Greetings all! I just bought my third Mini; a late '02 production r53 with less than 60k miles. Very nice car! It must have been a special order because it is the most lightly optioned S I've ever seen. As far as I can tell the only options are sport package and Xenon lights; no sunroof, cloth seats, no cruise control... and no steering wheel controls. I've recently come across a leather steering wheel with the control buttons for cheap. My question is whether I need to do more than change the steering wheel to activate the stereo controls, cruise, etc. My experience has been that most newer cars are already wired for everything, they just don't all have all the controls to make the stuff work. Any ideas? Thanks! Kevin

 

Here are the instructions: http://www.motoringfile.com/howto/MFSW.PDF

In addition to installation, the computer needs to be coded.

 

Thanks for the information! I may have access to software that can do the computer stuff. I'll let you know how it comes out. K

 

I think I would approach a steering-swap very carefully indeed, at least in a modern car. This onaccounta the airbag contained therein. I've done this swap many times on old cars, but I do not think I would try it on a modern one because of this problem - you want to make sure the thing works after the swap, and you kinda-sorta don't want the thing blowing up while you're trying to do the swap.

 

You'll notice in the instructions that your car is NOT already wired. You will have to purchase the wiring harness (or build your own) and install it.