Jul 28th, 2003
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If you live in northern California or are willing to travel you might be interested in the MINI Challenge:
“Mini Challenge is a gathering of street and race Classic Minis and New MINIs to be held at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, as part of the US Sports Car Invitational Weekend. The Ultimate Mini Challenge pits Classic Minis against New MINIs for the first time in the largest all-Mini/MINI grid ever!
The event will also host a MINI Corral for all non-track MINIs & Minis.
“Participants will get exclusive access to tour the track during the Parade Laps, on Sunday at noon. It's behind a pace car … no passing each other … keep it under control … but the Corkscrew is still a thrill you should not miss.”
Of course if would like to simple come and watch all events are open to the public:
“The Ultimate Mini Challenge and the Mini Corral are part of Mazda Raceway's US Sports Car Invitational, and draws many thousands of spectators throughout the weekend (official estimates are about 10,000). The Mini Corral is adjacent to the Vendor Village, so that spectators can come admire our splendid Minis.”
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p>You can find out more about the Ultimate Mini Challenge at the online FAQ here.
Jul 28th, 2003
There has been some question as to whether JCW would ever be selling their Works Kit accessories in the US that go on sale this fall. With the Works Kit itself proving to be more popular than originally anticipated I would one would think that MINIUSA would be interested in getting all things JCW over to the US market as soon as possible. Recently I posed that question to the JCW headquarter directly:
“The wheels and seats are due to be launched here in the UK in September it will purely be a decision from MINIUSA as to whether they will market them (in the US).”
There you go – a pretty straight answer. I imagine we'll know soon enough what they plan on doing. I would imagine that the seats will be the hot commodity as they are the only aftermarket seats designed to accept the standard side airbag. Of course it helps that they look fantastic.
Jul 28th, 2003
Paul over at MINI2 has posted some additional changes for the '04 model year that weren't on the original bulletin I first received on the 15th of July. Many of these I had heard rumors of before but never had been able to get them confirmed:
- New key on all MINIs (not confirmed for '04)
- Cooper not coming with leather wheel as standard (11/03, for USA) (not confirmed)
- MP3 Compatible CD Player (not confirmed)
- Harmon Kardon loses Radio/Cassette.
- Indicators flash once when MINI unlocked, twice when locked.
- Doors relock after 2 minutes if not physically opened before that time.
- Shark Fin Antenna standard (from Andy) (not confirmed)
I had heard talk of replacing the key as far back as before the introduction of the MINI in the US in March of 02 so it will be interesting to see what they finally come up with and when they bring it out. I would imagine it might look a little more like the current BMW key.
The MP3 compatible CD player simply makes a lot of sense in this day in age as well as the loss of the cassette player for the HK option. Both these changes seem like no brainers to me.
Again these changes haven't been officially confirmed but Paul's track record with info like this is pretty good.
Jul 23rd, 2003
So you have an iPod and are looking to integrate it with your MINI. You've got the AUX input or the Blitzsafe adapter and now you just need to figure out how to mount the iPod in the MINI. Then you turn the TV on and see the Pods Unite VW commercial. You get depressed. You begin to think that the marketing people at MINI were asleep at the wheel, missed a great opportunity and worst of all caused you to miss out on total iPod integration. Well think again – the MINI and the iPod are now able to unite in the same mutual bliss that was once soley reserved for the Beetle. Enter The Belkin TuneDok Car Holder for iPod:
Belkin has posted information about a new car holder called the TuneDok. This is the same iPod holder as being sold in the VW iPod connectivity kit for the
'Pods Unite' promotion. The TuneDok features 'AirGrip'
technology (suction cup) for secure placement, a large
and small rubber base plus adapter cup for exact fit
in a cup holder, cable management system, and comes
with a 3 year warranty. The TuneDok fits all iPod
models and retails for $29.99, but is not yet
available. No anticipated shipping date has been
announced. (ipodlounge.com)
Best of all you can one-up the Beetle and it's lowly cassette tape adapter with the MINI AUX input! You can read more about it here According to the ipodlounge.com it should ship in the middle of September.
[update] for some reason it's been removed from Belkin's website entirely. Perhaps the release has been pushed back a bit?
Jul 23rd, 2003
As many of you know some owners out there have had issues with both the Cooper and the Cooper S stalling and or stumbling off the line. While most CVT issues seemed to be solved with the 33.1 update at this time (as far as I know) the other issues with the manual MC and the MCS have yet to be addressed. This thread and more specifically this post are good resources to take a look at if you think you may have this issue.
Personally I've had an occasional stall or near stall when the call is cold or while the air in on. Has anyone here had similar issues with their MINI?
Jul 22nd, 2003
Sean Bartnik has a great write-up over at his site about the trials and tribulations of the MINI Auxiliary Audio Adapter including installation instructions:
“When the 2003 MINI model specifications were announced, new on the list was an auxiliary input on the stereo so that the owner can attach a device such as an mp3 player or a satellite radio tuner and play it through the stock stereo system. Central to this concept was the MINI auxiliary adapter, which was said to be coming “soon” and perhaps even by the end of 2002. Many a MINI owner looked fondly to the day when he or she could connect his or her iPod and play it through the car stereo. Imagine — no more carrying around stacks of CDs! I myself eagerly looked forward to the no doubt soon to arrive day when I could connect the iPod I got for Christmas.
I finally got my hands on an adapter today and promptly installed it. If you wish to purchase this adapter, you can get it from your local MINI dealer. In case the parts counter guy doesn't know what you are talking about, the part number is 82 11 0 153 367 and it should run you about $40.00. NOTE: This adapter will only work with 2003 model MINIs. The 2002 model stereos do not have the programming required (and may or may not have the input on the back) to recognize the adapter. The instructions that came with the adapter specifically state that this will work with MINIs from September 2002 production and later.
What you get for your $40 is a cable that plugs into the back of the stereo head unit on one end and provides a 1/8″ headphone jack style input on the other. The cable is approximately 3 feet long, providing plenty of length to mount it wherever your heart desires. You also receive a mounting faceplate as well as two screws and washers to attach the faceplate. You get a set of instructions and you even get 3 nice big plastic wire ties, a nice touch”…
You can read the entire review including the installation instructions here. Thanks Sean for the write-up. I think it helps many of the questions that some of us have had.
Even though '02 cars can't have this input installed interestingly I have heard reports that '02 cars will accept '03 stereos very easily.
