Hello to all!
Recently I began my search for a first car for my soon to be 16 year old daughter. After searching high and low, researching numerous, I narrowed my search down to two vehicles, a late model Honda Civic and a Mini Cooper. To make a long story short, my daughter really wanted a Mini and I caved in to her wishes. We found a '04 Mini in red with white top and auto trans locally. Since its purchase, it has rarely had time to cool down. My wife and the rest of the family are constantly taking it instead of our other vehicles. It's a blast to drive and gets great mileage. We love it and it fits our daughters personality perfect.
Upon getting our new addition home, I spent a couple days cleaning and detailing the car, as well as getting familiar with the little guy. I have a couple of items that I need help with. First, there was no spare tire. I would feel better if it had one. Does anyone have any suggestions on a spare alternative? Also, I only one key. The closest dealer is 2 hours away. Will I need to take the car to the dealer to have a new key made? Finally, when I use the key fob to unlock the doors, the driver side door doesn't unlock. You have to use the key to unlock the door? Is this a programming issue? The doors lock as they should with the fob.
Any help would be appreciated for this newbie. Thanks!

 

Mini's come equipped with Run Flat tires they will travel 50 miles with no air. There is a tire pressure monitoring system that will indicate low air pressure (Yellow light on dash)
There is really no place to stow a spare tire. mini sells one or you can go to the junkyard and get a compact spare from a honda civic 4 lug but it will not clear the front brakes on an "S"

Keys can be cut at a BMW dealer as well , unfortunately you will need a Mini dealer to program the remote on the key

The drivers door sounds like an actuator issue or bad cable

 

The door seems to have the problems with cable, if you want to have one more key you can order it to your dealer. I think there will not be any problem with that. The spare tire seems to be superfluous as there will be no space to place it in mini.

 

So my '04 Mini didn't come with a space saver spare mounted under the rear? There is a spare tire lifting mechanism there?? Also to clarify my car is not a S nor does it have run flat tires. So do you think a Civic 4 lug mini spare would still work? Thanks for your help!

 

I thought ALL minis came with ruflats and no spare. I'm not aware of a spare lifting mechanisn . Yes the civic one works I paid $20 at a junkyard

 

Thanks for your response. My Mini does not have runflat tires on it currently. We are the third owners of this car. The owners manual mentions a space saver mini tire option for non S models and shows how to store the tire under the rear with the lifting mechanism that I spoke about. Now I guess it is possible that maybe it never came with a spare but had the lifting mechanism in place. I don't know much about these cars but I am learning.
I really enjoy this forum and appreciate the input and information that is available from this source. Thanks again for your help.

 

I think you solve your problem, Kymini! I wish you good luck with your car.