Production Snafu Creates Limited Edition MINI
During August production MINI made a major mistake with a handful of cars destined for the US. The cars were built with a display, but without MINI Connected. These cars were supposed to receive standard Boost CD radio system, but instead they were equipped with a high-resolution “MINI Visual Boost” screen, Combox Controller, Comfort Bluetooth, Smartphone Integration and a Center Arm rest. The best part? Because the option isn’t really an option it’s listed as no cost on the vehicle sticker.
What happened was the order code 6NE for Comfort Bluetooth on the 2010 models changed to all those other options that are apart of MINI Connected. So when dealers ordered Comfort Bluetooth the cars received all those other goodies that are normally apart of MINI Connected. Since there was no pricing for those items, they were installed at no cost. MINI did change the vehicle order rules to reflect the proper elements of Comfort Bluetooth, but many cars went into production before they could rectify.
So if you are in the market for a 2011 you will want to hunt down one of those cars and save some money before they are gone!
(Thanks Andrew for the info!)
<p>ahh! It all makes sense now. I was scratching my head at the dealer trying to figure out why there were no details on the window sticker but obvious signs of upgrades. Thanks!</p>
<p>So what does it actually DO if it doesn’t have MINI Connected?</p>
<p>@grueinthebox – it’s a very pretty radio!</p>
<p>Having the high res screen in the center stack really makes it look like a different car. A better car. I am going to take a swing by my local dealer tomorrow to see if they have any.</p>
<p>I picked up one of these last week. It looked like at least a quarter of the 2011 stock the dealer had were this “limited edition” version. I’m pretty pleased about it. I didn’t really care about Connected, but the Visual Boost features and bluetooth are nice to have (especially at no cost!).</p>
<p>On Monday I test drove an ’11 Cooper hatch 6mt that was equipped with “MINI Visual Boost”. The interface is definitely better than I-Drive. It pretty much just controls vehicle settings, radio, and phone settings. Half of the menus didn’t seem to do anything. So, you’d get a cool LCD screen for free. I did like the aesthetic versus the mega huge speedo in the normal R56, FWIW.</p>
<p>Makes me wonder if there haven’t been some other “limited editions” out there we weren’t aware of.</p>
<p>Would be cool to get the free features, but I don’t like the “square peg in a round hole” look. Give me the speedo. Now with all the engineering money they spent on MINI Connected and NAV, you’d think they could build a round screen.</p>
<blockquote>Would be cool to get the free features, but I don’t like the “square peg in a round hole†look. Give me the speedo. Now with all the engineering money they spent on MINI Connected and NAV, you’d think they could build a round screen.
</blockquote>
<p>It is sort of round. At least the ends are. This also leaves space for the required idiot lights that would normaly be on the speedo dial.</p>
<p>There are pics of a white silver Clubman with white Roof 2011 on WhiteRoofradio. I wonder if that white roof was a production sanfu also. As you cant configure a clubman with a white roof, let alone white silver.</p>
<p>This sounds like the same kind of order interface snafu that caused my ’07 to arrive without the MF-steering wheel that I ordered. They need better error trapping on their order system. The fact that these things can not only be ordered, but make it all the way through the production line is Not Good.</p>
<blockquote>with all the engineering money they spent on MINI Connected and NAV, you’d think they could build a round screen</blockquote>
<p>Does round screen technology even exist? Maybe with CRT tubes. The closest thing might be a round border covering a rectangular screen, which is a waste of display space.</p>
<p>My ’05 R53 is limited edition for a similar reason: they installed my sunroof button upside-down.</p>
<p>It seems like every year some sort of snafu occurs, in this case though it’s a good thing considering you get cool extras for free!</p>
<p>BTW, re. JAS:</p>
<p>“you cant configure a clubman with a white roof, let alone white silver”</p>
<p>–Actually you can – it’s called the “White Silver Edition” (7HM) unique to Clubman.</p>
<p>Do cars with the oops Visual boost system include the USB port for plugging in the iPhone? Does this mean they will be compatible with MINI connected at some point? Or upgradeable?</p>
<p>I’m thinking about buying one of these cars.</p>
<p>It has the port and the phone can be controlled through the joystick.</p>
<p>Hey Lavadera. I had the same problem when I ordered my R53, no MFSW. It seems that your local dealer gets cars in their production queue that already are configured and then the dealership needs to configure it to how you like it. If they dont change something or dont add it to your spec’d car it is left off. With this said, they needed to add my MFSW at the dealership and I refused to pay for the dealership install since I had prespec’d it.</p>
<p>regards lav</p>
<p>kevin,</p>
<p>I knew of that white silver option, but did not see on the builder.</p>
<p>I tried one of these cars with my iPhone 4. It does not work with the MINI connected App that I downloaded from the UK iTunes store.</p>
<p>It does work with the phone and to play music from the ipod feature. I could not get video to play on the screen. I could not get it to show pictures of callers from my contacts.</p>
<p>It would play music by wired connection or blue-tooth connection.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that it will ever be upgradeable to mini connected and mission control. (sad)</p>
<p>I really wanted to buy one of these cars but now I think I will wait and order it for Dec Build.</p>
<p>So I may be reading to much into this or just being hopeful since I will probably buy one of these cars this week. But on page 6 of the connected users guide it mentions checking with your dealer to see if your system can be updated to connected if it has a mini assist option on the screen which these cars do. Being that it is a UK guide it may be a while but it would be nice to get the equipment at no cost and be able to upgrade later.</p>
<p>I just picked up a car with these options yesterday</p>
<p>15″ X 5.5″ 5-STAR SPOKE ALLOY WHEELS (2GA)
BLACK TOP -inc: black mirror caps (N/A w/A94 or 900 Paint) (383)
CENTER ARMREST (473)
SPORT SEATS (481)
RAIN-SENSING WINDSHIELD WIPERS -inc: auto headlights (521)
VOICE-COMMAND (620)
MINI VISUAL BOOST (6FP)
COMFORT BLUETOOTH MOBILE PHONE & USB/IPOD ADAPTER -inc: center armrest (6NE)
SMARTPHONE PREP (6NF)
COMBOX CONTROLLER (6VC)
PREMIUM PKG -inc: dual pane panoramic pwr moonroof, auto climate control, Harman-Kardon sound system (ZPP)</p>
<p>Visual boost is great I can see album art and contact photos if I use the apple iPhone cable it does not work with the included mini cable. It will also charge the phone with the stock apple cable.</p>
<p>SInce I just picked it up las night have not had a chance to try much else.</p>
<p>Found one of these at a dealer and promptly put a deposit down. Would be nice if it could be upgraded to Connect later, but at least it seems to break up the pie plate a little.</p>
<p>This is my first Mini…looking forward to my first road trip in it.</p>
<p>looks like there may be an update on the way the connectivity page has been updated.</p>
<p><a href="http://www2.mini.com/connectivity/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www2.mini.com/connectivity/</a></p>
<p>Anyone with one of these cars check for the following “Your vehicle can be updated provided that you have the ‘Software update’ option on your ‘Settings’ menu.</p>
<p>Let us know if it is there.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>yep…the “Software Update” is definitely there.</p>