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I hope the title of this thread serves as a disclaimer just in case R53 owners don’t like what I have to say.
I test drove the R53 few months back and the first thing that came to mind was “WOW this feels like a hayride”. The ride was jerky, especially at slow speeds and there was a noticeable and annoying lag in response from the engine when you step on the accelerator. I actually thought there was something wrong with the car, so I went back to the dealer to ask for another car for a test drive. And the other one felt the same. Other than that, I had no issues with the car but I wasn’t going to spend 25K on a car with a jerky ride. A few weeks later, reviews of the R56 started coming out of Europe and it appeared that it was a much smoother ride, so I placed an order for an R56.
So, while my MCS was in production, I went to the dealer last night to test drive one of the newly arrived models. As soon as we sped of in the R56, the first words that came out of our mouths was “Wow, this is smooth and doesn’t feel like a hayride any more”. And the acceleration lag was gone too. There was an animal under the hood waiting to be unleashed and I found myself in 3 digit speeds in a very short stretch (will have to watch out or I’ll be collecting lots of speeding tickets). And the other complaint I’ve read all over these forums is about cheap materials used on the center-console but I have no clue what folks are complaining about and the console (and the rest of the interior) looked quite good to me.
The R56 had exactly what the R53 lacked. Mini has made an almost perfect car.
The things that I loved:
- The smooth ride
- The unleashed power
- The cool interior
- The fun key/fob
- The telescoping wheel
- The hidden storage compartment above the glove box
- The 4 powerful windshield washer jets
- The new sparkling silver exterior (even though I've already ordered Pepper White)
What I hated:
- The fact that I have to wait another 3 weeks before I take delivery of my MCS
You are entitled to your point of view. Thank you for sharing it here. I happen to agree with it. Some will not. That is what opinions are about otherwise they would be facts. Just don't let someone else's opinion dampen your passion. I think passion is a big part of the MINI experience.
I would hope that most people ordering the new MINI have your enthusism. If so the MINi community can and will remain unique, rewarding and fun. The differences in builds are great, each with it's strong points.
Good luck with your wait. Don't get discouraged by what others say this will be your car, your opinion is all that matters.
So the moral of the story... don't waste time trying to put down the R53 just to "feel" better and justify your R56 purchase and likewise, don't diss the R56, to justify your obession for the R53.
more like post of the year
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Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic...
So the moral of the story... don't waste time trying to put down the R53 just to "feel" better and justify your R56 purchase and likewise, don't diss the R56, to justify your obession for the R53.
I don't read this lead-in posting as a put-down, it simply states the situation from the perspective of the writer. He didn't like the perceived lag and he didn't like the rough edges. He told us why he's buying a Mini Cooper now and why he didn't buy one in previous years.
As for other posts that might be perceived as putdowns, I think most are simply responses to the many current owner statements that criticized the R56 before its debut in the U.S.
I think there will be plenty of "hardcore" MINI buyers of the R56 that believe in it's "magic". I think any subjective statements of the R56 vs. R53 is going to step on someone's toes at this point.
I think if the anti-R53 people stay here and the anti-R56 people stay in the 1st gen forums there would be eternal peace, but that ain't gonna happen.
I don't read this lead-in posting as a put-down, it simply states the situation from the perspective of the writer. He didn't like the perceived lag and he didn't like the rough edges. He told us why he's buying a Mini Cooper now and why he didn't buy one in previous years.
As for other posts that might be perceived as putdowns, I think most are simply responses to the many current owner statements that criticized the R56 before its debut in the U.S.
Uhh I don't think C4 did either he was just making a very good point
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Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic...
If you was the R56 to handle like an older modded S or a works car, simply:
-Get the sport suspention.
-Get some 17", or better 18" wheels.
-Lower the car about an inch.
-Drive with the sport button "ON" all the time
One of the nice things about BOTH generations of the MINI is the Burger King "Have it your way" appeal. Not EVERY R50/R53 was a souped up, flat cornering 210 HP hot rod. Nor will every R56 be a soft-riding couch on wheels with all the performance potential of a Caddilac DeVille. There's a varitey of options you can choose to make the car be what you want it to be. That's one of the big things that attracted me to MINI in the first place. The potential for individuality. We should be relishing the fact that those opportunities will still be availible in the future generations of the brand.
__________________ Founding member of R56 Anonymous. Now repeat after me: "Hello. My name is ____. I'm a driving enthusiast... and I still like the R56!"
So the moral of the story... don't waste time trying to put down the R53 just to "feel" better and justify your R56 purchase and likewise, don't diss the R56, to justify your obession for the R53.
Wow, very philosophical.
But remember life is a two way street.
Dont diss SUVs to satisfy your obsession with MINIs either. Just like SUV drivers should not look down about those itty bitty MINIs that get in their way
If your going to walk the talk, then walk the walk
Dont diss SUVs to satisfy your obsession with MINIs either. Just like SUV drivers should not look down about those itty bitty MINIs that get in their way
I hated SUV's before 2002 so I guess I'm a purist hater
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Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic...
