Its been three months since I swapped my ’02 MCS for my ’05 and I thought I’d update my previous first impressions (and here too) of the new auto.
I never thought I would say this but I wish I had gone with the auto a/c, not for any real reason other than the air system in the car is pretty low power in comparison. On a hot day if I want to feel cool air on my face I have to have the blowers turned on to at least the 3rd mark, maybe on max and even then it isn’t that great. It is good to be able to easily vent the outside air with heating/cooling, though.
I still have the problem with the passenger air bag sensor which I am fairly confident is a loose wire somewhere. Going over the numerous pot holes at home reliably toggles the state of the airbag sensor no matter who or what occupies the passenger seat. And on the highway the light will go off and on at random so I am hoping it will be an easy fix once I get it to the dealer.
The clock still sees time differently to me. I set it to my cell phone time on Nov 1st and it is currently 9 minutes fast. I fear this won’t be so easy for Brecht to fix.
Overall the car still feels so much more together than the ’02, pulling away in first gear is a breeze, cornering is a delight and, although you definitely feel that you’re in a convertible, the overall ride is much more solid feeling. MPG seems to have settled around the 25 – 27 mark for my commute which is a little less than before but still not bad for this amount of fun.
Bottom line: I’m a very happy MCS convertible owner.
The clock still sees time differently to me. I set it to my cell phone time on Nov 1st and it is currently 9 minutes fast. I fear this won’t be so easy for Brecht to fix.
Just out of curiousity, have you taken the MINI to 88 mph yet?
I don’t think you would have any more air flow from auto a/c … same HVAC unit just different control electronics. Probably there is some car-to-car variation which would explain your poor comparison.