Hi - looks like I am the night owl on this thread! I just posted a few photos of my front flaps in my gallery. Let me know what you think.

 

Hi everyone! Jumping in here too to keep week 32 alive! I haven't been good at posting since I returned from my vacation! Actually - it's hard to do much of anything after a vacation!

 

I was advised by my MA when I ordered Phantom that I should get the cold weather package. He said the dealership gets it on every car they order for themselves, and he highly recommended it because it helps resale. Well, I was skeptical, but went along and got it.

It's been getting a little chilly at night here in Ohio recently, and I decided yesterday when I got in the car to just turn on my seat heater and see what happens. My only experience with a seat heater was in a Volvo my wife drove back in the 1990s, and that seat heater didn't put out much heat, and it took a long time to get any heat out of it.

I guess seat heating has come a long way, because I was amazed at how quickly and thoroughly the MINI seat heater warmed me up. I could feel it before I'd driven 2 blocks! And the lowest setting seems to be more than adequate. I think I would be scorched if I turned it on the high setting.

So, for those of us in cold climates, it seems the seat heater will be a very nice thing to have. Stay warm... with the help of your MINI!

 

They look great! You did a nice job on the install.

 

I'm not real happy with the heated seats. As you say the low setting is not so low. I think it's hotter than the highest setting on my M3. The M3 heated seats were just about perfect. They provided just a bit a warmth in the cool & getting colder season, while providing plenty of heat in the dead of winter without overheating you.

If the M3 heated seats are a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, the MINI ones are about a 3 or 4.

 

Good job, looks great!!!! Now have you had a chance to test them? Do they work!!!!

 

I don't mind the heated seats being hot. In my old car, they took about 10 minutes to get warm and even then I could barely tell they were on. These ones heat up quick, which is what I want. I never use them to keep me warm, just to warm the seat up at the beginning of my trip. Otherwise I end up all sweaty, eww.

 

I tried the heated seats too, the other day, the first setting is more than adequate for me! I only need it for a short time just to get the cold off, so can't really comment on if the setting is too hot or not! I do like it though, it's my first baby with heated seats!!!
Tinker, I bet you and Lucy have been too busy motoring to post! Any new pics or adventures?

 

I was sort of thinking the same thing - use the heated seat function to warm things up, then turn them off. I like the fact that their speed and very warm temperature warm you up before the car engine is warm enough to blow in hot air. I need to test, but it also seemed this morning that after a while (say 10 minutes or so) the temperature in the seats appeared to decrease - but, that may have been my imagination.

 

It's been pretty dry out here in Northern California and I can't find to find puddles big enough but I heard this morning that there is a chance of rain this weekend. I was actually excited to hear that forecast so I could test my flaps! Will let you know if/when it rains how it goes!

 

thx. Sorry for the poor pics.. yuck - took them at midnight with a wimpy point and shoot flash....

 

Tomorrow morning will be cooler than today, so I'll give the seats a brief test again!!
Kechman8, the pics got the idea across!! Hope you get rain!!!!

 

Pretty bad when one starts to quote himself, but...

I think it's clear that the seat heaters get very warm when first turned on, and then cool down when the car warms up. This afternoon I turned on my seat heater when I left work. My commute is usually about 25 minutes. The seats were getting warm by the time I left the parking lot, and got quite warm even on the low setting. I think they stayed very warm for about 10 minutes. I left the seat heater on all the way home, and by the time I got home I could hardly feel any heat coming from the seat. I think the seat heater definitely cools down after some period of time or as the car warms up. Anyone want to try it and see if you observe the same thing?

 

Phantom - re: the heated seats - yes, I do think they get 'less warm' after a while. However, I have observed the same thing in my Lexus heated seats so perhaps that is the standard thing to do?? I also think that at the lowest setting they are pretty darn warm! My wife loves it since she is constantly cold (and she is also the reason why we got the cold weather package out here in California, in case any of you are wondering why the heck....??? ). It is plenty warm for me .. and like the rest of you, I do turn it off after about 5 minutes - am thinking you can probably fry an egg at the hottest setting.

 

I'm sure it would be impossible to get the seat too warm for my wife - who also is constantly cold.

 

It's been a little cool here in FL, and I love the heated seats! It can never be too warm for me either!!

