Well I've had the Mini for a few weeks now. I haven't forgotten, just... haven't been on the forum much lately. Anyway, I don't have anything to say: the car doesn't have any gauges for engine temp or oil temp so... I had kind of expected that, because I'd driven a Mini before and couldn't remember there being any gauges but still... almost every car has a simple kind of gauge to see if the engine/oil is still cold or at optimum operating temperature or getting warm. The Mini has absolutely none. It does display the outside temperature, though Maybe it's because it's a Diesel (d'uh, only rich people can afford petrol fueled cars these days) and they never run hot. Or that's my experience at least.
About the engine cutting thing: it does cut the engine completely and it starts back up when you depress the clutch to put it in gear. You can disable it by pressing a button, but whenever you take the key out of the ignition and put it in again, it's enabled again. I suppose if you really want to have it disabled permanently, you can have it done by a Mini dealer. I don't mind, though. I do find myself keeping the clutch depressed when standing still if I know I'm not gonna be standing still for long, to prevent the engine stopping only to have to restart a few seconds later.