MINIs (again) speak British English

Posted on by Ian C.

In the early days of the new MINI, with CD-based navigation, you could have directions spoken with a British voice which seemed to many owners to be rather appropriate. Later releases, and the DVD-based version, dispensed with British accents – supposedly because American drivers could not understand!
Some MINI owners wanted their British car to still speak British – see this discussion on MINI2 for example; more recently there was a discussion that suggested that the British voice might return.

Today at MINI Peabody, I mentioned this to Brig and he very helpfully took me through the Navigation setup in a MINI Cooper Convertible in the showroom; in the setup screen, we were able to select “GB” as the voice, instead of “USA”:

Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

(note the software version 4-1/40)

And then the car was speaking with a female British accent – I recorded a few seconds of “her” saying “louder” and “quieter” to give you an idea!

 

So can you get this on your non-British DVD based Navigation system? Presumably – Scott at MINI Peabody tells me you can order the DVD (for $225!) but maybe you should instead make friends with someone with a very new MINI …

UPDATE: Scott at MINI Peabody has gathered some more info – he has been told that an update DVD won’t be available to buy till Jan’05, and that anyway it won’t provide a British accent … I don’t know if this is correct, but it sounds disappointing.

Thanks, Brig & Scott 🙂

36 thoughts on “MINIs (again) speak British English”

  1. OMG!!! You’re awesome for posting this most wonderful news. Okay, I know I am extremely weird. I can live with that. The MINI is a British car… When she speaks to me, she should have a British accent! It is wonderful to know that I can now upgrade my ’05 MCS nav system to speak to me the way g-d intended her to. Thanks Ian! :o)

  2. I’m glad MINI finally listened, that discussion was there for a while. The first thing I did when I set up my pocketPC nav system was replace it with a british voice…it just fits the car! 🙂

  6. Looks like the only way to get it will be to trade in on a new model… Drat… it should not be that hard to get the UK voice on MINI “in the middle” Thanks for asking Ian
    BTW did you see this PDF?
    http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/pdf/papers/cooler_paper.pdf
    I know you have heat sink problems at your Dino tests it was in an email anouncing a new Water to air charge cooler from http://www.minimania.com/web/DisplayID/1615/SCatagory/Fun%20Things/DisplayType/Mini%20Mania%20News/ArticleV.cfm

  7. just back from mini of manhattan and here is the bottom line: THE GB VOICE CANNOT BE ADDED ON! something is being done at the factory to make this happen and service cannot access the computer to mod it. i have an ’05 cooper with the american voice and my dealer was nice enough to give me the latest dvd (for free!) and hook up my car to their computer and attempt to reset the voices. no dice. they were able to get as far as asking me if i wanted male or female and that was it. hopefully someone will figure out another way – but unless mini of america sends some software/hardware to the service techs it looks like it ain’t gonna happen.
    cheers – drew

  8. Hey All,
    I just wanted you to know that I was able to get the british accent lady on my 2005 Nav.
    I downloaded the latest software for the mini Nav.
    I then used a program called UltraISO to directly edit the CD image.
    I went into the V_2 directory on the CD.
    I then went into the following directories and did the following:
    cd to Voices/0502
    copy the file gb_f.csf to usa_f.csf
    cd to language/BMWOCN
    copy the file gb4f.tsf to usa4f.tsf
    Once you are done you reburn the image to a real cd.
    Insert it in your Nav DVD player. The software update will ONLY update the USA Female voice because it was the only file that changed. This is a VERY fast update.
    You will now have the GB Accented Female.
    If you want the GB Male or the USA Male you can do the same.
    How cool is that!!!
    I have the ISO image if anyone wants a copy.
    -Pete

  10. Pete, that is AWESOME news! I will be trying this soon, but did you happen to see if there were other languages available as well?
    Thanks for figuring this out!!

  11. Pete,
    Great work.
    Please add me to your list for an e-mail copy of your ISO image.
    Thanks,
    David

  12. Pete,
    Great work. After discovering this, is it possible that this could be applied to a 2004 MCS navigation unit? If so, I would love to have a copy of the modified CD. Any help or insight would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Harold Brown

  13. Ian/Pete,
    I now have a copy of the latest v24.1 BMW/MINI Navigation Update CD (which gives 4-1/42 on the MKIV DVD based nav system). If you’d like a copy, just send me an e-mail and I’ll let you know how to download it.
    — MIKE

  18. Thanks to Peter P. Geremia’s post, I was able to get the British Female voice on my 2003 MC nav. Thank you! The process was very simple, and the update was indeed fast! Note that the Settings display still shows USA (not GB) but the voice file that’s used is British Female now. SWEEEET!!!

  19. ok i’m gonna sound really stupid but i tried the process and it didnt’ work…
    can someone please explain what exactly i’m supposed to do?
    what i did was open the iso, and basically deleted the usa files and renamed the gb into usa…
    i didn’t understand what pete meant by copying “file” to “file”
    sorry!!!!!! someone please help!
    thanks!

  21. Hey folks, I’m downloading from that FTP server, but it’s getting 6k/s! Could some kind soul host it on a faster server for me, by any chance? 🙂 Email me if you can! Thanks!!

  23. Also, if you’re having problems downloading the latest file, don’t waste your time trying to get the 24.1 file since it’s very slow right now, instead get ver.24 which will download very quickly.

  27. Further to the work Pete has done already, he has now created a 200MB(!) V24.1 ISO image with the USA/GB language hack.
    Also, please read Pucks post on NAM: After the first day of using the Brit voice, the oddest thig I have found is the phrasing. Since in England they have the M15, or the A5 motorways, the word “highway” is dropped from directions. Instead of “… enter highway 94 west… ” it’s, “… enter the 94 west… “. It’ll take a little getting used to …

  28. Interesting post from Mike on NAM tonight:
    … Going backwards with the firmware version (i.e. downgrading) will force the unit to go into a “no location” mode … main advantage is that you will no longer see the “Accept” screen each time you turn on your car … main disadvantage is that the nav system … will be converted into yards instead of feet

  31. Will the V25 ISO Image work in a 2003 CD based Mini Nav system? Will I still have a mini logo on the Nav screen at power up or will I end up with a BMW logo?

    Thanks in advance for your help.

  35. i just bought a used 03 mini with Nav that was shipped from KS i live in CA and i have the ca/NV disk to update it but….. where or how do i installed my local CA maps? any help will be appreciated

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