UKPylot’s MINI Blog

I’ve always thought it odd that there is no aural warning when the ‘low fuel’ state is reached. Unless you glance over and see that the little red light is on, you might not notice until the MINI starts to stutter. There is a warning, however, when the outside temperature gets into the ‘ice zone’, so that you can adjust your driving style to the risk of ice on the roads. It came on this morning a couple of times on the way to San Diego, temps went down to 29F at one point.

So a while back I got a letter from MINI saying that my car was subject to a voluntary recall to fix a software problem that could mean that emissions do not meet California standards. I called Brecht’s yesterday to book an appointment and they said that they were so busy with recall work right now that they are currently booking 2 months out!! The service guy suggested I wait until my next service work needs doing, which for me is currently 8900 miles. He said that there is no time limit on the free software upgrade so I will do just that. And perhaps by that time the software will have even more nifty features - like getting rid of my stumble?

Very unpleasant pictures on the news last night of a nasty crash involving a MINI Cooper . The early reports say that the MINI and a pick up truck were racing on the freeway at speeds of around 100mph. The MINI tried to overtake on the dirt median, lost control, crossed to the other lanes and hit another pick-up. Both vehicles caught fire but the pick-up driver managed to get out; the MINI drivers were not so lucky.

I cringe every time I read a posting on the bulletin boards bragging about doing 100+ on the freeway, or doing 60 on mountain twisties on the wrong side of the road - if you want to die, fine, but there’s a good chance you’ll take innocent people with you. Please keep the stupid driving to the track or other legal off-highway venues.

Seems like its been a long tine since I had any problems with Sarah which is good as I was getting a little tired of the long drives to Escondido for service. But since the weather has cooled, it takes two turns of the ignition to get her to start in the mornings and evenings. She’ll turn over and start but almost instantly the motor dies. I have to take the car back to Brecht for the emissions recall so I shall see if they can look at that same time.

There’s a guy here at work thinking of getting a purple convertible MCS, if he does I will find it really hard to resist doing the same.