Dial of Doom Frustrates on Long Trip - 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited July 2015 in MINI
imageDial of Doom Frustrates on Long Trip - 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop Long-Term Road Test

A 3,000-mile road trip reveals some frustrating elements of the Mini's technology interface.

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  • sharpendsharpend Member Posts: 177
    Um, maybe it's just me but I don't really use the parking brake very much on a seven hour road trip.
  • throwbackthrowback Member Posts: 445
    I'm glad we skipped that option when we bought my wife's 4dr hardtop. The whole infotainment system needs a complete rework. It's as if 3 different people worked on the system independently and then put there projects together. It makes me wonder how these convoluted systems make it to production. Does no one actually drive the final configuration, or do they just sit in a styling buck in the studio?
  • darexdarex Member Posts: 187
    edited July 2015
    Weird. I've had my Cooper exactly one year, and I've never pinched my arm on the armrest, while pulling up the handbrake. Never!

    As for the iDrive, it's virtually identical to BMW's, although the screen interface is a bit different. Once you know how to use it well, it's very easy, but you do need to take the time to learn how, beforehand. Honestly, it's more your fault than its. One tip: those direct access buttons above and below the dial are your friends. Use them! It's strange that in 3000 miles, you never worked out how. Most people love iDrive.

    My only gripe, which appears to have been addressed on the up-coming 2016 Clubman, is that the iDrive knob should have been raised up to be across from and more even with the armrest. It IS awkwardly located. Also, the new Clubman has an electronic e-brake, thus saving space in this crowded area.
  • legacygtlegacygt Member Posts: 599
    Guess where these systems are designed? In offices. In labs. Maybe even in mockups of car interiors. But they're not designed where they're used...on the road. This is not just a problem with Mini but across the industry. These systems including the screens, software and controllers are so far down the development path before anyone actually operates them in a moving vehicle. By that time it's too late to fix anything.
  • darexdarex Member Posts: 187
    Except that iDrive has been used forever in BMW-branded cars, with MINI only being the latest to use it. Only its physical placement in the MINI F55/56 was ill-conceived.
  • legacygtlegacygt Member Posts: 599
    darex said:

    Except that iDrive has been used forever in BMW-branded cars, with MINI only being the latest to use it. Only its physical placement in the MINI F55/56 was ill-conceived.

    Yet still the most positive thing you hear about iDrive is that it's better than it used to be. Faint praise.
  • darexdarex Member Posts: 187
    We must be reading different things. Sources? Alex Dykes, for example, likes it best above all other infotainment systems:

    http://youtu.be/bDRRWTTN9yQ
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