What did you do to your MINI today?

At this rate it could be! I think it's just the climatization that's making the GoM super pessimistic being cold soaked outside.

There seems to be better battery heating/cooling in the U25 because I reached full e-power after 10 minutes of driving. GoM kind of readjusted afterwards, but freezing cold temps really kill the range for any BEV or ICE vehicle.

It's also too cold to use a heat pump so resistive heater is gonna take a lot of power!
 
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When reaching in from the hatch to return my MINI's rear seatbacks to their original upright position, I found it uncomfortable to hook my finger in the child-seat tether anchors and pull them up. I wished MINI or some smart entrepeneur would offer a leather pull-strap that attaches to these anchors.

With the recent disparaging of plastic water bottles for dispersing potentially dangerous microplastics into our bodies--especially into our brains--I decided to get some insulated, stainless-steel water bottles. The Mollcity bottles I chose came with carrying straps I didn't need because I carry them only a few feet from the fridge to the living room. After removing the straps, I realized I had found what I wanted for my MINI! I installed them right away. They feel strong; it will be interesting to see how long they last. They definitely make it much easier to pull the rear seatbacks to their original upright position.

upload_2025-2-14_20-28-56.webp
 
That's one of the annoying things of the U25 that I like about the F56 when it comes to backrest tilt settings.

With the U25 there's three backrest tilt settings, and when you lift up the seat it defaults into the cargo mode (tilted forward). This forces you to lift the seats from the front as opposed to the pull handle method. I guess it was sort of self explanatory because there is no way to fold the seats from the trunk cargo area (unlike the F56).

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insightman said:
When reaching in from the hatch to return my MINI's rear seatbacks to their original upright position, I found it uncomfortable to hook my finger in the child-seat tether anchors and pull them up. I wished MINI or some smart entrepeneur would offer a leather pull-strap that attaches to these anchors.

With the recent disparaging of plastic water bottles for dispersing potentially dangerous microplastics into our bodies--especially into our brains--I decided to get some insulated, stainless-steel water bottles. The Mollcity bottles I chose came with carrying straps I didn't need because I carry them only a few feet from the fridge to the living room. After removing the straps, I realized I had found what I wanted for my MINI! I installed them right away. They feel strong; it will be interesting to see how long they last. They definitely make it much easier to pull the rear seatbacks to their original upright position.

View attachment 23836
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Clever!!! I never would have thought of that.
 
Had to work on Thursday, my shift starting at 5:00 am, just a couple of hours (and inches) into our biggest snow dump of the season so far – we ended up getting 14 inches plus wind drifts. When I returned to my car just after 1:00 pm, despite a half hour of cabin conditioning, it looked like this:

IMG_5467.webp IMG_5468.webp IMG_5469.webp

Prepared, I had a folding shovel and my snow brush in the passenger footwell, and for a change I wore winter gloves for the walk to and from the terminal, so it was no biggie. I work again tomorrow at 5 am, and of course Accuweather says we are expected to be in the bullseye of the MaxSnow™ band of tomorrow's bomb cyclone, with a prediction of anywhere from 12 to 24 inches, and winds from 30 to 50 mph. Yippee.
 
insightman said:
When reaching in from the hatch to return my MINI's rear seatbacks to their original upright position, I found it uncomfortable to hook my finger in the child-seat tether anchors and pull them up. I wished MINI or some smart entrepeneur would offer a leather pull-strap that attaches to these anchors.

With the recent disparaging of plastic water bottles for dispersing potentially dangerous microplastics into our bodies--especially into our brains--I decided to get some insulated, stainless-steel water bottles. The Mollcity bottles I chose came with carrying straps I didn't need because I carry them only a few feet from the fridge to the living room. After removing the straps, I realized I had found what I wanted for my MINI! I installed them right away. They feel strong; it will be interesting to see how long they last. They definitely make it much easier to pull the rear seatbacks to their original upright position.

View attachment 23836
Click to expand...
 
Nice!

I see an opportunity here for some entrepreneur to offer straps designed for this very purpose. I would definitely buy some, because although my fingers don't object to the hook-and-pull method, my back does.
 
SameGuy said:
Had to work on Thursday, my shift starting at 5:00 am, just a couple of hours (and inches) into our biggest snow dump of the season so far – we ended up getting 14 inches plus wind drifts. When I returned to my car just after 1:00 pm, despite a half hour of cabin conditioning, it looked like this:

View attachment 23842 View attachment 23843 View attachment 23844

Prepared, I had a folding shovel and my snow brush in the passenger footwell, and for a change I wore winter gloves for the walk to and from the terminal, so it was no biggie. I work again tomorrow at 5 am, and of course Accuweather says we are expected to be in the bullseye of the MaxSnow™ band of tomorrow's bomb cyclone, with a prediction of anywhere from 12 to 24 inches, and winds from 30 to 50 mph. Yippee.
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That... sucks.

