Traded my Coupe in on a freshly delivered F56. This car was unloaded off the truck yesterday morning at 7AM and I found her parked in the back still wrapped in white shipping film and in various stages of undress. I emailed my motoring advisor and found out the car was unsold and things went from there.

It is midnight black with black interior with dark truffle leather seats and truffle color line. The seats in the photos are shown as a lighter brown but they are actually darker than the photo suggests.



Interior view (the MINI branded rubber floor mats shown are available at dealers now). The arm rest is is adjustable, meaning it can cant up or down on the mount to adjust for your elbow height. The armrest is larger than the 2nd Gen. On the other hand, the glove box isn't. The dark truffle color line is a rubberized trim and has a soft touch. The "wings" on the sport seats are more pronounced than on the 2nd Gen. I like them greatly!



Another shot of the leather dark truffle. The edge has a suede type section. Again, the photo makes the seats appear lighter than they really are. It is closer to the color of a chocolate candy bar. This color is one that you will either LOVE or HATE. I just happen to like contrast in a car interior and I prefer darker rather than lighter colors. It's okay to say you don't like it, I will not be offended in any way!!


Another photo of the dash. The shifter has the gear indicator on top of the shifter lever in addition to showing on the LCD panel on the speedo. One thing to notice. If you'll look at the base of the steering column, you'll see a white key emblem in between two dots. If you're key-fob batt is dead, you can manually open the door by prying up on a tab on the underside of the door handle, then inserting the key to unlock the door, and then hold the key on the white key emblem on the steering column, and start the car. It has some type of proximity reader to determine you actually have the key.


Rear seats. The rear seat appears wider than the 2nd Gen; however, you'll have to scoot up the driver passenger seat to give the folks in the back some leg room.




Close up shot of the auto A/C controls (below). You can see both driver and pass temp controls. The controls look rather sophisticated; however, in just a few minutes, it all makes sense. One thing to notice, the buttons below the A/C temp controls are (right to left) driver heated seat, defrost button, blank, rear defrost, A/C auto or manual recirculation, A/C button, A/C Max button, pass seat heater.

The toggles below the A/C controls are (right to left) blank for rear fog light, engine cutoff/restart feature, engine start, ?? doh! can't remember, and HUD display toggle. Unfortunately, I've been toggling my HUD to get the passenger window down. Below these switches, you'll find the 12v, and USB.



Close up of the NAV controls. If you have NAV on your 2nd Gen or Countryman, the buttons are similar, media, radio, Nav, etc. You can also see the toggle at the base of the gear shift for sport, mid, or green. The hand brake does not seem to interfere with the operation of the controls despite how it looks in the photo. Nice cup holders too.


Shot of sunroof. According to my motoring advisor, the two round plastic pieces with the slits are microphones for the blue tooth. The toggles on the center dome light are your standard mini toggles for lights, sunroof, mood lighting, etc. The sun roof screen seems to filter out more light than the 2nd Gen and Countryman screens. I like it!! Unfortunately, you get two moon roofs, only one opens. Grab handle is on the passenger side, side sunvisor on driver side. Both forward visors have flip open mirrors with two lights each.



Below is a shot of the dash showing the headlight, fog light controls, and dash light dimmer. The lights are auto on. You can't see these when you're in the driver seat. You can't see this in my photo but I didn't get steering wheel paddles for the shifting. I didn't realize the car didn't come with this until after I'd signed the papers. I miss my paddle shifters!! for some reason, I assumed they auto trans (like on Countryman and 2nd Gen) came with paddle shifters. Nope. You know what ***-U-ME spells?? I can still use the gear shifter to manually control the gears.


Another shot of the arm rest. You can see a large black lever on the lower front of the arm rest. This allows you to angle the arm rest slightly up or down based on your preference, or angle the arm rest straight up/down. I have connected, so the inside of the armrest is for the phone. The arm rest sits higher than the 2nd Gen armrest and takes no time to adjust to.



Photo of under the driver seat. You can see the speaker grill. Same on passenger side. The sound of the H/K is very good.


Another exterior photo next to our Countryman. The halo lights are on; however, the camera wouldn't pick it up in the photo.


Speedo and HUD. You can program what information is displayed on the LCD panel on the speedo. I've got mine set so I can see the speedo vs looking at that dang BMW speedo needle. You can see the fuel level indicator (orange lines) to the right of the speedo. On top of the dash, you can see the HUD opening.


HUD deployed. I'm Maverick and my wife is Goose. Talk to me Goose!
The HUD can display a fixed set of information which you can control through the options. I haven't even used 1/100th of what the electronics on this car are capable of.


Nav Screen and the "Ring of Controversy".
Frankly, I don't know what all the hullabaloo is about. This ring truly reflects what is going on with the car. If there is anything MINI on the F56, this is it. the light ring is "FUN!". If you're changing your A/C fan speed, this light ring turns into what looks like a huge dial showing you the increments that you're increasing the fan speed. If you're adjusting the temp, it looks it shows blue for cold and red for warm. If you toggle to sport mode, it turns red and so on. I love this!


