"Senior Mini personnel not happy with speedo & radio" 2nd gen

[mikeythemini]

Maybe hope for the facelift or will we have to wait for the 3rd gen
This is from todays Autocar
"Senior Mini personnel in Germay have admitted that they're not happy with the car's toy-town interior, in particular the massive speedometer........and the awkward ergonomics of the radio. The radio at least will be redesigned for the next Mini"

[AlexBRGCooper]

bit of good news for me. The interior is really, well, odd in the R56. I prefer the exterior of it but 'urgh' to the dash and console. I mean, who decided on a speedo that size?

[thetope]

I agree, the stereo controls are terrible. I also wouldn't mind more useful warning lights, for example a light to actually tell me that the dipped headlights are on. Sounds silly, i should know when they're on, but if you have dipped headlights on there's no warning tone when you get out because they switch off automatically. At this time of year i leave them on anyway as it's dark when i travel to work and dark when i travel home. But on the odd occasion i go out for lunch or if i drive at the weekend, then I don't notice they're on if I get back in the car in daylight. Wouldn't mind a permanent ice indicator too rather than just the warning tone and brief display, my old car had an orange warning light below 3°C and a red one below 0°C.

[Paul]

I much prefer the look and feel of the interior over the first gen, but you HAVE to have the sat nav for it to really work, the heater and radio controls as standard are terrible and confuse people, you should be able to just sit in ANY car and be able to use the radio (volume etc) and heater without being told, and preferably without looking.

[minicabrio]

I actually find the stereo and heat/vent controls quite easy to use in the R56 - especially in non-nav cars.

[MattJCW]

The ergonomics and size of the speedo don't actually bother me that much - no they aren't great, especially with the roundabout ways to get to certain options in the menu systems, but you kinda get used to it - In fact I find it quite reassuring that Mini isn't yet a boring German overengineered Auto. This makes it British! Maybe for the wrong reasons though?...

Although where I think they should definately improve in the future models/facelifts is the use of poor plastics on the centre console and dash. The silver buttons IMO look really cheap and as yet we have no option to upgrade those parts, and the black plastic casing surrounding the speedo, airvents, speakers and door pulls both looks and feels cheap. When you're spending upto £30+ on a car, you really should be able to expect much better quality especially when you consider other cars for that money - VW, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes even BMW themselves!! Come on guys - for a few pence extra to buy far better quality materials in these areas, you'd not only please us (your customers) you'd most likely get more customers buying into your brand when they see what a quality product you've produced...

rant over....

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by minicabrio (original)

I actually find the stereo and heat/vent controls quite easy to use in the R56 - especially in non-nav cars.

How do you know how hot it is on the dial, without looking? With regular circular dials you know where max and min are and you know that when the dial is vertical you're about half way on the temp scale. Can't do that so easily when it's a vertical wheel/dial thing.

As for the radio, I've seen far too many people confused by the separation and similarity of the volume/power and tuning/functions dial/button, the number of times people change station instead of adjusting volume is ridiculous.

[minicabrio]

I know which way is hotter, which is cooler, if its too hot in the car you turn it the appropriate way

The two knob thing does confuse a lot of people - granted. But after 30 mins in an R56 for the first time, I had it sussed. Perhaps I'm just good with knobs?

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by minicabrio (original)

The two knob thing does confuse a lot of people - granted. But after 30 mins in an R56 for the first time, I had it sussed. Perhaps I'm just good with knobs?

30 mins to get used to how to change volume on a stereo = design failure in my eyes.

[mister.t]

MFSW with standard dash is fine IMO. I like the nav, it looks very smart. But for £1400? Your having a laugh.

[MattJCW]

I really like the controls for the auto air con (climate control) as its really easy to use - push dials up for temp up or power up, and push down for temp down or power down - that simple. However its a whole new ballgame with the manual air con, really clicky and plasticy and did find myself having to look what I was doing when driving. Simple - get auto air con!!

[humph]

I have to agree with the following statements made above

The nav option looks better, and makes the user interface of the car a lot easier than without it.

The manual AC console looks like a fisher price activity centre. Again nav and auto AC solve this.

As for the interior generally. The speedo isn't that big, but the stereo buttons don't befit a car that costs as much as the MINI does. That said, the R56 interior is really nice to be in. It may get some getting used to for some of us, but you grow to like it very quickly.

My gripes, although minor would be. The storage compartment where MINI dealers fit the ipod connection isn't big enough to fit a pod in flat The glove compartment is worse than useless as it's just a bin really without any shelves etc. They door bins are too small and access to them is far worse than the 1st gen. And the cubby hole beside the steering wheel has been done away with Oh and the MFSW controls look like an afterthought on the new steering wheel.

[minicabrio]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paul (original)

30 mins to get used to how to change volume on a stereo = design failure in my eyes.

See what you mean.... but I don't mind that - its like buying a new gadget I'd spend 30 mins out on the drive pushing all the buttons and learning how to use it.

[MattJCW]

Maybe it sounded like I hated the interior of the R56 on a previous post - far from it... it's a vast improvement to my previous car (R53 MCS). It's just a few niggly areas, but unfortunately the problems are in direct sight when you're driving/sitting in the car. IMO these should be near perfect. Also you shouldn't need to spend £1400 to improve the layout on the menu system. It didn't take me long to figure out which selector to use to change track/volume, but I do understand what paul is saying - it should be obvious!

[humph]

Quote: Originally Posted by MattJCW (original)

Also you shouldn't need to spend £1400 to improve the layout on the menu system.

Totally agree with this. I think this was another reason they started putting AC in as standard, with auto coming as part of the Chili pack. Most people will now end up with auto.

And agree that the volume control is in the wrong place. You instinctively go for the big knob in the middle of the radio for that.