Uncategorized
From MINI PR:
“Woodcliff Lake, NJ, July 29, 2003 … MINI has announced that dealer-installed front and rear fog lamp kits will be available from late September.
Suitable for all existing MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S models, the kits can be bought for the rear only or front and rear as a package. The kits have an MSRP of $75 for the rear kit and $199 for the front and rear kit combined, exclusive of installation charges.
Kit pricing includes an additional toggle switch for the front console. Installation includes ancillary wiring and reprogramming of the vehicle's software.”
These are very fair prices! A big thanks to Jason Livingood for setting up the initial petition last year and getting the ball rolling on this issue. I'm proud to say I'm number 14 on the list 🙂 Of course we should also thank MINIUSA. It's rare for an automobile company to pay so much attention to what it's customers actually want – especially something that initially goes contrary to the auto company's wishes.
<p>Or for the price of a small piece of wire, you can <a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/howto/brakelight_mod.pdf">make your brake lights more visible</A>.</p>
<p>Forgive my ignorance, but how are these front fog lamps different than the ones that come with the MINI as an original option? and, what the heck is a rear fog lamp?
Ron</p>
<p>The front lamps are no different. I assume it's just one way for MINI to market the front lamps as an aftermarket accessory. </p>
<p>Rear foglights are standard everywhere but the USA. For some reason MINI decided that we didn't need there here. After a owner petition MINI finally decided to add them (announced today). Here's a couple posts for back ground info in chronological order:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/?Y=2003&M=04&D=02&TitleID=MINIUSAToIntroduceARearFoglightRetrofitKit">MINIUSA To Introduce A Rear Foglight Retrofit Kit</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/?Y=2003&M=05&D=01&TitleID=AutoweekInterviewsMINIUSARegardingRearFoglights">Autoweek Interviews MINIUSA Regarding Rear Foglights</a></p>
<p>does anyone know how this might effect my brake-light mod? can i have both?</p>
<p>cheers,
S-</p>
<p>I'm wondering the same thing. Perhaps it would be possible to have the brake mod and still be able to activate the lights as rear foglights as well.</p>
<p>Why should you have to pay that much to have a feature that should have been in the car from the start? Another stupid MINI move. It should be free to all MINI owners.</p>
<p>I'm so glad MINI screwed up my sale and I don't have to deal with that money hungry company.</p>
<p>I'm with Drew. I much prefer the extra brake light to a rear fog light, and the mod is very quick. And, I've had my Mini sice the beginning of March, and there haven't been that many opportunities to use the front fog lights!</p>
<p>I think MINIUSA should offer the rear retro-fit to any Mini owner who already has the front fogs.</p>
<p>Todd – I'm not entirely sure why MINI would offer the rear foglight retrofit kit for free. It's a feature that BMW hasn't offered in the US for 20-30 years (if ever officially) and it's something that 99% of US consumers don't even know how to use properly. I would go so far as to say that 95% of Americans don't even know what they are. Frankly in this market they mean absolutey's nothing to all but a couple thousand of us at most. This option that MINI is giving US consumers allows for those who want the rear fogs to get them fairly cheap while those who don't have a clue what they are or how to use them can simply ignore that option. In short it's really not something that we should expect for free in the US market.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that the toggle switch column lists for almost $200 on it's own from MINI. The fact that they are selling the entire kit for $75 should tell you that they aren't trying to make money on this.</p>
<p>And another thing to consider – many of the comfort features we have standard on our cars in the US like air conidtioning are options in the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Well I received the press release as well and I wasn't entirely sure Gabe whether or not their quoted $75 actually includes the euro toggle switch block. I think that the way the release is phrased it just states that it includes an “additional toggle switch for the front panel”. I hope they are not implying some hokey switch that is not part of the existing toggle panel. I doubt it, but nevertheless, I'm suspicious.</p>
<p>It's almost impossible to fit a single toggle switch into the panel. Not only would you have to take the entire panel out to rig it in there but then you'd have to somehow cut a little tiny rear foglight icon out of the plastic so it's iluminated in the dark. </p>
