I'm holding out for the Gen 3 MCS Convertible next year when my warranty comes up on my Gen 2 MCS Convertible. One thing is fore sure...I've got the sports suspension on my wish list. I also love the go-kart feel of my car and I'm thinking this would help to retain that fun feeling.

Anyone have a chance to either test drive or order their F56 with sports suspension?

 

Pretty much the same opinion here. My daily driver and autocross car is an R53S. My weekend driver and (full) track car is a Lotus Exige S so I'm not a stranger to small, noisy, good handling cars.

Yes the F56 is bigger, yes it's softer/quieter, but I loved it. I still haven't driven a manual transmission S yet. We have a base model fully spec'd out but waiting to order until an MCS with a 6-speed shows up to test drive.

 

Interesting opinions everyone. Just piping in to say that I'm also coming from a Stage 1+ tuned 2012 GTI and am quite happily transitioning to a base Cooper (as ? a starting point for some gentle mods). The Cooper has oodles of torque for round town jaunts and zips in and out of traffic like a fox on Red Bull. The GTI was pretty soul-less and would have moments of brilliance but only when pushed to illegal extremes. Those moments were rare and I'm more interested in daily driving smiles. I can't think of anything else, maybe a Miata..... that would deliver such a great fun: cash ratio!

 

Don't pay too much attention to the opinions of others. Opinions help, but they rarely reflect our own personal tastes/needs/likes/dislikes.

Drive the car yourself and see what YOU think. Sit behind the steering wheel, not as a passenger. I would NEVER settle for a test drive where the MA drives and I ride. That is borderline silly. I drove an R56 MINI-S three times before ordering an F56. The R56 was okay, but it lacked the quality, luxury and "feel" that I was looking for. When I saw the F56 it was love at first sight. Like you, unfortunately I couldn't find an F56 to drive because there were none available at the time. But I did know that the new features and improved quality throughout were big pluses for me. And now after driving my MINI-S for a month and a half (thankfully) I have found it to be perfect. At least for me. At this present time, there is not another car that I would want to own. But everyone is different. Which is why it is so important that you drive an F56 yourself. A sufficiently long test drive to allow you to really KNOW that this car is for you. Also, try to test drive a base MINI and the S.

 

The only reason I rode as a passenger was because the car wasn't a demo. Long story, but actually if that were the only ride I got, it would still be more than I had before I ordered my R56. As I said, I ordered that car before any existed in the US!

Last night I did get to drive one. It was an automatic, so I still don't know about the transmission, but it was fun. More refined than my current R56, which rides like a buckboard, and considerably more complicated in terms of on-board settings. It was raining, so I couldn't wring it out, and I was also driving more in city traffic rather than the country highways and twisties where I live. I'll have to trust the opinions of my kids, who won the national test drive contest and spent a few days with the car a couple of months ago. They liked it.

BTW, I rolled over 100,000 miles on the way to the test drive last night!

 

Just a word of advice to those test driving the Justa against the MCS. The base Justa has 15" wheels and handles completely differently than the base MCS which has 16" wheels but often outfitted with an option package that adds 17" wheels. We drove the base Justa, and Justa with 17" wheels, and an MCS with 17" wheels. The car with the 15" wheels had a much more harsh ride (surprisingly) than the cars with the 17" wheels. Other than acceleration the Justa and MCS with the 17" wheels felt about the same to us. I expected the larger wheels with lower profile tires would be the harsher ride, but it was just the opposite.

And of course anyone wanting more of that go-kart feels should test a car with the sport suspension and/or the dynamic struts. They seem to be rare on the dealer lot though.

 

That's shocking. Not only the profile, but also the 15" have standard tires and 17" have run-flats.

 

Reading all these posts makes me smile. I feel the huge 2 litre engine in the MCS is a bit of a joke. My wife's Audi Q5 had a 2 litre fuel injected engine pumping out 220hp. Most engines of that size out out more.
I am driving a car that feels like it is capable off so much more...
So much more stronger braking.
so much more power. It is not even slightly scary. Sedate is a better word for the drive.
The problem is when you have the power and brakes to make it the car it should be you will have to be driving very fast to have the same sensation we all responded to from the R56.
230 or 240hp will make us squeal but will get us lots more tickets.
Quieter ~ yes
Faster. :~ yes
Raw boy-racer fun ~ no (IMO)

 

Having just bought a F56 'justa' and having driven my wife's 2011 R56s , I can honestly say that although the F56 doesn't have that acceleration 'pull' of the R56 from 2nd through 3rd gear when the turbo spools up, the F56 is surprisingly quick. It's fun to feel the power increase while driving by changing from 'green' to 'sport' mode. It is noticeably different! I have the awesome six speed manual gearbox, and I will say that it almost feels as though the cars computer is applying braking while letting out the clutch, it's a weird feeling that's hard to explain, but just as the little turbo starts to pull when the rpms's hit about 3-4k and your letting out the clutch, it accelerates smoothly forward then once the clutch is all the way out, it's almost as though it slows down a bit. Anybody else feel this? Besides this, the only other quibble I have is the speed volume control feature... Wish it didn't exist! Lol I truly love this car more the more I drive it! It is an incredible car for the money! I didn't dare test drive the F56S because I knew I was going to get the 'justa' and didn't want to love the S more.... Hahah But as it turns out, after reading these posts, the F56 justa is more fun to drive anyways! :-)

 

I don't have a manual (or even an F56 yet.. c'mon ships!) but what you're describing sounds like the Rev Matching feature of the manuals. Something skilled drivers can do on their own with other manual cars, but the Mini does for you.

