MCS Convertible vs Chevy Cavalier

I can’t get my car until Friday, thanks to the fact that they didn’t put the new windscreen in today and I have to wait 24 hrs after that, so I will enjoy my rental car for a couple of days: a Chevy Cavalier (ack, wrote Vauxhall the first time!). Whilst the two cars surely can’t compare, the Cavalier does alas beat my beloved Carrie in the following:

  • air conditioning – it really works in the Cavalier, is quite tame in the MINI
  • radio quality – the FM radio in the Cavalier is crisp and deep, not at all in the MINI
  • rampant good looks – ah, no not really, just kidding here.

It was great to be at the service centre today, more MINIs than you could shake a stick at, all varieties and colours. The new service bays at Brecht are open and the experience was way better than before, much more space and more efficient for processing. Too bad they couldn’t get the windscreen in though, means I have an extra day’s car rental to pay for. But, whilst it sucks to have to pay $150 for the car, its still less than the $2500+ markup I would have paid had I bought there.

Service Scheduled

Finally got through, took maybe 6 calls in the end. As always, once you are through to someone they are a delight to work with but you get the feeling they will only answer the phone when they feel like it. Anyway, Carrie will get her first check-up on Wednesday at which she will:

  • get the 12,000 mile oil change service
  • have the windshield replaced
  • have the clock fixed (replace the speedo unit)
  • have the SRS warning light fixed (probably wiring harness issue)
  • have the tailgate open warning light fixed (see above?)
  • key programming:
  • put the top down with the key
  • daytime running lights on
  • low fuel warning sound on
  • auto unlock doors on key removal

Should keep them busy for a day or two. Probably will have to get a rental car as its rare they give me a loaner (the downside of buying elsewhere) but perhaps with so much to do I will get lucky.

The tailgate warning light is a new one. Started last week in the rain, didn’t see it again until this evening. Only thing in common I can think of is rain. Every time I accelerate between 2000 and 3000 rpm the light comes on, goes off when I ease off, comes back on again when I go back up.

Service Scheduling: Revisited Joys

Its been quite a long time since I’ve had to try scheduling an appointment with Brecht, and I’d totally forgotten what a frustrating experience it is. Two phone calls so far have gone unanswered, I’m invited to leave a message but I don’t think in my three years of MINI ownership they’ve ever returned a call, not even to tell me my car is ready for collection. So I’ll put them on speed dial and keep trying throughout the day…..

Wiring Harness and RSS Woes

Update: I managed to find a fix for the RSS problems – publish it via Feedburner instead. Mark tried it, it works, and we are back on gomotoring.com. I’ve no idea why it works there and not directly from the WP feed but I guess I care not. Not like I work in the web application development space 🙂

The SRS light is pretty much on the whole time now and I’m pretty confident/hopeful that is to do with the wiring harness issue that MINI wrote to many of us about. Coming home tonight in the pouring rain I enjoyed a different symptom – the boot warning light kept coming on, usually when I accelerated. Then it would go off and come back on again. Every time this happened, the interior light came on too. It has to be a wiring deal!

In other woes, I’ve been delisted from gomotoring.com – wah! Mark wrote to me recently to tell me that my RSS feed wasn’t working on his site but I am at a loss to know why. I assume it happened during the upgrade to WordPress 2.0 but the RSS feed URL is working fine at bloglines.com and other places so I don’t know what to suggest. In the meantime I’ve been booted off. If any of you are RSS gurus and can see why my feed might not be working there I’d appreciate the info, seems like my traffic was largely due to Mark’s site.

Review: Rain-Sensing Wipers

I’ve had Carrie 7 months and today was the first time I’ve ever observed the rain sensing wipers in action. I’ve always been fussy about wiper use; I’m a minimalist, use sparingly or preferably not at all. My commute is now horrid stop/start most of the way and today was no different except that it started out in light rain, then stopped, then poured down in buckets and finally stopped again. I put the wipers in automatic mode and was very impressed at how the wiping frequency changed with the conditions. Only once did I get mad at it – during the heavy downpour the wipers went on super-fast which I really hate and the conditions certainly didn’t warrant that speed. Other than that, very well done MINI.

Official Word on the SRS Light

Well, I don’t know if MINI reads this ol’ blog but yesterday I got a letter in the mail on the subject of the air bag warning light:

We have found and repaired cases in which a wiring harness connector for the side air bag and safety-belt pretensioner has partially loosened. When this occurred the increase in electrical resistance caused the red airbag warning to light up.

The letter suggests having the vehicle looked at as soon as possible if the light comes on to make sure that it is only this problem rather than a serious one. The letter says that in all cases so far, this wiring defect would not have caused a problem with the airbags should an accident have occurred.

Finally, the letter extends the warranty coverage of the vehicle for defects that may occur, for this specific issue, to 10 years/150,000 miles. And there is a sticker for the warranty book to prove it.

Very interesting, I am still going to wait until the oil service in 1200 miles to have it checked but now I am hopeful this isn’t a seat cover issue at all.

Vegas or Bust!

I’d love to be saying ‘Vegas’ but with the (lack of) job situation this year I am sadly saying ‘bust’ to this weekend’s Mini Vacation in Vegas. I went to the first year and whilst it was enjoyable, I was on my own and found it somewhat unfriendly if you weren’t part of a group. So because of that I didn’t go last year but really intended to go this year. Instead I’ll plan on 2007 but in the meantime if you’re about to blaze up I-15, I hope you all have a blast.

Nice Compliment

Stopped at a traffic light on the way home from lunch, a guy in a pick-up truck next to me motioned for me to roll my window down (yes, I’ll admit that I did not have the top down today). He asked me if it was indeed a Cooper that I was driving and he said that he thought the Cooper was the ‘Beetle of his time’; when he was young the cool car was the Beetle, now the cool car to have is the MINI. Can’t think of a much nicer compliment that that.

In other news, the gas station here that is always expensive was showing $3.19 for premium yesterday! I got away with $2.79 at CostCo but we appear to be creeping up to the $3 mark again.

10,000 Miles

Passed the big 10k mark yesterday on the way to lunch. I didn’t have the camera to hand so can’t show you a picture but it kinda looked like this (though without the ‘P’). I must be driving like a granny as I am still 1800 miles from the oil service, and my warranty repairs. Its taken just under 7 months to make the 10k, helped largely by not commuting to work the last two months, but I think I am on for 18-20k miles in the first year.

SRS Definitely Broken

Both seat covers are now off but the SRS light and ‘passenger air bag off’ light are still coming on at random times, so its definitely something Brecht will have to look at. When I took the driver side cover off I noticed a lot of wires underneath the seat so I wonder if when we tightened the straps we damaged a wire or something? I’m only 4-6 weeks away from the first service so will wait until then.

Currently at 9992 miles, almost to the big 10k.