could get seats with the cooling, and ideally the massage function, like the Merc SL then we'd be talking

[Lexuslover]

Thanks for the replies - wasn't going to try and set the climate control to a given temperature with the roof down - figured that might be asking a bit much!!!
On my current car I can over-ride the climate control and effectively have manual air conditioning with control over air distribution, fan speed and temperature - does the Mini climate control have this degree of user intervention - or is it auto only?
Thanks