OK, I've posted my concern of my daily driver MCS. When I aquired the Mini I was worried about the following:
- Safety, my 7 year old and I are constantly going places.
- How I would get by with so little room for trips and grocery shopping
. This has proven to be not as big of a deal as I first thought, There is available room, and not taking as much on trips has shown us that we have been taking too much on trips in the past.
- How the Mini would perform in the harsh Chicago winters...The salesman assured me it would be fine
. I think I can make a good argument that Chicago winters pose some of teh toughest driving conditions in the country.
. Temperature flucuations can be 40 degrees in a day
. The cold can be brutle (last couple days near 0 degress F)
. When it snows, its gets icy and can get deep.
. IMO, the Mini has not done too bad in this deep freeze. Pluses so far are the seat warmers and the DSC which I think is neat on icy roads. The run flats have not been the disaster I anticipated (not that it matters because my snow tire fund went the dentist last week :(), I did experience the low engine power indicator for about 30 seconds when the Mini had sat in an icy gravel parking lot for 6 hours. My dealer claims Mini is working on a solution for the freezing condensate valve that most likely causes this.

 

I am working on my second winter with my 08 MCSC. I have not experienced some of the issues I have seen posted here.
While my MINI is garaged, she did sit outside all day yesterday when the temp got no higher than 7 degrees and started like a champ and ran great.
The only issue I have and it happened last year when the temps plummeted was the TPM illuminated. I run with nitrogen, so that always surprises me.
I am switching to snow tires this year because IMHO, RFT (at least the stock Pirelli) suck in snow and wet cold roads.

 

*redacted*

 

What's snow?

 

Heheh I am glad I am out of the cold winters!

 

on wednesday my car said the temp was 1F when I got in (Chicago Burbs) but my ScanGauge said the water temp was -3F... so yeah it has been a little chilly...

3 winters with the MCS and no problems getting around/getting stuck... in fact most of the time I am passing the soccer moms in the SUVs that freak out about flurries...

 

I can imagine what artistic driving might be, and I've seen TV shows with arctic driving in sno-cats, but what is this artic driving? Is this some new Japanese fad where they use an English word, like doriftu? No, that would have to be arcu or artu.



It has been extremely cold here recently. I've had to wear a jacket. Burrrr.

Had a flat tire with my non-runflats in the rain yesturday. Fortunately, I noticed it while backing out of the garage. Must have been a slow leak.

 

Oh yes the smart aleck comments from the Floridian. Yes it's winter again north of the Mason-Dixon line. But the MINI handles the snow well so we will survive. Snow forcast Sat.,Sun.,and Mon. I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.

 

I had my 09 MCS parked at O'Hare from Tuesday to Friday this week, in the remote parking lot. I got back to it and it started immediately with no drama and it pulled straight out of a frozen parking space. I've driven only RWD cars or my 4x4 truck for the past 10 years with snow tires, and the Mini is right up there in performance with them all IMO. It's as fast in snow as a 400HP BMW M5 (assuming equal tires) for what that's worth, they have wonderfully neutral handling once you get the tire pressures right so it would stand to reason they would be good in low traction situations. The Mini also has the best seat heaters I've tried, and that's worth a lot. They just need to offer BMW's heated steering wheel, I'd pay for that.

 

We get plenty of arctic cold here in KC and I've never had a problem getting any of my modern era cars started, nor should you have, IMHO.....with modern FI and ignition these cars should start easily in any weather. As long as you have a good battery you should not have to worry about this.

Getting around in snow and ice is another matter, but mostly comes down to tires and driving style. If you've lived in snow areas long you'll have no problem as you should already have plenty of experience how to drive in those conditions - the most important things are to slow down and yet conserve momentum. The second thing is to make sure you have good tires with plenty of tread - summer-only tires don't make it in cold and wintry conditions and need to come off the car for the season. There are those who can get by with them, but they're really not safe - All Season's are better and if you don't have a garage or storage place, the best option. But if you do, and are gonna live in a place like Chicago where the winter season is more than a few weeks long, you need a dedicated set of winter tires, IMHO. Epsecially if this is your only car and transportation for you and a youngster. A good set of Blizzaks for example will really transform your MINI in the snow and ice, and increase your margin of safety considerably.

