adjusting seats - what's the difficulty?

[normalizer]

I've read about, and experienced, the difficulties in adjusting the seats on MINI's. When I did have the chance to sit in the car I didn't have the time to sort it out but am now wondering, for those of you who have had your cars for a while now, what exactly is the problem for newbies and what's the trick to adjusting them?

[gromit]

Can't answer the question regarding living with the seats since, like you, I'm waiting for mine. I can say that at the Toronto auto show I jammed the seat the first time I touched it. The cute but empty-headed bimbo they had there to *assist* customers tried to explain their use to me. I explained to her that if a seat latch has to be *explained*, the problem is with the latch, not the user. Blank look from the bim. I still love the car!

[MadAboutMINI]

When I checked out the Helix MINIsports MINI I noticed two things:

1) I couldn't figure out how to put the passenger seat forward to get into the back. I still don't know exactly what Eric did to get it to work!

2) The passenger seat back wouldn't move to as upright a position as I would have liked.

Hey, whatever. The DRIVER'S seat felt great!

[lightbody]

*IF* you know how to work the seat adjuster, then it works just fine and is quite neat actually.

You push it DOWN to fold/slide the seat forward for getting in the back and you lift it UP while sitting in the seat to adjust the angle of recline.
The problem is that in most 3dr cars there's a catch on the side of the seat which is always lifted UP to fold the seat, so thats what strangers do instinctively in the MINI to get in the back, this then makes the seat APPEAR to fold forward, even though whats actually happened is the seat is now just fully adjusted forward! To resolve this, you have to LIFT the handle again at the same time pushing the seat back back...

Phew!

[ELISEBOY]

also when returning the seat to its normal position you should push the chair fully back from the base of the chair and not from the back, this will again just lock the seat
Once it is fully back on the runner, then you can push the top part of the seat and it will go back into the original position

very confussing i know

what i dont get is why there is controls for the seat on both sides?????

[MitchyBoy]

It's probably so that the driver can move the passenger seat forward for his completely half-witted passengers. On this note by the way, has anybody else noticed that people who haven't been in a Mini before just cannot find the door handle? Or are my friends just particularly dim?

MitchyBoy

[ELISEBOY]

not one person in mine has found the door handle first time round

[Red & White Cooper 2]

Quote:

On this note by the way, has anybody else noticed that people who haven't been in a Mini before just cannot find the door handle? Or are my friends just particularly dim?

No - they're not dim - my passengers have the same problem. If only they'd kept the chrome handles that the early cars had in stead of the cheap plastic ones.

[ELISEBOY]

Quote:

Originally posted by Red & White Cooper 2


If only they'd kept the chrome handles that the early cars had in stead of the cheap plastic ones.

I wondered what had happened to them

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by ELISEBOY

I wondered what had happened to them

They were saving them up for the US market MINIs? Look at Kevin_B's pictures including this one showing them on the doors:

http://65.84.48.123/~kevin/new_minis...es/Image8.html

and this picture showing a chrome handle (?) on the love it or hate it glove box:

http://65.84.48.123/~kevin/new_minis...s/Image15.html

Well, it looks like a chrome door handle!

[mr.bill]

I wonder if the chrome handles are made from metal, or are simply chrome plated plastic that will flake off and look tacky after a bit of use.

[lightbody]

mr. bill - if/when you get to sit in a MINI you'll find that all interior plastics/trim is exceptionally high quality and durable. Mine has taken a hammering so far (4 months/5500 miles) and still looks like the day I picked it up. The car magazine reviews agree that the interior is a cut above anything else in its class.

[Cinimod]

Mr Bill - the door hands are coated not solid - as is all the chrome work I am lead to believe.

The reason I can confirm the handle is plated is I had an unfortunate meeting with a van on a narrow bridge - the result is the handle is all scuffed up.

Anyone know how difficult they are to replace?

[minky]

Regarding the seats! as in an earlier post, If you expierence any daft seats, ie one leave does one thing and the opposite does the other, then you will need a new seat. BMW ARE aware of this problem, and are keeping a low profile on it as its an expensive change. So if you have this problem, let them know, and say, where is my new seat!

[dominic_madden]

I picked up my MINI last week :-)

The seats were different from the ones I had test drives in and had sat in. The dealer told me that they had just redesigned the seats as there were so many problems with them!

Dom