My mom was Canadian, which (as I understand it) means that I could claim citizenship for myself and my kids (sorry, SO, you're SO...L?). Alas, despite current events here in the not-so United States of America, the weather up north is a strong deterrent against any such move.
 
That looks like a typical winter to me! :D:D But this year all of the snow is going to the north or south of us, and we've had very little.

Not to sound like a scold, because do what you want, but advice is lifting wiper blades is not a good idea.

9 Common Mistakes That Can Damage Your Car in the Winter

Lifting your wipers before a snowstorm to clean your windows more easily may seem like a no-brainer. But it isn’t a good idea, D’Arbelles says. “Over time, doing so is likely to reduce the pressure of the blades against the windshield, which could result in visibility issues, especially in snowy conditions.”​
 
Lol yeah that's one of those old-school notions that isn't based in actual fact. I don't lift them every day, maybe a handful times a winter. But the springs are already under tension against the windshield, and that tension varies over the arc of a wipe, and they are rated to extend well beyond the position they're at when the arms are lifted. If the springs slacken by lifting and remaining stationary over time, they really aren't well made. Imagine if your garage door got heavier over time just because the springs get extended or uncoiled every day. In reality, metal fatigue will eventually cause a spring to fail, usually by breaking.
 
CuriousGeorge said:
The things you can learn on the 'net . . .

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/tel-tale-wiper-arm-pressure-indicator-2/

So if the recommended standard is one ounce of pressure per inch, how strong is the spring of the windshield wiper on a Cybertruck? Good thing that the glass is bulletproof! ;)
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For those who must know the force their windshield wipers exert on their windshield, there are a few Tel-Tale Wiper Arm Pressure Indicators on eBay. Not being a modern product, it may not have the range required to measure a Cybertruck's blade pressure.

If I had one of these, I'd know if the driver's wiper on my MINI Cooper SE exerts more pressure than the less successful passenger's wiper. If there was an adjustment for windshield-wiper pressure, I'd give the passenger's wiper a half-turn.
 
insightman said:
If I had one of these, I'd know if the driver's wiper on my MINI Cooper SE exerts more pressure than the less successful passenger's wiper. If there was an adjustment for windshield-wiper pressure, I'd give the passenger's wiper a half-turn.
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Whoa I have the same problem. I always thought it was a blade issue, but I've replaced the blades a few times. Can the tension be adjusted easily?
 
Puppethead said:
Whoa I have the same problem. I always thought it was a blade issue, but I've replaced the blades a few times. Can the tension be adjusted easily?
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I’m not going to deep into motor for wipers assembly but as have some mechanical knowledge a driver wiper drive directly of motor and passenger wiper is on extended linkage that’s way is less tension springs have not influence on pressing stronger one or second one and is so obvious you can’t adjust spring tension on such primitive-assembly as is for hundred years the same and you can install wipers shows on my picture to make any tension possible . IMG_1898.webp
 
Puppethead said:
That looks like a typical winter to me! :D:D But this year all of the snow is going to the north or south of us, and we've had very little.

Not to sound like a scold, because do what you want, but advice is lifting wiper blades is not a good idea.

9 Common Mistakes That Can Damage Your Car in the Winter

Lifting your wipers before a snowstorm to clean your windows more easily may seem like a no-brainer. But it isn’t a good idea, D’Arbelles says. “Over time, doing so is likely to reduce the pressure of the blades against the windshield, which could result in visibility issues, especially in snowy conditions.”​
Click to expand...
As I’m expecting snow I have a piece of tarp cut a bit larger than windshield open passenger door and put a tarp inside shut a door and do the same with driver side wipers and windshield is covered very easy solution which I do for years without raising a wipers to do any damage to it
 
Oof. Today's storm was a beast. Quickly escalated from a legit winter storm to a defined blizzard. Little SE is a friggin tank! DTC all the way home and the car felt stable and planted, despite the heavy road snot coming up to the rockers. I only got stopped backing into my driveway, when the back end of the car lifted off the ground thanks to a big drift. I rolled forward into the street, flicked on the four-ways, and (barely) shovelled the drift low enough, and the rear tires were again able to guide me into the garage.

This one might be a record-breaker. The Blizzard of '71 dumped 19 inches in 24 hours, with gale-force winds causing drifts up to the eaves. Pretty sure we'll top that, but the difference is in 1971, we got over 150 inches of snow through the winter, these last few years we've averaged less than 70 inches.
 
Was sitting on some Thule aero blade edge roof bars for years and finally managed to find a discontinued podium fit kit for the U25. Confirmed fit for the U25 (will work with F56 flush rails) with no moonroof issues! Sure beats the OEM BMW/MINI bars (also made by Thule). I'm just relieved I didn't have to shell out $$$ for a completely new system.

miniOEMbars.webp
minir60roofbarsmall.webp

*R60 shown for illustrative purposes because the system is discontinued.
 
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