I've only test driven the Clubman when they first came out and frankly can't remember the sound level in car. Rarely pay attention to that on a test drive.
SO
for those of you who have a lot of seat time in an F56S and a Clubman, how much quieter is it? I tested my F56S and our GTI with a phone app Db meter and it peaks around 70 on local roads. Haven't been on the highway yet to test it.

Just planning next car and the noise is driving me insane (maybe not so far to go?).

 

So the JCWs are the loudest for all models, in my experience.
The F56S is louder than the F54S in terms of engine, exhaust and tires, in my experience.
I've played with turning the acoustic sound control feature on and off through coding and found in the 2017 it seemed calmer with it off but, interestingly, I like it better on (factory setting) in my 2020.
Tire/road rumble is my only complaint. More present in the F56, but present in the F54 as well. Somewhat mitigated by all season, non-runflats. But you do hear the road.
No rattles in the F54 at all -- they are very well-sorted as to fit and finish. I found the F56 examples I test drove back in 2016 and again in 2019 to be not quite as nicely fitted as the Clubman.
Finally, for some reason I can't quite pinpoint, the engine dynamics on the 2020 Clubman are the most "refined" of any MINI I've ever driven. My wife says our 2020 is "more BMWie." In a good way.
Glad you're looking to stay in the MINI fold Moocher. Best of luck to ya.

 

If you feel bored one day and want to quantify the noise, https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...cibel&hl=en_US or a Mac app of similar use. I will gladly compensate you with my gratitude, unless of course we bump into each other and I have to pay off with real cash or goods.

I was almost considering going to a gently used luxury car with super quiet cabin.

 

I have a decibel meter app on my iPhone. I will collect some data and report.

I can relate to what you're thinking. In 2010 I bought a stunning, fully optioned 2008 CPO Jag XJ. 4 liter V8, absolutely wonderful highway cruiser. Quiet, smooth, self-leveling air suspension, superb handling, quick off the line...Car was a lease return with 13,000 miles. Looked factory showroom new. I put about 50,000 miles on the car in 2 1/2 years and then traded it in. The original MSRP was north of $80K. I drove it off the lot for less than $40K, including all taxes and tags. The CPO warranty covered me for my entire ownership and I put ZERO dollars into repairs. In fact, the car required ZERO repairs. Just routine oil changes.


A new, fully-loaded Clubman S All4 costs more than I put into that Jag. And I received close to $20K in trade after laying all those happy miles on it.

Stunning examples of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jag, Porsche, Lexus, Infiniti, and, if you can stand it, Cadillac, are out there with very low miles, fully loaded. Usually 2 ~ 3 model year old lease returns. Under warranty, most with factory sponsored below market loan rates. Many were driven to and from the country club and are as new.

And, of course, the depreciation on MINI is insane. Last October, my fully equipped 2017 S All4 was worth in the low $20Ks retail, with 20,000 miles on it. MSRP on that car was over $42K.

 

Well, your sample size is literally twice mine, but mine's not been rattle-free. There's been a rattle from the upper roof console near the moonroof switch would be (no moonroof on mine) since practically new. Dealer has tried to quell it twice, but it always returns.

It also drives me batty that sometimes the front passenger seat belt ends up wedged between the B-pillar and the seat and rattles. At least that one I can reach over and fix.

 

Unfortunately, the more options, the bigger the depreciation. You do have a beautiful Mini, though. 😊

Kat

 

Are the new JCW Countrymans less noisy that the JCW Clubmans?

 

Will say, the noise in the (2019) Clubman S is quite muted inside. Barreling along at 70mph it is easy to have an inside voice, normal conversation with my wife. Mini/BMW does a good job at NVH testing on the Clubman. As for the F56S, can't weigh in (sorry, I know your question is specifically about comparing the two, I'm being an Internet Jerk by adding to a thread and not addressing the specific question).

