New MINI owner with a few Qs - MINI Cooper Forum

Riccardo · #1 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 08:30 AM

Hello All,

As mentioned earlier (in a post now moved to somewhere in cyberspace) I've just bought a MINI Cooper (2nd hand, from a friend) on Saturday. Its lovely, I am so far really pleased with it and have actually been creating excuses to go places so I can drive it!

However, as with all MINIs (it seems) there are a few issues:

- When the car is quite hot (say, 1 hour of London traffic) I find it VERY difficult to engage reverse gear. Is this a known issue or am I doing the wrong thing? No difficulty to engage it when the car is cold.

- The lower lights on the manual a/c don't light up at night. Have I got blown bulbs or is this a design fault?

Also, is there any way to program the remote so that it closes the windows when you blipn the lock key?

Thanks in advance for any help.

ALD0 · #2 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 08:37 AM

Hello again, can answer 1 of those questions 4 u!
You wont be able to close the windows/sunroof with the remote as BMW think this is unsafe or something, you will have to put key in lock and turn clockwise-this wil shut all windows and sunroof and also alarm the car (if you have 1). Though on the Renault Megane if you have left all the windows open and press the remote button (twice I think) It will close all windows and deadlock all the doors.

Paul · #3 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 08:37 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Riccardo

Hello All,

As mentioned earlier (in a post now moved to somewhere in cyberspace) I've just bought a MINI Cooper (2nd hand, from a friend) on Saturday. Its lovely, I am so far really pleased with it and have actually been creating excuses to go places so I can drive it!

However, as with all MINIs (it seems) there are a few issues:

- When the car is quite hot (say, 1 hour of London traffic) I find it VERY difficult to engage reverse gear. Is this a known issue or am I doing the wrong thing? No difficulty to engage it when the car is cold.

- The lower lights on the manual a/c don't light up at night. Have I got blown bulbs or is this a design fault?

Also, is there any way to program the remote so that it closes the windows when you blipn the lock key?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hello,

All your posts are still on MINI2, some might have been moved into the 'correct' forum. Click the 'search' button under your posts and you can find all your posts in one go, if you've lost any.

1) Problems with reverse gear on the 5 speed are fairly common, could be the gear linkage playing up, could be nothing serious. Something I'd live with if I could (and we did with our MINI One) and report next time you're at the dealers.

2) Sounds like blown lights? Not sure what you mean though, do you mean the bottom half of the dial is in darkness?

3) No, cant be done (well technically it can, I've seen it) but MINI wont do it for 'safety' reasons.

Speedd · #4 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 09:37 AM

Hello Ricardo and Congrats on the car.

I agree with Pauls comments on the gear box issue that you should report it to the dealer next time you are in. Any idea which dealer you are going to use? there is a dealer feed back forum on this site which may help.

Do you have any pics of where the light comes on?

And yes I am sure you can control the window closure but its true that BMW have a safety issue?? strange i know because you can do it on some models? or was that on the Mercs??

Also have a look at the bottom of my sig for the next MMM Run

Riccardo · #5 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 10:20 AM

Guys,

Thanks for your quick and great replies!

The 1st service (10k) is in about 750mi (currently car has 8400mi) so yes, I'll mention the reverse issue then, I thought it could be the gear linkage issue I had vaguely read about in other threads.

I'll probably take it to my local dealer (Hexagon East Finchley) or to the supplyng dealer (Stephen James Enfield). Any advice on either one? (I'll look at the other posts as well, thanks Anand).

The a/c lights are just the lower ones (TEMP, fan logo and low airflow logo) on the control.

Two more questions I remembered:

- The passenger side seat doesn't seem to return to its original position when pushed forward, is this the wey they all are?

- Is it just me or these cars smell a bit of coolant when they get hot?

Thanks again,

PS: Paul, I've sussed how to find the post out now, thanks!

jasonfields007 · #6 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 10:41 AM

Stephen James Enfield r better than Hexagon from experience.

J

KenL · #7 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 10:47 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Riccardo

Guys,

- The passenger side seat doesn't seem to return to its original position when pushed forward, is this the wey they all are?

If you push the seat cushion (bottom bit) back into place before you lift the seat back up it should go back properly.

Riccardo · #8 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 12:11 PM

One more question... (for now)

When should I start booking the service? Currently it indicates 750 miles to the next service. Should I wait for that to reach zero or is it fine to do it a bit in advance?

Just bought some clear indicators from Minispares!

Thanks again!

KenL · #9 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 12:15 PM

If you need a courtesy car then you may need to give 2/3 weeks notice for your dealer to have one available.

Think my dealer said 500 miles either side of the exact service point was fine.

Richard Crofts · #10 (**permalink**) Sep 22nd, 2003, 12:16 PM

Book in in advance. Most dealers are working several weeks in arrears so if you do 200-300 miles a week then book it in now and you will probably get a spot in 2 or 3 weeks, this will mean that you get services almost on the 0 mark of the count down. My dealer said around a 3 week wait period to get cars in for work/services I imagine most are similar.

Well done on the purchase

R