With normal city/suburb and freeway driving for long trips, what can a conservative F56 driver expect the clutch life to be?
Manual stock 6spd. tranny

 

Won't know till the cars have been out for awhile.

I got 180k miles out of my old clutch (with dual mass flywheel). Others seem to burn them up in 30-40k miles. It's entirely driver dependent.

 

Mrdi. You have to look on the forum. The R56 Cooper S's had problems. If you every (just once is enough) slip the clutch with power on it can burn the clutch on the r56. I did a clutch at 20k. Dual mass flywheel clutches are not great IMO.

 

THANKS GREG
Been on the R56 site.
That is why I'm concerned.
Will the clutch be the same on the F56 as the R56?
My initial perception is the power plant/drive train on the F will be a different iteration?

 

Mrdi. My understanding is that the F56 has a dual mass flywheel but the clutch is completely different with better materials. Are you getting a Copper or Cooper S? With the 'S" R56 clutch was really inconsistent in its longevity. Mainly because of driver style. If you let the clutch out at low revs in first then hit the gas (like driving a truck) the clutch would probably last a long time....but if you treat it like a conventional clutch and slip it (especially on steep hills) you are in for trouble!
I have ordered an F56 S with a manual transmission and I will drive it like a truck till I here more! Mini replaced a lot of clutches and for sure they will have made some improvements....
If you a getting a cooper I am sure the manual will be absolutely no problem. An S auto is the safest bet or manual and be careful till we know more.
Greg

 

Thanks Greg,

A Pepper S is our choice.

 

Had that color in an R53. Fabulous choice!

 

Had an RX-7 Turbo that eventually needed its turbo replaced somewhere past 100k miles, IIRC. The dealer asked how many times I had replaced the clutch, and I told him none. He said 45K was very common. He told me that it was much easier to replace the clutch at the same time as the the turbo, so I had them do it. Other than this one time, never replaced a clutch on any of the 8 or 9 manual trans. cars I've owned.

 

The F56 manual has "hill hold". Doesn't that eliminate slippage on a hill, and therefore lengthen the clutch life?

 

Another great example of how the R56 has tarnished the MINI brand. Let's face this simple fact, the R56 is a quality turd... especially the drive train. The good news is that by all appearances MINI has muzzled the bean counters to a large degree when designing the F56. I seriously doubt the gremlins from the R56 Peugeot sourced drive train are going to carry over to the BMW sourced F56 drive train

 

Yawn!

 

+1

 

Yeah.

 

won't the rev-matching help too?

 

I have ask this question: what's the name of the Hyundai dealership that employs you?

 

Pretty ironic statement coming from an R56 owner, especially when you consider the innovation and quality of today's Hyundai.

I know that owning the Prince powered R56 with its poor history of breakage is tough on you guys. And yes, the resale value of the R56 is even poorer... but I would suggest you jump on the F56, as the resale value is really going to tank once the F56 starts to roll out in volume.

 

I'm not sure one should blame the DMF for any adverse clutch issues in any vehicle. The whole concept of a DMF is to isolate the transmission from engine/crankshaft torsion spikes. If a vehicle exhibits reduced clutch life, not associated to a hot foot, it's more than likely from a poor clutch design, materials, etc. If anything a DMF might even help get more life out of a poor clutch design not less (IMHO).

Paul_F

 

Paul - Problem is that you 9 times out of 10 have to replace the DM flywheel with the clutch....which basically well over doubles the cost...
DMF's tend to be much quieter - as you say "isolation". They definitely have there pros and cons. Hopefully the F56 with a better design will not suffer the same problems.

 

I'm sorry but I must argue your points. I have owned an R56 for 3 years and only had one issue, a loose relay. That was probably due to the **** roads I drive on causing vibration.

I have to ask you this. What are english cars most known for having issues with? Electrical systems. BMWs have a large range of electrical issues as well if you really search forums. Which model mini has the most highly integrated electrical system? The F56, personally this scares me.

Only time will tell how everything pans out and if you are right. However i have not noticed a significant drop in R56 resale value in the past few weeks. I think this may be due in part to the fact that many Mini enthusiast are not overly in love with the design of the F56.

Side note, Dual Mass flywheels have been know to be a weak point in the driveline of many cars. Mini is not the first to use them and have issues, and they will not be the last.

 

Trollin', trollin', trollin' on a river..........