The guy who wrote that article owns a Cooper S so its hard to make a case that he's anti-Mini. They did write an article giving the Paceman JCW a poor review but that car absolutely deserves it.

 

The fact that the Jalopnik reviewer said the new seats are equivalent to the Recaros ($2700) and the new motor was similar to the JCW in performance got my attention. The JCW Couple I drove was $41k before tax, and no NAV with Recaros and AT. I outfitted a F56 pretty loaded with NAV at around $32k. That's quite a bit less for what could be as powerful and comfortable a car. I may have to wait and see the thing after all. The JCW Coupe's not going anywhere.

 

Top Gear - First drive: the brand new Mini

And does it all work? Does it feel transformed?
If you're listening hard, the Cooper starts with a characteristic three-cylinder beat, but to be honest it's more obvious from outside the car than within. Head off and most of the sensations are Mini staples. The well-oiled controls; the low-set, straight-ahead driving position; the shallow, upright windscreen and pillars. The ride remains taut rather than soft, and it has the normal Mini bobbing frequency. The steering seems to have the normal Mini quickness.

Er, has BMW got too many engineers? What was the point of changing everything?
Because as you gather speed, all this car's moves are more polished than of old. The suspension has more travel, so when you hit bumps it y'know, copes with them. Suspension, as in suspension. Whereas the old car's undercarriage crashed and banged and too often jolted into its bump-stops. And there's less tyre roar on coarse tarmac now. The steering compensates for cambers and torque. It all feels more grown up.

I don't want a Mini to feel grown up. It's supposed to scoot about, frisky and intimate and connected.
Don't worry. Show it a corner and the Cooper comes alive. The front end is super-agile. The steering is sharp but notably progressive and you feel exactly what's going on. There's barely any understeer. And if you lift-off, the tail is surprisingly mobile, but easy to collect. The new-found suspension suppleness doesn't make it soggy, it just means it doesn't get distraught when the corner is lumpy. Any car that reacts so quickly but so predictably, and gives you so many options, and connects you so intimately to its moves, cannot fail to be a bundle of laughs.

Back to where we started. My point stands: meet the new Mini, same as the old Mini.
Sure, in character, things haven't changed. There's measurable progress. It's efficient - for the petrol Cooper, 105g/km. Plus it's more refined and better-riding and safer and has a bigger boot. OK, that's all rational stuff that Top Gear is reputed not to give a stuff about. Yet they did that while preserving the stuff we do care for. It's more lively, it sounds more interesting and the handling's more fun and visceral.
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/n...iew-2014-01-30

 

But most people will only be seeing the BACK END as we zip off...

 

 

Just sayin'....Jalopnik is pretty much universally derided on all of the other car forums I frequent. They are infamous for their "scoops" that are rehashes of some other publication's info, and for jumping on bandwagons prematurely that end up being bad ideas. If they are your favored source for automotive info, you need to read more.
I would expect motoringfile to be pro-MINI but Gabe's never been one to pull punches when he sees something awry. From the smattering of other reviews starting to show up, it looks to me like the F56 is going to get mostly two thumbs up.

 

lol i do think that's pretty common for a car blog - as jalopnik is not an actual publication. i treat jalopnik how i treat gizmodo - a quickie blog for anything going on. i saw the review, felt it was fairly in depth, was written by an R56 owner, so I thought I would post the review.

I also believe the F56 is going to get good reviews. Motoringfile just felt a little over the top to me, so I expressed my opinion.

 

Can anyone tell if the F56 has a steeper windshield rake, more like the coupe/roadster? I need to see a side-by-side profile shot of R and F56's to tell. I am one who likes to be able to look over the hood, or at least the fenders, as I drive and my R55 lets me do that pretty well. In a coupe there is no way to do that with the steeply raked windshield.
Has anyone sat in the F56 that can comment on the driver view?

 

In the launch thread, I found this image of the silhouettes of the R56 and F56 superimposed.

 

Thanks for that reply BTWyX.
Perfect answer. It shows a change of a few degrees more slant, but still a Mini heritage angle, unlike the Coupe/Roadster.
A good sign for MINI, imho.

 

Sat in the car again at the Chicago auto show. Seats as reported is spot on, very supportive and comfortable, but a bit restrictive for casual driving. Overall the car feels higher quality. Other than the awkward chin, I just could not find a comfortable driving position. For my short legs (5'6") i had to adjust the seat uncomfortably close to the steering wheel for me to fully engage the clutch.

 

Sat in it in the Detroit and Pittsburgh shows. You do know the steering wheel telescopes, right? Found the seat quite unexpectedly comfortable, with the reach to both pedals and wheel quie good, and visibility quite good. Still don't like the nose, even though each change was a suble one (except that ugly black excuse for a bumper), in sum they add up to a more streamlined, less characteristic front end "look". Still a Mini though. Still cheeky.