Chows- I do agree with you, but does every thread have to degenerate in to SUV thread? Or is it just one your personal ? :impatient
__________________ R56 PW/B usta car-R53 RG/S
If it's on the configurator, IT'S NOT A "MOD"!!!
"I'm not advocating violence, I'm just saying it works and I highly suggest using it."- (ask a) Ninja
I hated SUV's before 2002 so I guess I'm a purist hater
Bama, that was for C4. If your going to come up with a great line ... it should apply across the spectrum and it was a great line. BTW, I bet if they sold a very cute, small SUV ... maybe a AWD MINI ... you'd be looking at it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashboomstick
Chows- I do agree with you, but does every thread have to degenerate in to SUV thread?
Nope. Refer to statement above. It was just for C4. He came up with a GREAT line. I'd like to see it applied across the board to the entire spectrum of cars. If not, its just blowing smoke in the wind.
[quote=msh441;1378762]If you was the R56 to handle like an older modded S or a works car, simply:
-Get the sport suspention.
-Get some 17", or better 18" wheels.
-Lower the car about an inch.
-Drive with the sport button "ON" all the time
msh441 is in my veiw only partly right. Sport suspension, for sure. Eighteen inch wheels? Not for me thanks. They are too heavy and in general will provide an unnecessarily harsh ride with little if any gain. The Mini engineers reportedly (R&T I think) designed the suspension around 16" wheels.
I don't know about lowering the car. How much will it help? The answer depends partly upon the measures used to lower the car and also how well the car's suspension geometory works when the car is lowered.
What about the LSD? I would not want my Mini without that. Otherwise corner exits will require a good deal of patience. The new car's marvelous flat torque curve deserves all of the corner exit grip that it can have.
As to the Sport button, I'll wait and see. It might be more fun to use it only when the extra poke is really needed. Doing so will sort of diminish the fun when the button is "needed." Power is a funny thing; what once felt like a lot can quickly become normal. This can lead to the slippery slop of more and more mods. Leaving the magic button off will also save a tiny bit of fuel.
Bama, that was for C4. If your going to come up with a great line ... it should apply across the spectrum and it was a great line. BTW, I bet if they sold a very cute, small SUV ... maybe a AWD MINI ... you'd be looking at it?
Then it wouldn't be a Rav4, now would it?
Quote:
Nope. Refer to statement above. It was just for C4. He came up with a GREAT line. I'd like to see it applied across the board to the entire spectrum of cars. If not, its just blowing smoke in the wind.
It doesn't apply to the entire spectrum of cars. Some cars really are indefensible.
It doesn't apply to the entire spectrum of cars. Some cars really are indefensible.
Of course it does ...
C4 wrote: don't waste time trying to put down the R53 just to "feel" better and justify your R56 purchase and likewise, don't diss the R56, to justify your obession for the R53
Liking "any" car is just the individuals opinion. Nothing wrong with opinions but an opinion a dollar might buy you a cup of coffee. Bashing other car makes because you as an individual don't like it is ... well meaningless since other people do not or will not like your choices as well.
So opinions really don't mean squat in the big picture of life.
The R53 is rough around the edges compared to the R56 MCS. That is what I love about it. Also, my 100% stock '05 MCS accelerates plenty fast with no "lags" so I am not sure if those testers had some issues with them
I do not disagree on the points you made as to why the R56 may be a more appealing choice for a vast majority of people, but the R53 has a "magic" to it with the sharper steering, firmer ride and generally the "trueR" go kart ride demeanor that the R56 has diminished some in the name of sheer refinement and more BMW-Like feeling.
I am not an "anti-R56" snob. Quite on the contrary, the new car is very intriguing to me and some things about it I really like (Powertrain, interior) and less crazy about others (Chunky bonnet, higher waistline, car sits higher off the ground).
The R53 was indeed not for everybody. BMW now wants to bring more people under the MINI fold and therefore it has made the car more approachable and less rough for those people that find those attributes annoying on a day in and day out basis.
The R56 is in our future for sure, more specifically, the R55 Clubman which we hope to take delivery in about a year from now and will replace my wife's 2002 MC CVT.
As for me, since I still have 2 full years left in the factory warranty (and 2 paid for schedule maintenance stops), I will keep my ultra reliable '05 MCS for at least another 3 years and see how the R56 has progressed so far at that point.
I am looking forward to a possible "50th year anniversary" MCS equipped with DSG transmission and AWD. Either of those factory options would make it a lot easier for me to justify letting go of my R53. Also, by 2009-2010 most of the 1st year issues that will crop up with the new car would have been corrected by that point in time and a "mid-life" refreshening hopefully will correct the aweful looking center console.
BMW now wants to bring more people under the MINI fold and therefore it has made the car more approachable and less rough for those people that find those attributes annoying on a day in and day out basis.