 

OMG - my frosty flake symbol lit up this morning! Quick- gottq go out and get some milk and bread. I love living in the South! This is the time of year when every other car on I-75 south bound has NY, Ohio or Penn. tags. Ya'll love us this time of year don't ya?

 

Im in Chicago also.

Facts:

-I bought my 09 JCW used a couple of months ago w/ 12k miles on it. Now has 14.5K
- Only service on record for it is the oil change I took it in for.
- I park outside at home and work.

Observations:

- I love my seat warmers. They keep my butt toasty.
- The heated washer sprayers arent heated enough. Neither worked when it was around 0 out.
- I got the "limp mode" light and a CEL light while starting it in the extreme cold. After it warmed up I shut the car off, restarted it, and it was fine.
- Codes for that event were p1638 and p1639.
- My scangauge showed the coolant temp at 1 degree at one time when I started it.
- Windows froze shut.
- Car handled great but the roads didnt get bad at all. That test is still to come

 

As a fellow Chicagoan, I strongly recommend getting a good set of snow tires mounted on dedicated wheels. Winter driving becomes much more fun, and much safer as well.

Also, Mini now has a fix for scorching seat warmers, a problem my 07 MCS used to have.

 

Agreed! The MINI's heat my whole lower-mid back, not just my thighs and butt like my dad's almost-twice-the-price-of-my-MINI Audi! I'd pay for that heated steering wheel, too. And heated wipers, like Subaru's.

 

This is my second Chicago Mini winter, and the car is doing fine. Sits outdoors but always starts, and the run-flats have been fine. The only thing I hate is are the air-pressure sensors.

 

15-20 degrees here in southwest VA and I'm so glad I got the cold weather package. Even in my Isuzu Trooper I would dread getting in the car in Blacksburg because I'd freeze my butt off for the first two or three miles of driving until I got signs of heat. Today I got in, turned my heated seats on and was so warm in the first mile I forgot to turn the heat on in the car. Gotta love the 3 adjustable settings for the seats as well.

A few days ago it snowed and was quite icy. I went outside, turned the car on for 3 min or so, sprayed the heated washer jets and cleared the window off in no time.

So glad I got the cold weather package. I don't dread cold days anymore.

 

My first winter with the new mini, i had few CEL's last week it was -2 out but the dealership put a revised intake manifold on it seems to have fixed the fluctuating RPM's and the CEL's.

The window dipper seems to reoccuring problem probably due to I park it out side and the windows freeze etc.

I need to swap out those summer performance tires as the traction is well non existant.

 

Well i must say we use a gator plow to move ducks off the road .Them ducks see them Gator plow and they run fast ! yes its 70 today and 40 the next day . never snows where i live . Good luck with that snow stuff ! But my Cooper almost went under water in the super dome saturday nite ! Rain Storm and the water it came up Cuz ! Had to move my Cooper to highest level to park !

 

I know I'm in the wrong gen. But MINIs are winter tough. Here are some pics of my 03;












Mark

 

The guys that told me to put snow tires on my MINI were so right. I have a very very steep driveway and previously only owned AWD cars (Rav4's and Matrixs) since they were the only cars capable of getting up the hill in the snow and/or ice. I had a couple of tough times last winter on my all-seasons but this year with dedicated snows I zip right up the incline. They are a little wonky on dry roads, but in the winter we pretty much have snow for 4-5 months non-stop up here in the mountains. Now my only concern is ground clearance when we get those 12+ inch snowfalls.

 

OMG!!! I love your Mini pictures, but this particular one is impressive!! Look at that temperature!!!

 

I'm sorry but those kinds of temps should be illegal.

 

That's nothing



Mark

 

This is my 2nd winter with the MCS in Chicago and here are some of my thoughts. Last year, I ran with the all-season stock tires and they performed OK. Got the job done, but with the sensitive brakes of the MCS, the wheels starts slipping really fast with snow.

This winter, I bought a set of Blizzaks WS60 and drove it around last week when we had the snow. So far, the snow tires have performed real well and I definitely feel more confident driving the MCS around without sliding. I would recommend getting some snow tires if your budget allows for it.

 

Dude, that thermometer only goes UP TO 50 degrees. That would be useless in Arizona. Where's that thing sold lol?