Next-gen Mini Cooper SE caught undisguised

One benefit to a fixed glass roof: us tall folks won't have that sunroof motor bulge bonking us in the head.

 

Assuming Apple Maps is using a sandbox-compliant inter-app communication scheme within the phone (instead of using the manufacturer's cloud API), how would the manufacturer's app on the phone get data from the car? From their cloud solution. Either way, that would require the car to regularly communicate status to the cloud while driving, which the SE does not.

 

Not sure if this has already been asked or if you mentioned this in another reply and I just missed it... but what did you think about the design in-person compared to the photos that were shared online?

 

Did anyone complain about the missing hood scoop?

 

There are many more ways to do it, since the iPhone is talking to the car directly via bluetooth and wifi. It's just a matter of MINI having the will to implement the necessary changes. Heck, I'm tempted to write my own using an ODB II bluetooth interface...

 

They really aren’t the same cars. Some of the running gear will be the same but that’s where it ends. I had a good look around a Funky Cat and it’s okay. Feels cheap and the wind could dent it but all the infotainment stuff is very Chinese and Google translated for the European market. MG 4 would be my pick

 

Will less cheapness add lightness?

 

It's the rails at the side that are the problem.
A glass roof is a dealbreaker for me.

1. Loses headroom
2. I live in NC. Glass roofed cars make excellent solar ovens.

 

You lose headroom with a sliding sunroof, you gain headroom with a fixed glass roof.

 

And you add weight and lose rigidity with either option.

 

The ones I've seen have extra reinforcement at the join. I find the side sunflap annoying on my steel roof SE when I have a helmet on...
Incidentally, what is the trick to getting the plastic covers off the sunflap screws without trashing them?

 

Not really anymore. This isn’t 1979

 

I live in TX. Glass roofed cars are excellent hail magnets. Today's forecast from the National Weather Service was for giant sized hail. (Eg, greater than 4.5".)

 

The cost of replacement after a hailstorm was my first consideration when InsideEVs described the 2025 VW ID.7's polymer-dispersed liquid crystal panoramic sunroof that will electrically switch between opaque or transparent.

 

I added a passenger side flap to mine a while back (posted a pic in one of these threads). I think I used a plastic pry tool and popped off the caps. There are 2 bolts underneath.

 

Keep a hail protector in your trunk and use the 12V socket to power the fan.

 

Great idea. My first question was how big is the box you have to cart around? It took a long time to find a photo of the box in one of the videos on the hailprotector.com website. It's a lot bigger than a folded thick car cover, and a thick car cover is quicker to put on and doesn't require power. The price of $429 is cheaper than repairing hail damage, but it would work only at home for me because of the size of the box.

 

If you pack it in, it's probably the size of a down filled sleeping bag (this one is the medium SUV size from a screen capture).


Alternatively you could just get a Car Dok for your home.

 

I'd think today's roof glass is more hail-resistant than metal which can be fairly easily dented. Of course giant hail is going to destroy everything.

 

So, the US is not receiving the updated MINI SE until MY25. I have my name in for a Countryman SE which will be available about the same time.