I realized I should be providing more new content for our friends awaiting delivery of their 2023 SEs. You can kill a few minutes by watching this overview video for your HUD, if you have the Iconic trim... Index of topics in the video description.
I received a comment on the video asking if the HUD is clearly visible with polarized sunglasses. Has anyone tried this? I don't have polarized glasses.
A lot of people seem to dislike the Mini HUD, I love it. I recently took my Mini in for some small nitpick stuff and they gave me a loaner 3 cylinder base model 2-door coupe. That thing rode like a rock, it was loud, and a completely different car to the SE. I only drove my SE one day before I put the KW coilovers on but it did not ride like the ICE base model. It was really bad. The SE is a completely different feeling to say the least. Going from the base model to my Iconic trim was hugely different but I noticed, I really like the HUD.
The HUD works fine with my polarized sunglasses. "Head Up" bothered me at first, but then I realized it was semantically correct. A driver with a Head Up Display can keep their head (singular) up and still view important information. "Heads up!" is a warning, not a display technology.
As I understand it, MINI’s term, is the correct one. Though our resident Tomcat drivers can confirm or deny.
I see both in use, but I’m thinking Head-Up is probably the correct way to go. I may update my video title!
Great video as always. This is the first car with a head-up display. It wasn’t a feature we were looking for, but came standard on the Iconic. My wife said no way she would use it because she thought it would be distracting. So when we were first configuring it at the dealer, I shut it off. Before I drove home, I figured I’d try it out so I turned it on. I was surprised I actually liked it. My wife has also come around to it. You do still need to look down to see it, but you just don’t look down as far as the regular dash. No issues with polarized sunglasses either.
The virtual focal distance is somewhere out over the end of the bonnet (likely further than that), so not only do you not have to move your eyes as much, you don’t have to refocus as much as normal, ie from “down the road” to “arms’ length” and back.
Maybe should be called ‘heads down display’ LOL! I love it and one of the reasons I picked the iconic trim.
While reading a review of the Mercedes EQS because it says no ICE car can be considered luxury compared to BEVs, I noticed mention of the Mercedes-Benz Head-Up Display (which actually projects on the windshield). I tracked down an official Mercedes-Benz video, so it seems "head-up" is the term of art. At least for German car makers.
I have the HUD on my 2015 Cooper S ... it's very dim, and I have to tilt my head to the side to be able to read it clearly. I rented a 2022 Cooper SE with the HUD ... it's bright and clear as day.
My BIL the thunder-stealer just popped by to show off his yellow C6 ‘Vette LS2 and it has a pretty good HUD… from 2007.