I wonder about this. There were plenty of reasons to change the MINI; the euro crash standards, absolutely needing a new source for their engine, cost cutting, re-working the suspension for the run flats, well you get the point. I like to think that BMW made the changes for good engineering reasons and "then" worried about whether they could make the car more palatable to the masses. Remember, BMW went to great lengths to keep the general look the same and tried very hard to keep the driving experience "MINI" like.
__________________
2007 R56 MCS DS/B w/ stripes, Sport (DSC, Web Spokes, Xenons) & Cold Weather Packages, LSD,
MFSW, SAT/NAV, Cloth, GG interior door, PB dash, White Indicators, HiFi sound, Auto AC, Rear Fog
DSOC #212
The R53 is rough around the edges compared to the R56 MCS. That is what I love about it.
Quote:
BMW...has made the car more approachable and less rough...
I think C4's onto something here.
Rough edges allow a driving enthusiast to quickly spot potential and then go exploit the strengths and counter the weaknesses, either through technique or mods.
The problem with a more polished product, is that it's harder to spot the relative weaknesses and strengths, so the enthusiast is stuck for something to do.
In the first case, you drive the car and think, "Wow, this car has a lot of potential, I can take this thing several different ways." That's a very specific feeling for those who invest a lot of sweat equity in their vehicles. You don't go out looking for a complete package, you go out looking for something with very little polish that exhibits one or two strong characteristics.
C4 wrote: don't waste time trying to put down the R53 just to "feel" better and justify your R56 purchase and likewise, don't diss the R56, to justify your obession for the R53
Liking "any" car is just the individuals opinion. Nothing wrong with opinions but an opinion a dollar might buy you a cup of coffee. Bashing other car makes because you as an individual don't like it is ... well meaningless since other people do not or will not like your choices as well.
So opinions really don't mean squat in the big picture of life.
With the exception that this isn't an SUV message board, it is a MINI message board. And SUV's suck.
I guess I shouldn't be feeding the troll, though. I mean, what do you call someone with 12000 posts who isn't interested in the car, but seems to post solely to try to make people who like the car upset? Either a troll, or an inferiority complex.
troll, though. I mean, what do you call someone with 12000 posts who isn't interested in the car, but seems to post solely to try to make people who like the car upset? Either a troll, or an inferiority complex.
Troll? Not like the car? Since when did I ever say I didn't like MINIs? Point to exactly ONE post. Find ONE post disparging the R56 ... just one. Now the GP, different story. Just like C4 wants a clubmen when the time comes, I gave up my MC40 and repeatedly posted I was in the market for a turbo convertable JCW when they come out.
So dont make assumptions about something you know nothing about. :impatient
The fact is, "the obssesed" ppl just dont want to hear any reality or problems with the first gen cars. Thats fine. You live with what you can bear and thats cool. To each their own.
I wonder about this. There were plenty of reasons to change the MINI; the euro crash standards, absolutely needing a new source for their engine, cost cutting, re-working the suspension for the run flats, well you get the point. I like to think that BMW made the changes for good engineering reasons and "then" worried about whether they could make the car more palatable to the masses. Remember, BMW went to great lengths to keep the general look the same and tried very hard to keep the driving experience "MINI" like.
I agree, mcarlo52. It seems to me that some journos were fed the line that BMW is trying to make MINI more approachable. In reality they've made improvements, which is what you do when you redesign a car. I'd probably take the looks of the R53 over the R56, so you could say it was a side-step or a step backwards in styling done out of necessity, but folks saying the R56 has lost its edge because its not noisy or doesn't rattle its interior loose... come on. Mk 1 Mini's from '59 had a slider window instead of rollup windows. While sought after now by collectors from a heritage standpoint, there was little debate at the time that the addition of rollup windows was a positive move in the evolution of the car. It could be argued that that took the edge off the original Mini, and was done to appease the masses, but the first design was just hardcore for weight and cost sake only. It was also very low on power and unfortunately with the increase refinement of the car came the need to increase displacement and power. In the case of the R56 MCS, they've delivered a faster car with between 19 and 25% improved fuel economy. That's a win win. If I feel like it's too quiet, I'll make sure I screw up my sunroof seal, and if it's not roughnecked enough, I'll loosen the bonnet bolts and increase my panel gap ;^)
I read one review from a journalist who claimed he could feel the increased length of the car as he drove it. HELLO, the wheelbase hasn't changed, nor has the track. The increased length by all rights is imperceptable from inside the car. I appreciate everyone trying to emote their take on the new car, but it's a little early to pass judgement on how we'll all perceive the model change in a few years after the R56 enjoys engine mods, aftermarket suspension, etc.
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Last edited by karlInSanDiego; 02-19-2007 at 11:47 AM.
Reason: submitted too soon
? :impatient 
R56 PW/B usta car-R53 RG/S 
#188
:impatient 