To address your specific question, I'll counter with one: Where did you place your phone when testing the GTI and F56S noise with a dB meter? I will take my Clubman for a loop as soon as you tell, and post the results, and put my phone in the same spot so it's semi-scientific ;-).

But since you're potentially moving from a GTI, I will add: compared to my old car (2004 VW Jetta TDI, the last of the Germany-built generation IIRC), Clubman is supremely quiet at highway speed. Even with the JCW exhaust open ;-). The VW had a bit of wind noise at highway speed, which wasn't terribly noticeable until I spent time in the Clubman...

Other anecdotal evidence about the quietness in the cabin: since I have the JCW exhaust in my F54S: With the windows up, and the JCW exhaust flap open, you get a LITTLE bit of drone inside the cabin. With the windows up, you can barely hear the pops and bangs of the JCW Closed, Sport mode. The pops and bangs are more noticeable with the JCW Open, but again the NVH in this vehicle really does not let a lot of the burbles though. With windows up, JCW Open, Sport Mode, I usually hear 5 muted bangs each time I let off the throttle. I don't hear any of the 'lots of popping popcorn' that F56S drivers describe, even when the windows are down...might be you can only hear it from the rear of the car? I wonder if the clubman has a thicker exhaust pipe...I think the longer pipe has some quieting impact on the noise at least?

 

Funny but embarrassing story about that passenger seat belt rattle. I was convinced it was something in the passenger seat -- when I'd hear that rattle I'd stop the car and whack the passenger seat and, of course, it would cause the rattle -- so I assumed it was the seat itself.

Took the car to the dealer and demonstrated the rattle by whacking the passenger seat. Service guy was standing at the open front passenger door listening. He reached in, grabbed the passenger seat belt, untwisted it, and told me to whack the seat again..... nothing. He smiled at me and said, "all fixed."

Of course, I have been unable to figure out how to get my wife to replace the seatbelt properly.... I just do it every time she gets out of the car. Many decades of happy marriage.

And yes, the 2020 seat belt does it too.

 

I had the phone on a mount to the right of the Speedometer in the F56S. In the GTI my wife was just holding it in the passenger seat. The readings are pretty consistent in the front of the car about chest height. Thanks for doing this, redeems yourself for being an internet jerk. lol

 

So glad that you resisted using the 'wacking' method once you discovered that it was your wife's activity that caused the rattle!

 

Nooooooo!!! You mean, "that's such a cute car." Thank you.

 

Well, one would think I could have figured out that it never rattled when I had a passenger but I, instead, came to the faulty conclusion that it was the seat itself, rationalizing that when someone was in the seat, their weight suppressed what I assumed to be a seat rattle. But, after many decades of marital bliss I am at least wise enough to not suggest to my wife that her weight eliminated the rattle.

And now that I know the cause, my wife hops out, I reach over and flip the retracted belt to its correct position -- the work of an instant -- and all is well, at so many important levels.

And this concludes today's thread hijacking. Thank you for following along.

 

Hey Moocher, one other thing. As you know, the Clubman is really different in character from other MINIs. While the Countryman shares the basic platform, it is taller and configured differently in several subtle ways.

The thing that got me to pull the trigger on the Clubman was that it was so different than the traditional MINI. I was coming from more "refined" high line vehicles and was planning on getting a BMW when I spotted a Clubman across the lot and became intrigued. Compared to the lux-mobiles I had been driving for many years, the Clubman felt like a go kart. But, compared to the other MINIs, the Clubman felt much more refined.

Clearly I'm satisfied since instead of going BMW or back to Jag, I leased my second Clubman. More refined, not quite as sharp handling, quieter and better-mannered than the F56 or the Countryman, but still a hoot to drive. I think the All4 configuration adds to the overall driving dynamics -- and I don't go where it snows and we get little rain down here in SoCal. The new BMW 2 series gran coupe will have the same underpinnings as the Clubman All4, in either 228 or 301 hp versions. The fact that BMW uses this chassis in the X1, X2, and now the 2 series gran coupe says something.

