My dad has a 2010 Camaro SS, I keep trying to get him to sell it to get the GP...

He really likes the car but without any numbers (mainly price), it is hard for him to put a deposit on it.

Any suggestions on how to change his mind? ;D

 

Take him to test drive a JCW Coupe.

 

He wants to test drive a R56 JCW, he doesn't like style of the Coupe. But the local dealerships don't have any 2012 JCW hardtops in stock at the moment.

 

Batman driving his GP2

 

Ack! I want to see more pics. Please post when/if you can.

 

Okay, this is a request for a sound clip. From an iphone would be perfect. I want to hear it!

 

quick question, ...did they delete the rear seats (like the previous GP's)?


I want one, but can't have 2 2-seater sports cars. ...I NEED to have at least one car w/ 4 seats to drive my kids around (when the wife can't drive them in her car).

 

The car shown is not the final version. We have yet to see the production interior, so can't confirm if it will have rear seat delete. The pre-production car in the photos did have Recaro front AND rear seats, which would be fine with me.

With the prospect of a future R58 2-seat GP, I dont personally see the need to delete the rear seats from the R56 hardtop.

 

I think each GP should be sold with a rear seat delete kit. So you can have the rear seats or take them out when you want.

Btw in regards to the sound of the exhaust, as JackMac said, it is still not a final production version of it...the exhaust sounded just like a regular JCW. We will see if it is any different.

If it sounded like a MINI Challenge car then I would be very happy...

 

I'll chime in saying I'd love there to be a rear seat.

I know it has been rumored no rear seat, but I have wondered, like JackMac stated above, that with the 2 seat r58 GP on the way- why not have 4 seats in the R56?

 

Another thing, the picture in post 130...is it just the angle or is there some serious rear wheel tuck!

 

I'll take a NAV system with MINI connected over back seats.

I have no need for back seats and the thought of putting some clunky, stupid, hard-to-hear, hard-to-see, window-mounted or dash-mounted squawk box on my dash along with the necessary dangly cable for my iPhone on doesn't appeal to me at all. I still can't believe they aren't likely to allow me to order mine with MINI Connected and NAV. It's 2012 for crying out loud. It's a connected world. I'll probably b**tch about this until the day I drive it off the lot, then I'm sure the driving experience will make me shut up about it.

 

It's probably because the car is accelerating

 

[QUOTE=Kurtster;3547674]I'll take a NAV system with MINI connected over back seats.QUOTE]

Why are people obsessed with NAV and Connected? Get in and drive, I think less is more.

 

The GP has a different focus. Lightness + handling + power + aerodynamics is the forumula.

 

I can add that the MINI guy who climbed out of the R56 GP at the Chicago stop of MTTS2012 (Sunday, 7/8/12) said to me, "Back seat? Right, this isn't the final interior in this one. The production ones won't have a back seat, and will have a cross-brace."

 

[quote=Drewbrese;3547872]From what I read online I think I may be the only one in the world who could be called "obsessed" with it. Living in Boston, I'm surprised there aren't more like me. Would it kill the town planners to put on the street names wherever you go? I hate that part of living here. Somehow I often end up driving for too long on a road with no signs to tell me what road I'm on, only the across streets. It's ridiculous. By the time we colonized my home state of California, they figured out that street signs on every corner helps people get where they need to go easier than telling driver to "Cut it hahd just after the bahn then make a left after the Dunkin' Donuts..." I can't imagine living here without navigation but clearly you and others do just fine. If worse comes to worse I'll live with a Garmin cluttering my dash.

As for Connected, I have tens of thousands of songs on iCloud, I work in the audio industry and I get my news on my morning commute so my sound system is important to me. I use Facebook and Foursquare daily. My wife's MINI has Bluetooth hands-free operation and it's infinitely better and safer than driving with my hand to my head. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect modern features on a modern car, especially one that costs as much as these do.

Yes, I've heard the comments that this isn't what the GP is made for, and it has a "formula" but the truth is that just because a car is built to achieve certain specifications doesn't mean that only the customer who wants those exact specs will be interested in buying it or is the only one who should. I want to own the fastest production MINI ever. I don't want to have to use a hand crank to turn it over because a starter would add weight. It's 2012. Cars half the price of this one have screens in them these days. I just wish they'd standardize on that as an essential like the gauge cluster.

Every day isn't the Indy 500 for me but I love sports car driving when I feel the urge. I'm not buying it to park it in a garage hoping it will appreciate in value. I'm just letting off steam among friends here because the fastest, coolest version of the most configurable car in the world isn't very configurable at all and I don't think it would put MINI out too much to let owners customize it a bit. If I could add the factory NAV as an aftermarket piece I would, but that's not even an option so the only way I can get it is if they put it on at the factory, which nobody seems to think is important (except me).

More pics, please.

 

Interesting perspective. I grew up in Boston and street signs have never been a problem for me. I don't even use a GPS unless I'm really lost.

 

I forgot to mention that I can sound like a bit of a smart **** sometimes but I don't mean it that way. I have mad respect for all of you here. I'm about to buy my 2nd MINI, in part because being a part of this community has been the best of any car I've owned. It sold my wife on her Clubman (I had nothing to do with that) so we'll be a two-MINI family once again come November.

 

No worries, this thread was created to discuss the GP2, virtues, faults, all of it. If I were ordering a MINI today it would have Navi + Connected, BT, Comfort Access, all the bells and whistles.

Any other MINI can have these items. The GP is a one-off with a different goal (sorry, I know you are tired of that one!). I have a GP now too, and it has brought a different perspective. That car has no options at all, just heated sport seats. But you find that you don't miss any of the convenience items when driving a GP. The lack of those items is compensated by the performance and handling of the car, and the sounds that it makes when you drive. The radio is almost never used.

We don't know the final GP2 product yet. Maybe there will be options, who knows? The 1 Series M Coupe had some options available IIRC.

 

One more from MINI HQ



One more where you can see the adjustable suspension



And two more from the UK car at Goodwood

 

Oh, man that front view looks great!

 

[quote=Kurtster;3548036]Good stuff. Also, the mess of streets in Boston keeps the tourists confused and keeps them from congesting my neighborhood and favorite restaurants/bars. I think it was a pretty keen move by city planners back in the 1700's!

 

MotoringFile is reporting that the R58 GP Coupe is cancelled. I always take these reports with a grain of salt, as they don't always get it right (even when using inside sources). But this helps to rationalize a 2 seater GP hardtop with rear seats deleted.

 

[quote=Kurtster;3548036]My favorite part of your well-written post.

IIRC, a wrinkle of the original GPs was that they were actually assembled elsewhere (in Italy?). Now: that would then add some need to have them produced only one "way", so that the usual zillion MINI combinations need not be stocked / trucked to some other place.

*Are they* assembling the R56 GP in Oxford? If so...well, yeah, why couldn't they add some creature comforts? OTOH, that picture may look like: they're going to crank out 2000 of them, all alike, then return the line to the "normal" everyone's-different mode. We shall see, just trying to think through it.