Can't wait to see how it drives, and I'll get a GOOD test as we're driving (3) of them for Track Rides at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix this year. If you want to join in he fun reserve July 19-20 (or the previous week/weekend), www.pvgp.org.

 

My wife got a 2014 Countryman a few weeks ago, and after some initial problems with the XM radio, has had a very good experience. The car performs well and handles well. We drive in ice and snow in Missouri, and she's had no problem with either with her Cooper. The only real problem is that the front license plate did not come mounted. I suspect we will have to have it mounted when we get it back to Missouri.
I have a 2013 Countryman and love it to death. The refinements on the 2014 are not substantive in terms of performance or handling, only in terms of interior and comfort options.
I bought the Mini Cooper bike to go with it, and it fits in both our Coopers just fine.

 

The local dealer (Tampere, Finland) had just got a Cooper D out of a transport truck, so I just had to park next to it for some comparison shots vs. my R53...

 

Hey what are the wheels in this picture? https://imgur.com/M6GEscx I think I need them

 

Is it just me or am I the only one who wishes they would build one closer to the same size as the original?
I own an R53 that I have tweaked to be a JCW. Every time I take mine into the local Mini dealer for service I wonder through the showroom, and every time I do I have some salesman approach trying to convince me that everything built since mine is better. HARDLY!!. I tell them the same thing over and over “I'll replace mine with a new one when they build a smaller one”. So what does Mini keep doing.!!! Making the dam thing bigger. I guess I'll keep mine till I'm in the grave. I mean is it really a Mini anymore? BMW/MINI---- are you reading this?

 

Don't all of these early road tests simply quote the manufacturer's times rather than their actual test results? I'd trust the figures from R&T, Car and Driver, Motor Trend, etc. more than figures from any car maker.

 

As a longtime owner of a ’04 MCS, I read everything I could in 2012 and 2013 about the new version of the MINI for 2014. Info was spotty at first but as more details came out I had to make a choice about getting my dream version of the JCW in 2013 or waiting to see what happens. In the end I got ‘Jessica’ at the end of May last year and could not be happier…along with a lot of other MINI friends who felt better about getting an end of life model vs. a whole new platform.

I’m not willing to get into any downsides of the new version until I can get into it and drive it around a bit but many of the things that car bloggers like in the changes are the things that drew me to the Mini in the first place (I like the fact that the window toggle switches are down low in an odd place).. But I can concede that there is the mass market MINI buyer and there are enthusiast…I have friends that have been calling over the last few weeks who LOVE what they are seeing and reading about the redesign of the MINI. “What do I think?” they ask. “You seem to love MINI (I have 2) and go on fun drives. Do you think I should buy a 2014 or maybe one coming off lease?” These are the reviews that will really count. How current MINI enthusiast give advice to friends that are more of the mass market buyers. Time will tell…..Of course I’d give anything to have a HUD in my 2013 :-)

 

@ JKO

Interesting, this is actually a lot more pleasant to look at than any fancy shot I have seen so far. I actually like this a lot better than the "S"port version.
nothing better to get a good perspective than real life...
I wasn't very interested to check it out before but this may just very well change my mind...

There's a lot of detail I do like in terms of form treatment.
I'm still not sure why they felt the need to make the lens more vertical creating a tubular like surface on the lower section of the head lights (and maybe vertical isn't the right term, It's more about that extra surface). I really think that was not necessary and not helping the brand image. It reminds me of Porche head lights wish is okay, just okay, on a Porche. But here it's detrimental to the other things that are good about it...

I also think they could have done without the chrome around the headlights (or a thiner version) to avoid the multiple concentricity which I think gives it too much of an ambivalent emotional response. It would have been better to focus on the LED part of it rather than to bring something new on top of something old.

Other than that the design flows much better than I would have thought from the marketing pictures which I guess have been more the S than the just'a..

The irony here is that I probably would get these standard body parts mounted to an S for me to like it and buy it

 

i think manufacturers, at least bmw, are pretty conservative in their estimates

 

I can count without the use of any hands the amount of times I've used the CD player.

 

Do you think you'd use the CD player more if you had the use of your hands?

 

Maybe they are listening:

http://wot.motortrend.com/1402_we_he...p_by_2020.html

MT's review:

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...r_first_drive/

The Finland pics of the diesel are cool. Real world pics are better than most of the pro shots found on review sites.

 

You're not alone.

I passed up the MINI in 2002 after seeing how much larger it was than the classic Mini. I caved in on a 2006 and love it, but could happily live in a _smaller_ MINI.

Speaking of which, I heard someone on White Roof Radio #499 32:05 mention that the forthcoming Countryman refresh will be built on a larger platform. The next Clubman is also larger. So is the F56, the four-door Hatchback, etc.

Alas, across the board MINI is going in the wrong direction for me.

 

I can't get past the fact it reminds me of a wide-eyed runny-nosed child who eats with his mouth open. Car for mouth-breathers i guess.