Hope this helps someone out there looking at these cars.

Here are my options:
Midnight Black metallic paint
Leather Cross Punch Dark Truffle
Fully Loaded Pkg (NAV XL, enhanced BT and USB, Premium Pkg, Sport Pkg)
18" cone spoke silver
Auto Trans (NO PADDLE SHIFTERS)'
Chrome Line interior
Heated seats
Anthracite headliner
Piano Black inside surface
Dark truffle color line
Sat radio
MINI HUD

 

Great pics and review! I totally agree with you on the light ring.

 

Congrats Champ! thanks for all the great pics and commentary on your family member.

 

Excellent read and pictures. Enjoy your new ride!

 

Champ,
Did you get a separate manual for the navigation system? Just wanna make sure I get one if I should have.

Thanks

 

nice find! congrats

 

Congratulations! Great looking MINI. I have the exact same seats and you're correct when you say they are actually darker than your photos. I love the color, especially with the British Racing Green paint.

The rotating light color band on the center display got old after a couple of days. It is very easy to set it to one color. I went with an orange/red to match the rest of the gauges.

Enjoy it!

 

Nice. Good to see a car with silver wheels rather than black.

 

I will check tomorrow. I know the manual is in the radio/nav system but I'd rather have a manual to look at myself.

 

Excellent read and thanks for the pics.
I enjoyed your review.

 

Very lovely car. I like the black with truffle color combination. The pics are great. Congrats!

 

Congrats Champ! Thanks for the pics and thoughts. Seeing these deliveries holds me over until mine arrives. Enjoy your Mini!

 

Thanks for the excellent pics. I'm thinking of the exact same interior with Iced Chocolate paint. I can really appreciate the interior now! Great Job!

 

Congrats! VERY NICE!! I had the opportunity to sit in an F56 at my dealer yesterday (no time for a test drive), and I was extremely impressed. I've had an '06 R50, a '10 R56, and now a '12 Countryman. I still have the need for the Countryman, but if I didn't, I would get an F56 in a flash. The fit and finish and choice of materials is light years ahead of the R56 and I'm simply amazed at all of the tech and customizable features the car has. I saw a Volcanic Orange/White w/white wheels (not a fan of the white w/the orange), and fell in love with the color immediately. That car went out on a test drive, but I sat in a Moonwalk Gray car with a light gray interior. Absolutely gorgeous. They layout of the controls is great, and while it is indeed more BMW-ized, it is every bit a MINI and will never be mistaken for anything else.

 

Beautiful car, champ. The black and silver are very classy. Thanks for the pics and great little read

 

Very Nice!

 

What a beauty congratulations, thanks for all the pics and info. Enjoy!

 

thanks for all the pics - it looks pretty good!

 

I think you have to order the JCW steering wheel in order to get the paddle shifters.

 

The paddle shifters come with one of the automatic transmission selections on the MCS only.

 

I have a coupe too. What do you think about the F56 in comparison to the R58?

 

The Coupe was a great car. Fast!! Always turned heads. Never had one days problem out of it. Did I say it was fast??! I think style wise, the Coupe is more of a stylish, timeless design. They are two totally different vehicles. The F56 is basically a luxurious baby BMW and is a complete departure in ride, handling, and "feel" that you have in the Coupe.

I feel like the 3rd Gen MINI is so different in design, ride, handling, that it will create a rift in bridging the chasm with 1st and 2nd Gen owners. MINI claims it's still a MINI but its not. I don't know why it doesn't say BMW on the engine or say MINI by BMW on the badges. This F56 is more BMW than MINI in the form factor of a Hardtop.

I commute an hour to work each way, so being able to see around the car a little better, the smoother/softer ride, and more space is definitely a plus.

I get the impression after driving the car for a couple of days that BMW designed the car to be everything to everyone. The transmission isn't as crisp and tight as the Coupe or prior gen MINIs. It has a sport and green mode that make the hot rodders and hippies happy. It doesn't have that "darty" feel like prior minis and it doesn't have that "wasp in a jar" feel like the Coupe had. It feels like a bigger car when I'm driving.

I like the ride of the F56. I like the new gadgets. I like MINI. I like BMW. Is this my way of having a new MINI and BMW in one car??

 

Champ - Great looking MCS! The truffle interior is perfect with the black and like the silver wheels - sharp looking. Plus - nicely equipped. Best of luck. I'm on the fence if I should trade my 328XI on a MCS. New 3 series growing too big. Has anyone regretted going to the Mini from a slightly larger car? Being part of this forum makes me want to take the plunge. Thanks

 

CobraBob, how did you change the rotating light color band to one color? I've perused the book, but haven't found it yet.

Thanks!

 

I almost bought a 2014 JCW Coupe just before the F56 started showing up at dealers. Man that car looked great, drove great (AT). But I am gonna get the new one instead. I won't mind a slightly plusher ride. And it's just as fast they say. I like the whole package. I had an 88 325is and that was a great car too. My R56 is the best car I've had since then. The Coupe looks better though.