i'm looking into purchasing a mini... actually the clubman when it comes out... i was curious about the comfort level of taking road trips in the mini.

 

Welcome to NAM.

I love taking my R50 on road trips. In fact I have 65K on my 05 R50. The girlfriend falls asleep within 10 miles, if she can sleep while Motoring it must be comfy. I can only bet the Clubman will be even better.

 

I haven't driven my all that far, but my mother and grandmother picked my mini up for me and drove it home. They drove more than 800 miles in less than two days and had nothing but great things to say about the comfort of it the whole way. This is on a R53 JCW with stock suspension and leather seats.

I drive 90 miles round trip every day for work and love how comfortable it is.

 

I love long trips. I have a late build 06 with 49k and its all becuase of lots of motoring. It never gets boring to drive a mini and it keeps you happy and having fun.

 

A week after I took delivery of my second MINI, my 2003 MCS, in April 2003, I took her on a solo 10,000+-mile cross-country trip. It was fantastic! I am not talking about the Clubman, but the smaller hatchback, and she can hold a LOT of stuff!

Among my many other options, I got the cold weather package which included the heated seats. I find that even in warm weather, if I am driving 500 miles a day, I will have the a/c blasting and still use the upper portion of the heated seats to keep my back limber.

I've made 6 cross-country (and back) road trips in my Wicked Wanda, and have never been uncomfortable.

 

I've traveled a bit in the MC R56 without a sport suspension (OK, one 1000 mile trip... but a goodly-distance highway slog at that) and can say it's smoother than my R53 with a sport suspension. It's still about as responsive and gives up nothing on go-kartiness, but was more friendly on the highway than my R53, which can get a bit choppy especially with the 17's. With the 16's it's less so. I imagine the Clubman, given similar suspension tuning, would be a little smoother still, given the slight stretch in wheelbase. Should be a good tourer - maybe never a Toyota Avalon (nice ride, that), but a good tourer nonetheless.

 

Bought our MCSC in Missouri and drove it home to MD (without any license plates ) and it was not only comfortable, but we fought whose turn it was to drive !

Best 879 miles I've ever driven.

 

I have driven 8+ hours non-stop in my R53 S without feeling tired! First car ever that BEGS to be driven. I have owned 3 MINIs and all of them have been to several states. I would say this though... The Cooper S models are even better highway cruisers because of the available extra power on tap. I find my R53 S much more comfortable in the highway than our R50 (Cooper automatic), but both are very capable cars. They feel planted to the road, air turbulence caused by trucks does not bother these cars. We are also waiting for a new Cooper S Clubman that will become the defacto family car/highway roadtrip cruiser once it gets here. Remember that the Clubman rides on a longer R56 platform (About 9 inches longer) and because of the added length to the chassis, the ride will be significantly more comfortable than the hardtop coupes (Which tend to have a choppy ride quality at times due to the short wheelbase). Also the R56 and R55 (Clubman) are more geared towards comfort ride than the previous generation MINIs. If you are going to be doing a substantial amount of highway driving, I highly recommend stretching your budget a bit and get the Turbocharged Clubman instead.

 

Every year we take our 04 MCS from Western MA down to the Outer Banks of NC for vacation. It's a 10.5 hour trip (used to be 12 before the MINI). Trips to Pittsburgh (8 hours) are also relatively common. The only problem is that both my wife and I both want to do all the driving.

 

I live in Maryland I'm 6' 3" and I've been to Mississippi twice to help with the Katrina relief and aside from being stiff from sitting for 16 hours the MINI is the most comfortable car I've ever driven that distance. I used to work in field service and this car is by far more comfortable than the company cars I had then.

 

This past summer, I drove my '04 MCS with sport suspension and 17" wheels for 18 hours straight!--TWICE ON ONE WEEK! I found the sport seats to be very comfortable--especially compared to other vehicles I've owned and driven long distances (Jeep Cherokee & Honda Civic).

 

06 MCS, purchased new 5/06, now has 33k miles. 2@ 1000 mile trips, 1@ 1200 miles, 1@ 2000 miles and 1@ 4200 miles. Plus 160 miles/ day commute.

I have not regretted one minute of it.

 

I moved myself and my belongings from the midwest to the west coast. About 2500 miles in just over 2 days. Very comfortable and fun trip.

 

Damn dude , that sounds fun as hell.
I always wanted to do something like that. The hard part is to know where to go ?

 

Wouldn't it be awesome to just drive and get off the main highways on a whim? One of my friends doens't want a NAV system; in his words. . . if I can get lost in my MINI, it's even more motoring time!

 

95k miles in less than 5 years, 3+years of 100 mile daily commutes. Many 12-16 hour long distance road trips. No comfort issues here

Mark

 

115K miles in just over 5 years - including spending 10 days straight in the car last summer:

http://thegreaticecreamrun.com/

http://mini.grazfam.net/TGICR/

I was very comfortable for the whole trip...

 

and do you guys use Cruise Control or is that way out of the question?

 

On long lonely highways, sure.

 

I'm comfortable in the Mini on longer drives, but my wife doesn't enjoy the choppiness (even though it's better after ditching the runflats). If we didn't have crappy Chicago roads to deal with, I'm sure she'd be content, though.

 

Not until it's well broken-in. You want to vary the speed as much as possible for the first 1500 miles (actually more than the book requires).

I drove to Florida a couple of months ago--solo. It's about 1250 miles, and I covered half each day. No problems at all, and just as comfortable as in my 5-series. I'd do it again in a flash!

MINIclo--wish I could do that. Sounds great--just point it and go!

 

In the first 12 hours of owning the car I over 600 mile on it and haven slowed down much since then. I've been dong 140+ miles a day for just over five years w/ it and still look forward to driving every single day. If we have a choice the family (four of us) prefer to take the MINI on any traveling trips that we do. Usually 4 to 8 hours a day when we go.

Nik

 

Have it. Hate it. Seems to reduce gas mileage on long trips.

 

Make that "dudette," COOUUPER S! LOL! I'm a gal.

It's fun! I have a US road atlas and my Garmin nav and pack way too many clothes, but it's in Spring when the weather is so unpredictable.

I only use the cruise control when I am motoring on I-10 through Texas, where they upped the posted limit to 80 on long stretches of the highway. I pop on the cruise and listen to a book on cd or some good tunes. Otherwise, I need to push the pedal to stay awake when I am motoring long distances alone. And I make frequent iced tea and pit stops!

 

i drove from the coast of Texas, to Copper Colorado, to Estes Park Colorado, to Casper Wyoming to Saskatoon SK Canada then back home going thru North and South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and back into Texas
Not only was it comfy, but it was a thrill ride. I also only had to fill up once a day cuz I get 41 mpg