To get us started…
Play along with everyone guessing what the M600 will run this weekend at Pomona! Cool prizes, including a Fireballed! Shift knob! So it’s worth a guess!
Welcome to our newest sponsor M7 Tuning. Go ahead and cruise over and check out all the goodness. And don’t forget the brand new WRR Swag Shop!
Otherwise it’s just some rambling about all kinds of MINI things. iPods and satellite radio? Check. Voicemails? Check. db brags about his mileage? Check. Did wingnut disappoint? Nope. Plus more rambling about lug nuts, brakes, and the difference between convertible and cabriolet. And, does Gabe golf? Tune in next week!
Thanks again to Michael from The Mail Buoy Podcast for filling in while Gabe was out. You should check out his podcast, especially if you are looking for information about cruising.
I checked the voicemail line and it seems to be working ok. So if you have tried in the last week or so and weren’t able to get through, please try again.
Download/Play | Subscribe | I hope you boss isn’t looking | iTunes | 38:35 | 17.6MB
Hey DB, let me second what Todd said about the Belkin iPod unit + aux port. I’ve got one in my MINI and it works so well that I’ve pretty much given up any desire for the Dension unit. It’s so stupid simple and the unit itself is really well designed for where the cigarette lighter port is in the MINI. Both the power chord and the audio chord come out of the side of it, which helps minimize the cable-wrangling. Pulling the audio signal out of the dock port helps with that too. The sound quality is great and between the aux volume level in the head unit and the slide wheel on the Belkin, you get a nice, loud, clean signal.
Here’s the unit
DB – I too cannot recommend the Belkin “TuneFlex” enough. It has been installed in my MCS for about 3 months now and I can’t imagine “not” having it! The best $29 you will ever spend for “audio” pleasure in your MINI.
One small note though: Make sure you keep the audio amp-switch kicked into the UP position as the un-amped position allows you to hear all the 12VDC interference from the auto electrical system itself.
Rich.
If you think that MINI intended the ragtop to called “convertible” rather than “cabrio”, take a look at the MINI international site:
[MINI Model Overview](http://www.mini.com/com/en/model_overview/index.jsp?refType=teaserStandard&refPage=/com/en/general/homepage/content.jsp)
I’ll put in my vote for the Belkin iPod adapter with the line out through the dock port and the amp in the 12V plug. That’s what I’ve used for years (with my home made aux in before MINI made one) and it sounds great. *SO* much better than FM transmitters.
On a different subject – I think Todd is making too much of the switch to 14mm lug bolts. It is not an uncommon size, even in the USA. Mercedes E class swtiched in 2003 from 12mm to 14mm, big Ford trucks use 14mm, Volkswagen uses 14mm on at least some of their cars. I wouldn’t be surprized if most aftermarket wheels actually had mating surfaces that were already big enough to take 14mm bolts – certainly the hole is big enough clearance.
I’m looking forward to the show with the Tire Rack expert who can hopefully put some of these fears to rest..!
Hey Todd,
With regards to the 2007 cars being available with slotted and cross drilled brake rotors. If you check out the Mini UK (maybe US as well) web site and have a look at the JCW Sports Brakes, you will see the new rotors you are talking about.
Cheers
Lee
I suppose as long as your putting MB or Ford Truck wheels on your MINI, you should be fine with the new lugnut size, then! I can see it now, the new CR/W R56 S with 30″ wheels. I think I saw one of those on NAM once.
WOHHOOOO.. I might beat db on the milage. Im at 17k and I only picked him up in late April!!! I drive alot and the MINI is one of the perfect cars to drive alot in! My poor VW had over 220k before i even had it paid off.. haha
I’ve used the Belkin Auto Kit as well. Very nice.
Not wanting to start (re-start) the XM vs SIRIUS battles, but just offering my opinion… (I think I covered my rear with that opening)
DB, you should absolutely get satellite radio with all the driving you do. My wife has to have it because she does at least 500 miles a week (05 MC already out of warranty!). I have it for long trips, and love it… although I won’t shell out for the dealer installed option ever again (works fine, but too expensive).
I also have both XM and SIRIUS in my shop (where I do my WRR listening too), and I’ve found that SIRIUS has a much more complex array of music and much better sound quality. However XM has the baseball coverage which I sign up for in the summer. Both have commercials on the talk streams only, which is not their doing so much as the doing of the shows/channels they pick up.
Not sure if I will put satellite radio in the next MINI at all, but I know my wife will in hers. And I will always have it in my shop. I’ve found it well worth the cost… however I live in an area which lacks quality radio to start with.
Also, I got to the armrest package first when it was delivered, and licked the box to mark it as my own. So I got to keep it.
(Sabrina actually never wanted it, she’s a MINImalist)
Cheers!
Off topic but usefull for all you NANO listeners I think…
If you have recently gone to iTunes 7 and updated your Nano to the 1.2 firmware you may have noticed two problems. Firstly you may get hiccups in the audio in your podcasts – if you rewind they have gone! Secondly you may find that if you listen to your podcasts by putting them all in a playlist that they no longer play continuosly but pause or repeat after each one! I have noticed mine does this both attached to my IceLink+ and also with just straight headphones. These problems do not manifest if you use the iTunes player on your PC or Mac. To fix these do the following…
1 – set your Nano’s EQ to ‘spoken word’ – this will get rid of the hiccups.
2 – turn off the ‘shuffle’ option on your Nano – this will let you listen to pocasts one after the other again.
Both these are side effects of the 1.2 firmware – I understand Apple is aware and hope they’ll fix them in the next firmware release. Of course, if you wanna leave Apple feedback on their site it can’t hurt 🙂
Cheers – Rich (MINI ONE in the UK)
NB: it stil appears that with this new firmware podcasts may be stupidly quiet if you have volume levelling set on the Nano so keep this off!
I can give XM a positive vote as well. I have a MyFi, portable w/ headphones and can listen to satellite programming real time unlike the Sirius unit. Wingnut is correct, the adverts are only on the talk stations. In my opinion, XM is the way to go unless you are a Howard fan.
mini2nv2004
Thanks for the Belkin tips gang! Definitely will be picking that up.
> Firstly you may get hiccups in the audio in your podcasts – if you rewind they have gone!
I noticed that. *Really* annoying. I actually reverted to v1.1.1 (?) because of that.
> Secondly you may find that if you listen to your podcasts by putting them all in a playlist that they no longer play continuosly but pause or repeat after each one!
I created a smart playlist to get around this. I didn’t know you could defeat it by turning off shuffle, and I’m not sure that fixes it for me. This happens with the older rev of the firmware, too. The smart playlist criteria I use is as follows:
* Podcast is true
* Play Count is 0
* Skip Count is 0
I wish you could do a playlist based on the “played” state (which corresponds with the blue dot in the podcast view), but no such luck.