On long road trips, at 70+mph, our little Clubby sits right down and cruises. ZERO driver fatigue after 6 ~7 hours on the road. And in town, it zips like it's supposed to.

 

I drove around my neighborhood in my clubman-S (limit 40mph), 'normalized maximum' was 66dB, actual maximum was 75dB, with a 'peak' of 103dB (probably from bumping my phone into the steering wheel while I made a turn). I'm using the NIOSH SLM app on iOS. Keep in mind that there is a huge variability between our readings: different phone means a different microphone, different software means different filtering methods, and I don't have a mount near the steering wheel (had to hold the phone in my hand while I drove).

'Tis a bit difficult to get a good reading with a phone dB meter I think. My sound levels spiked as a result of frost heaves on our surface streets for example. My clubman currently has winter runflat tires (blizzak lm-25s), which are definitely not the quietest tires. Anyway, just clearing my throat with my phone about 2.5 feet away, is enough to spike the db meter up to 72. So, I'm not sure how useful these numbers are without some normalization and filtering.

Test drives might be your best bet! If your MINI dealer is as nice as my local dealer was, they should let you take a care out for a spin by yourself. This way you don't have to listen to the sales person yammer on as they are trained to do...and instead get to see if the interior is quiet enough for you.

 

You fixed your post before I had a chance to zing you for the no steering wheel comment. Thanks for trying. I guess we'd have to have a common sound to configure our phones and apps to make sure we are on the same level. Probably easier as you say to get an extended test drive when I am closer to a decision.

I not a fan of the dealership and would probably just buy a gently used MINI elsewhere. I like to let someone else break it in and save the money for a wood fired pizza oven or other craziness.

 

Wise. If you're not too picky about colors or 'all the exact features' used is definitely the way to go.

Well, hopefully you can meet a friend or two in PNW with a clubby and a 2 door cooper S, and convince them to let you drive their cars around on some familiar roads.

There are some spiffy examples on Carvana right now, and yeah, the depreciation is real. There's a loaded up JCW Clubman with under 6k miles, for $34k (new was probably 47k or so). Lots of lease-up 2017s can be had in the low to mid 20s, also. I had tried to get one of these around this time last year but wasn't fast enough, so ended up finding a new one on a dealer lot in the next city over.

 

That JCW is nice, too bad it is a manual and it hurts my back nowadays to drive one. My son just bought a manual VW Alltrack and after driving it for a few miles I was ready to get out and back to my automatic.

 

Something that I had forgotten about until today is the fact that MINIs have BMW's "Active Sound Design", which basically uses the speaker system to mimic engine noise I guess? So that makes the cabin a little noisier. I'm going to try and code that off today...if you like a quiet cabin it might be a worthwhile thing to try (hah, I wonder if a dealer would you let you do it on a test drive...).

 

I have my ASD off in my F56S, car is noisier with it off. The ASD masks some outside noise.

 

You're onto something there, Moocher. I coded off ASD on my 2017 and liked it better. I turned it back on in my 2020 -- I found overall the cancelling feature reduces cabin noise. Weird. Maybe my older ears??
Anyway, I measured 68db at 70 mph on a grooved freeway. Held my phone in front of the nav screen area -- sort of center cabin.
Without a doubt my Cooper Evolution all season tires, which are not at all performance tires, smooth and quiet things quite a bit.
Wind noise is low, especially at highway speeds. Seems lower on the Clubman than on the smaller MINIs.
Also, the dynamic damper suspension helps. In normal mode the ride is still firm but calmer than in sport mode, where things tighten just a wee bit and you can tell, especially over road imperfections and expansion seams on the highway.
The JCW is firmer still, and louder, not in a bad way, just a little more rowdy.
I think the Countryman is the least "MINI," with Clubman a close second, but, lower center of gravity makes the Clubman feel closer to the real deal.
And some people are driven crazy by the rear double doors -- they don't like the divider down the middle. I found that after a week or two I didn't even notice it anymore. Rear visibility is better than the Range rover Evoque I used to drive.