Hey Guys,

Just spoke with my shop yesterday who says that Dinan has completely dropped development on the R56 platform. Really sad news. Anyone else heard this or seen it documented anywhere?

 

Did they give any reason?

 

they cant figure it out....

 

Clubman work ?

 

That's too bad. I was looking forward to see what they would come up with.

 

They (R56) are already perfect from the factory.
I wish.

 

That's interesting. I was talking with a buddy that is a salesman at one of the local dealerships (Dinan reseller) and he was saying that in the spring Dinan was to come out with a kit for the R56. He told me he got it from his manager and apparently the kit was to be rated at 210 hp.

This came up because I was talking about mods I wanted (cat-back, CAI, ECU) and he told me to wait.

I'll have to talk to him and see what I can find out.

 

Dinan was never the strongest player in the Mini world, and they can sell a tune for a 335 for $2k. Where would you put your money?

I was talking to someone who said that Dinan sold buttloads of tunes for the 335 within days of it's announcment, and probably the same will happen with the 135. How many Dinan cars were done in all the life of the Mini?

I think what it comes down to is that (if true that it's stopped), it's just a poor return on investment for them. Especially if the Mini ECU hackers and the like sell a package to tuners and tunes go for $400 or less for Minis.

Matt

 

My SA indicated that a Dinan ECU was to be out around the end of April rated to be 210HP. So, do we have any definitive word on this or any R56 Dinan mods?

 

Call Dinan direct. They are in Morgan Hill, CA.

Matt

 

Ive been calling them since last year, and they been putting it off, so I decided to call them a few weeks ago and Mike stated that they did cancel everything, I asked them why and he saids theres not much of a demand for R56. Guess ill be spending money on Alta parts.

 

Dinan has always done a poor job of marketing to MINI. They have a full line of options for the R53 but they are hardly ever mentioned in the MINI community and they don't market through popular MINI aftermarket vendors.

 

I agree with the Doc. Likely the larger margins, and ease of sales combined with the JCW parts (not seen on the BMW side) made the MINI less than desirable moving forward. Nothing against Dinan, but the grass was greener on the BMW side.

But I must say, I am not upset either!

 

My buddy knows a salesperson over there...and they've halted R&D on the R56. Official word is lack of interest. In fact their car is for sale...so if anyone is interested???

That's too bad though...cause I was considering their software because I'm still under warranty.

 

Same here, I was hoping that Dinan would put out something more powerful than the meager gains the JCW kit offers that wouldn't void my warranty.

 

Yup...I guess I will have to wait to see what happens.

 

I went to bimmerfest this weekend and spoke with the rep at the Dinan booth, and he indicated that Dinan IS going to be producing a kit for the R56 Cooper S, it just doesn't have a lot of priority, and probably won't be out until the end of this year, if not later.

I'm going to be waiting, I just can't get myself to pony up $2100+ for the JCW kit when it doesn't even push the car over 200 horsepower.

 

BMW has locked the ecu on the newer cars and can now tell if there has been a tune. There's another thread here where someone explains this. Same thing is happening with the MINI so it's not a surprise they're not investing any money in the R56. Just try getting warranty work done after they identify the tuning.

 

"
There is reasonably accurate information that BMW AG has changed the ECU/ECM on 135i cars starting in March, 2008. This new Siemens ECM v81 (v80 prior to March, 2008) incorporates new hardware/firmware and reportedly can detect all ECU re-flashes and most piggyback tunes.

In conjunction with this factory change in ECU hardware and software, there is also good information that BMW is preparing to take a less understanding position regarding warranty work that might arise from any tunes/mods.

Those of you planning to mod you car may want to bide your time until the diffences in the v81 are more clearly understood and/or until BMW makes its intentions better known."

 

Well...I wonder if they feel that way about DINAN? DINAN's stuff isn't supposed to void the BMW warranty, and in fact is dealer installed as well. I'm a bit suprised that they don't just "share" the ECU stuff with DINAN.