<p>I would think it would be cost prohibitive to do it this way. Maybe I'll be wrong but I just can't imagine MINI handling this any other way than giving us the full panel.</p>
<p>I can see where you are coming from Gabe. But it still doesn't make sense. They should not be charging people for a feature that is a safety item. </p>
<p>MINI still gets a zero from me on this move.</p>
<p>From the comments here and elsewhere it is obvious that many Americans have no idea why rear fog lights are desirable. They probably haven't driven in Europe.</p>
<p>Some cars do come to the US with rear fogs including Volvo's for one.</p>
<p>I believe the only purpose of rear fogs lamps is to increase your car's visibility after an accident in the roadway. That is, unless you plan to blind the guy driving behind you for whatever reason. That being said, those of us in Chicagoland don't have to worry about it much. When's the last time you heard of a multi-car accident due to fog here? Am I right that this is the only purpose of the rear fog lamps?</p>
<p>Since Gabe has become international, I'll add: You people in the U.K. may have to use rear fog lights to back out of your driveways in the morning. :)</p>
<p>In Chicagoland, rear fogs are not something we need a lot, but when we do need them, we really need them.</p>
<p>That being said, I do a lot of driving between here and Madison, WI and very often on early morning rides back into the north suburbs those rear fogs would be a savior.</p>
<p>I have to commend MINI on doing something like this for as relatively small a cost as they are doing it. Definitely something I want to pick up in the coming months.</p>
<p>Completely agree Steve. Where I grew up in Indiana thick fog was a nightly summer ritual. Also living a couple block from Lake Michigan just north of Chicago I've found fog a lot more common than I had expected.</p>
<p>So yes I have some reasons to want rear foglights. I used them many times in my wife's (then girlfriend) old Volvo.</p>
<p>Rear fog lights are very useful in fog! They are also useful in very wet weather when the car behind has trouble seeing your 5W(?) rear lights – the 21W(?) rear fogs give you extra safety from a rear end shunt.</p>
<p>You <em>could</em> still use the bulbs as extra brake lights if you correctly install a diode to link the brake bulb to the fog bulb.
If not, then your brakes will be on while your rear fogs are on which is not desirable.</p>
<p>As for thinking this should be free – car specs are continually evolving; you cannot expect to get every new feature for free!
Yes you can argue that the rear fogs are a safety feature, but what about if your car did not have ABS, or airbags, or whatever and next years model did have them?
The car manufacturer evolves the design so that the car still sells, so money is made, so more cars can be designed.</p>
<p>Personally – WELL DONE MINI for listening to your customers. It will be very interesting to see how many people actually pay for the feature …</p>
<p>Is it just me, or is anyone else excited to get rid of the empty spot on the switch panel?</p>
<p>I don't know, it just nags at me having bought a MCS with ALL the options and having an empty spot on the switch panel… or maybe it is just me?</p>
<p>Eric, maybe it is just you! Those like me who were REALLY bothered already have all six switches 🙂
See this picture:
<a href="http://gbmini.minisontop.com/images/20030225/BigInsideReadyToGo.jpg">GBMINI</a></p>
<p>We get lots of fog in northern california! Anyone how much dealers charge to install?
cheers!
Ron</p>
<p>You should have been driving in the rain here around Boston today – I would definitely have liked to turn on rear fogs to improve my visibility ….
And there were STILL people driving with no lights at all.</p>
<p>Isn't the rear fog light just a single, brighter red light allowing following vehicles a way of seeing you? Seems like not everyone knows what this light looks like. Maybe then they'll understand how it works, and why. A good “option”, and worth the $75.</p>
<p>To see what the rear foglights look like check out</p>
<p>To see what the rear foglights look like check out <a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/pictures/january_drive/images/IMG_2005.jpg">this</a> picture.</p>
<p>In this particular instance the MINI shown has the rearfoglights wired up as 3rd and 4th brakes lights (the bulbs and wiring is already there).</p>
<p>I've gone for the other option and have the all white tail-lights. I've replaced the aus standard rear red fog lights with 25w clear bulbs to supplement the standard reversing lights. As my windows are very heavily tinted this has been very useful. These are switched on manually at present, but I'm working on it.</p>