Very early thoughts on 2023 SE (took delivery three days ago)

Ask you seller to exhange them for the aluminium ones or do a wrap (carbon, alcantara, matt wrap ....).

 

For you new 2023 owners, please report back how adaptive cruise performs in varying light situations - sunlight low on horizon shining into windshield, shadows flashing by, etc. The other morning I found out adaptive does not function in light fog. It was such a light haze I hesitate to even call it fog, but adaptive crapped out in it. EDIT: It will probably take a few weeks of driving before you get a good feel for how well it performs.

 

I'm exactly a week in from picking mine up, and I can already tell you that the adaptive cruise is no where near as good as the EyeSight system on my Subaru Outback (2018).
Honestly with the short range on the Mini I would have skipped the feature if I could since the Outback is our road-tripper, but I ended up going with the Iconic trim so whatever.

 

I paid extra for ACC in mine, really only delving into these forums once I had already placed my order. I’m sure I will still get good use out of it, but I’ve also been spoiled by the adaptive cruise in our 2018 Crosstrek and I’m resigned to the fact that the MINI’s ACC can’t possibly live up to it.

 

Honestly the adaptive cruise control has been great and blown away my expectations. Everyone said how bad it was, but on all the major highways here in the Bay Area it’s worked flawlessly. Only have done 50 miles with it on or so, but good in tunnels, sunset, bright light, and most situations on major freeways. Now I’m on mostly 3+ lane roads, but i did use going 75+ on a two lane highway last week with lots of trees on the side and had 0 issues. I’m really happy with it and glad we got it for commuting. The fact that it goes down to 0 mph or stop then restarts is amazing.
Is it as good as some other systems out, maybe not, but worth it for me.

 

I would also like to hear comments about ACC. I have a different situation with my MINI. I ordered the ACC as an extra as well, but it looks like it’s coming with the regular CC (544, not 541). Somehow it was changed and at first I was really upset. Honestly though with my driving pattern I would only have used it twice a month and if it is not 100% reliable I would not use it at all. Perhaps the regular CC is best for me after all? Interested in any comments you may have.

 

Is that what shows on Bimmer.work?

 

Yes Bimmer.work and I also downloaded my drivers manual using the VIN. Going to be an interesting conversation at the dealership when it arrives!

 

Please explain! I - uh - this intrigues me!

 

I have the 541 ACC, I just got my car last Friday evening and I have used it a few times. On the freeway (I live in Ca) on clear weekend traffic, it worked flawlessly. I set the speed to 75 mph, the follow distance to the two bar setting (I used Bimmercode to set that as default) and turned it on when I got on the freeway and used it till I got off the freeway. The trip was around 30 miles. The only thing I noticed that it could do better is possibly accelerate faster after say a car cuts in front and then moves over to another lane. I also tried in on the street and it does do full stop but I think it times out after a while so you either have to resume or hit the accelerator pedal again. I have not tried it in morning traffic driving into the sun yet.

 

I used the MINI.ca app (from a link they sent me) on my iPhone. It has a sample model installed that gives you a generic manual, but you can also add a vehicle to the app, so I entered my VIN and the app wanted to connect with my MINI via a text code! It also gave me a custom drivers manual covering only what was on my car, and it showed the regular cruise control the same as bimmer.work. So unless they are both wrong, my order got changed somewhere.

 

I noticed when they went to the 2.0 trims on the Signature and Iconics, I did not see ACC on the online configurator. When I ordered my car, it was before the 2.0 trims and ACC was listed as part of the Iconic trim.

 

Oh I see. When I tried to enter my VIN, this popped up and I backed out of the app because I’m not exactly sure if I’d be changing something fundamental. I’m already getting almost no proactive help from my dealership, so I’d hate to have to spend time on the phone with MINI Canada trying to fix something stupid.

 

I just deleted the app and downloaded it again, and it’s still the USA version. Am I doing something wrong?

 

I also used the US version at first, but deleted it when MINI Canada sent me a link in a “we are very excited to get you going in your Mini experience “ type of email. Go to the App Store and type in Mini.ca to get the Canadian version, should work

 

Exactly what I did- our road-tripper car is a Subaru Outback 2019 with Eyesight (great feature)- I opted for Sig+ trim without Adaptive Cruise, since the SE is our town car.

 

I ordered in March and it was available (Canada) so I chose it, but probably not getting it.

 

Nothing pops up in the App Store with that. “Mini” by itself is the app I already have.

I just did what I was trying to avoid: I called the customer support number in the app to try to delete my ID, and I ended up getting bounced around to eight different departments on both sides of the border, with everybody scratching their heads and transferring me to the next one. I finally got transferred to a unilingual Spanish-speaking agent who absolutely could not understand my intentions, so she transferred me back to BMW Canada and after the voice prompts telling me that I would be on hold waiting for an agent, the system hung up on me. That’s 40 minutes of my life I won’t get back.

The only thing I learned is that my VIN is indeed registered in the US. It popped up on one of the American customer support agents’ screens, although he could not access any further information because it is country-blocked. WTF. Back in the app, when I try to assign my local dealership here as my preferred dealership, it tells me it can’t because my VIN is registered in a country that’s different from the dealership location. SMFH.

 

System performs pretty much identical to my '18 i3, which isn't bad, but isn't great either. Mach-E's "BlueCruise" has me spoiled though...

I really only use ACC on my daily (48mile one-way) commute. In the mornings it's great, no hiccups, but the return journey is a whole different scenario. Not only does it not like direct sunlight, it also doesn't like hills/curves. It's the same high-way I'm driving home, but the West-bound lane is much more hilly/curvy and ACC in the Mini (like in the i3) freaks out quite a bit. The worst part of it is that it just turns off abruptly and regen braking causes some pretty hard deceleration. Really with it would just ding and let you know it's defaulted to standard cruise.

I knew all of this going into it since it's the same complaints I had about the i3, so I'm still happy to have it and I just deal with the issues. I've learned which curves/hills it typically dislikes and prepare by having my foot on the accelerator in those spots.

 

I found the email, it’s from “[email protected]”, so you could try using something other than “noreply” in the email address or trying to find that website? My dealer must have arranged with Mini Canada for me to get that email - at the end it says “sent on behalf of Mini dealer”. Also says contact “[email protected]” for more info. Hope this helps!