 

I have 500 miles on mine and I'm feeling the same coming from a 2011 R56, the R56 was FUN. I'm really hoping / want the F56 to grow on me. I love the F56 but I REALLY LOVED the R56. Time will tell I guess.

 

I had an 03 r53 that I absolutely loved. Sadly I had to sell ol Gavin in order to go to college. Now I am in a 02 ford focus that the dealer offered $300 in trade (yes....$300). So for me, the f56 will be leaps and bounds better in every way. The only thing it was missing in the test drive that I remember from the r53 Is the sound. Hopefully pulling the resonator off will solve that

 

I'm defiantly wanting to get my resonator cut off. My daughter told me yesterday "Daddy this MINI doesn't toot like the other one" she said she missed that. And how can your argue with a 8 year old?

 

I have a family member who works at a tube shop (bends exhaust n such) once I get the car we will take some measurements and see if it's as easy as the r56

 

That would make sense, I wondered why as I downshift and the cutch is in, that the engine would increase rpm's.... I thought the clutch wasn't fully disengaging... The synchros are a bit noisy, but I love how tight the shifter feels.

 

...I've had both an R53 and an R56. Pros and cons to each.

But now to hear that this one is Soft is making me sad. Is that even WITH the sport suspension. Anyone drive the sport suspension? Perhaps the real soft had the damper control on soft?

Please I hope I love it...

 

Soft is hardly the word... Refined is a better description.

 

Reviews of the sports suspension are few and far between.

 

I am not surprised by your opinion. I think the new Mini is too soft. I was not thrilled when driving the S. Played with the adaptive air with no real satisfactory result. I would have walked away, but have really enjoyed my previous 3 Minis with sport suspension.

I was happy with the engine of the 3 cylinder, so I decided to order a Justa with sport suspension and no sunroof (save a few pounds).

I hope this solves the softer/numb ride of the F56. Will test it with a cross country run this summer with MTTS.

If I don't like it I will sell it, I hope that is not the case!!!

 

Just had my MCS up on a hoist the rear sway bar is pretty wimpy. I'm sure increasing the size of this will take some of the softness out of the ride. It looks to be way more difficult to change though as it seems much tighter in there to me.

 

[QUOTE=Joakester;3937979]God I wanted to like this car. The F55 4-door was set to be my next car. Wife signed off on it, money is saved, etc. I actually like the way the F56 looks and the interior is gorgeous. And then I drove it...


I have to say I am incredibly disappointed in it. The last two generations felt like go-karts. Not the fastest, but they always felt quick and nimble with an inspiring amount of feedback. The F56 just felt "heavy" to me. I put it in sport mode, pulled onto the road at about 50% throttle, got it straightened out and thought "let's see what she can do!", floored it...and literally nothing changed. It's like 50% throttle was all it had.

I've noticed this also in my F56 justa, and I think it's due to the F56 being the first MINI Cooper to use an entirely electronic throttle? My 2006 Dodge Charger R/T had an electronic throttle and it had this annoying 1 second delay. I'd mash the pedal and THEN it would launch.. Lol

 

I'm coming from '09 VW GLI (111k miles and still going strong) and just recently started considering Mini Cooper S as a replacement for when this one is payed off and starts braking down. I test drove the R56S and I loved it and now I see that this new model has more power, is bigger, more refined and etc. and sounds like a great option. The one thing I'm interested in is increasing the power (plus handling and braking of course) and I can't seem to find any information on that - is it too early for that? My VW came with 200hp from the factory but after just 5k miles I put a Carbonio CAI and APR Stage 1 tune on it and the car transformed. It was a solid 30-40 hp upgrade for not even $1k. After that I put a down pipe (catted) and flashed with Stage 2 tune and gained another 15-20hp. Years after that I put on a bunch of little supporting mods (brakes, clutch, IC, TBP, TOP, bushings, mounts, coilovers, and one size bigger turbo k04) and the car should sit at 360-380hp on the crank right now and is a blast to drive. Not to mention all the fun researching for mods and experiencing the performance increase after almost each one of them. I would like to see what the aftermarket brings for this new F56S because I'm sure there will be a chip tune out there soon to increase the output of this engine to at least 220-230hp and then it should be a blast to ride too. Does anybody have any information on which tuning companies would be the one to contact about this? Sorry for the long post that is a bit off topic but I feel that the OP would appreciate such an option and maybe change his opinion on the F56S.

 

Here's a thread on tuning for the F56S: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ckling-in.html

Its all still pretty new and preliminary, have to remember these cars have only been in the wild for just over 2 months. But there's some info to get you started =)

 

Mini torque is your friend! But patience needed.....

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f890/

 

^Great, thanks for the info guys/gals, I'm worming up to the idea of the new F56S...time will tell.