ALLGBMINI – Page 465 – M&I / GBMINI

MINIs (again) speak British English

Posted on November 29, 2004February 12, 2017 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

(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 🙂

Auto Front Fogs MINI circuit add-on

Posted on November 26, 2004February 10, 2017 by Ian C.

After developing the modified MINI circuit that provided auto turn-on front fogs (discussed here “Do fog lights need fog”), I have designed a “piggyback” add-on to the MINI circuit which can provide auto-on front fog lights for anyone with a MINI circuit:

Minolta DSC

The “AFF” piggyback circuit is installed upside down on top of the MINI circuit, and the MINIs wiring harness (that originally plugged into the back of the toggle switch panel) now moves to a new connector on the side of the new circuit. When the driver turns on the cars lights (and the interior lighting), the AFF circuit sends a pulse to mimic clicking the front fogs toggle switch – the lights are turned on and the toggle switch tip lights up. The AFF does not change the functionality of the front fogs, so they still turn off with high beams and you still can’t have them on with no other lights …

UPDATE: I have set a price of $18.50 for this add-on ($4.50 shipping additional; combined shipping if ordered with a MINI circuit)

New (non-runflat) tires

Posted on November 23, 2004February 10, 2017 by Ian C.

Today at MINI Peabody I had new non-runflat tires fitted to the stock 16″ wheels:

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After some amount of online research, and discussion with Alex at TireRack, I chose Pirelli PZero Nero M+S tires in 205/50R16 size – I was more concerned about ride comfort and wet handling than outright performance, and the TireRack survey results suggested these would be a good pick.
My old Dunlop runflats were very noisy after 20K miles, and they have never been all that great in wet weather – the new tires are definitely quieter and I will see what the wet & snow performance is like in the next few months. Disappointingly there is not much of an improvement in ride comfort.

While I was there, I met a few other MINI owners (Hi Chris! Sorry I did not get a chance to chat Paul!)
I also saw stock of the new iPod MINI interface.

There was another MINI having wheel work done while I was there – I don’t know what it hit (the owner was not around) but I could hardly believe the damage to the front wheels; both (17″) wheels had a massive dent and were split around the middle of the wheel! There was (not surprisingly) other damage to the car (some suspension work, I think, and a split in the bottom of the front bumper).

Minolta DSC