 

Hi Week 32 gang!! We're safely back in LA and had a great but long 16 hour cruise home yesterday!

So end of the saga..... Bernard got trucked 2.5 hours across the Blue Ridge on Saturday. The dealership was open to accept him, so didn't have to sit at the tow facility over the weekend. By Monday at 1pm he was fixed and ready to go. Mini Reunite wouldn't get him to us til the next day, so we took our son's old Land Rover (well actually it's still OUR old Land Rover ), drove over and reclaimed Bernard and then drove both cars back to Lexington. Had one last dinner with our son and then hit the road the next AM.

What was wrong you ask?? Trust we Americans to screw something up.... When the driving lights were installed at the VDC, the ground wires to the power steering were left off. Clubman PS is all electric and it was apparently grounded enough that it worked most of the time. We had the five episodes over 2K miles and all of them were in the last 900 miles. But more than likely, it was slightly affecting the steering all along. It handles much more smoothly in the curves now, though I'll have to take it out on a windy two lane to verify. We took the most direct route home yesterday since we were three days "late" to be home!

I HAD pictures of the drive up and some great ones of Bernard being towed away from my son's fraternity house, but then lost (ie had it stolen) my camera!!

So in many respects it wasn't my week! BUT we had a marvelous parent's weekend, heard our son in some awesome concerts, had superb dinners together, met many of his friends, went to a couple of classes and got to see the beautiful VA countryside and fall colors. We had the use of the Land Rover and went on some adventurous drives looking like a couple of old hippies with the huge tires and snorkel that our oldest son put on it about 5 years ago!!

 

gbsim - let me be the first to say that I am relieved to hear that you, your husband, and Bernard are safe, sound, and healthy! Welcome back!

 

Yes, I second that wholeheartedly!

Welcome home, and I'm very happy that Bernard is now healthy. Sorry about the camera... for you and for us... we will miss the pictures!

There's been some "action" on our Week 32 thread this past week, so I hope you have a chance to check it out.

 

Thanks for the welcome back!!

Catching up:
Re the luggage stowage.....Bernard is a Clubman, so I've got the extra 9", but we had plenty of room. In the back with the seats flipped down, we had our two carry on bags on their sides and a duffel bag lined up across the back and a hanging bag laid across the top. That left almost the whole middle of the car open so we had extra room even after adding a bag we had to bring to our son and our laptop cases.
I definitely recommend using the foldup box that came with the Clubman (not sure if the MCs got them too). It was awesome at keeping everything corralled in the car and we put it in the center where we could reach into it behind the front seats. Kept snacks, paper towels, the atlas etc all in there and so had the front totally clear for just us.

I don't have the flaps, but on this trip they wouldn't have done much good. The interstate grime when it rains is everywhere! We even drove through about 2 hours of SNOW on the way home

I've had cars with heated seats and never seemed to remember to use them! So I went cheap when I was ordering Bernard and will just have to create my own heat!!

 

Glad to hear everyone is home and safe!! Sorry to read about the camera will your insurance cover it?
Yep, loose wiring is one of the reasons I wanted all electricals done at the factory. It's very hard to track down a loose ground, until it starts to develop some nasty symptoms. Glad it was found before anything serious happened, that wasn't exactly a minor system acting up! I am a bit surprised they were using the same ground point to install an auxiliary lighting system. Motor on and go do some twisties!!!!

 

PhantomMC, I had ours on for less than five minutes and I was perfectly happy and turned it off!! I'll have to see about keeping it on for a bit longer and see what happens! We also have the auto AC, so Hilla gets warmed up rather quickly - I have her set to 72. My wife prefers colder temps than I do, so I adjust my comfort level with the heated seat. But so far the temps here have not been extremely cold so I'll just have to toast myself to see if it does the same as yours!!

 

That's why my home dealership wanted the VDC to install the driving lights.... less chance of a screw up. But it didn't work out that way!

According to Crown Mini, there are a lot of wires to disconnect and reconnect when installing the driving lights. The VDC disconnected the PS ground/s and then didn't ever reconnect them after installing the lights.

 

gbsim,

Glad you're all home safe and Bernard is feeling better...

 

So happy there was a good ending to the tale. I'm very happy you were also able to find out exactly what was wrong rather than some vaporware issue.

On another topic the sport button is fun!!!!! Time to find some windy roads void of police