What's all this about?
MINI is carrying out a facelift for all of its cars. Well actually, we say facelift, but really 'cabin-lift' would be more appropriate.
Sorry, what?
The changes are reserved entirely for the interiors of the five-strong range of MINI vehicles. Starting with the universal updates, all cars will enjoy a new fuel gauge that's much easier to read in bright sunlight than the current clunking affair, while the column-mounted instrument cluster and optional Head-Up Display (HUD) will glow white at night, rather than orange. Talking of the HUD, height settings for the display will be stored, along with the position of the door mirrors and the electric seats, on the vehicle's key - so different drivers won't need to fiddle with a load of settings each and every time they get in the car - while controls for the HUD will be stored in a separate sub-menu screen of the MINI's infotainment. Then there's the Driving Modes switch.
Eh? How different can this be?
Hmm, you should know your MINI cabins by now. The British brand is unusual in offering a rotary collar around the base of the gearlever that controls the three different driving settings. Twist it right for Green, left for Sport, and centre it for Standard. Well, that's going in the bin, to be replaced by a toggle switch underneath the air-conditioning controls.
OK, I think I can live without a rotary collar. What else is being revised?
Alertness Assistant, a driver fatigue monitor, will be introduced on the three-door and five-door Hatchback models, as well as the Convertible, as part of the optional MINI Visual Boost screen, or the two mapping packages of MINI Navigation and MINI Navigation XL. Over on the Clubman and Countryman cars, Apple CarPlay support is included in the (again optional) Media Pack XL and MINI Tech Pack choices.
When do all of these changes take effect?
All MINI cars will have the updated interiors from July 2017.
Matt Robinson - 17 May 2017