Last tuesday I was given an 07 MINI as a loaner car from the local MINI dealer. My car is getting a new clutch at a local shop and my sister's MINI is getting a new windshield at the dealer, hence the loaner.

I was highly skeptical that the car would even begin to equal mine. And rightly so save these 4 things. They are the only new features I wish mine had.

1. The great new seats. These new seats provide much greater support for my back and shoulders and slightly better latteral support (though I couldn't test fully, this loaner has sub-par tires)

2. The interior colored LED lights. These are just plane cool.

3. The slight bumps on the C? pillar. Im not sure, but I think they are to upset airflow and prevent crap from accumulating on the boot. Can anyone confirm this?

4. The aluminum trailing arms. Lighter is better, especially in unsprung weight.

At any rate I cannot wait to get my car back. Should be monday, but I still have to drive the loaner back when my sister's new windsheild is in.

 

It is fun to have a chance to explore and appreciate the next member in the MINI family. There's a lot to like. But when you can go back to your own car and love it all the more...that's cool, too. There is, after all, a lot to like about each MINI variant. I've driven lots of highly modded MINIs but in the end was still enthralled w/ my Cooper. Go figure!!! It's easy to ctiticize and say one MINI is better than another, but I think MINI enthusiasts can appreciate the strengths and benefits of each car. I got an R56 automatic Cooper the other day as a loaner and had a blast. Nice car!!!

 

I agree with what gokartride said, plus nabeshin did you get an R56 MC or an R56 MCS as the loaner? If you haven't driven the R56 equavalient to your vehicle, it's not exactly fair to bunch all the R56s in with the one cooper you received as a loaner!

Kevin

 

3. Never heard anything for sure, but that's everybody's assumption why the spoilers are there. Does it work? Well the back of mine still gets dirtier than the rest of the car. Would it be worse without them? I'll never know...

What did they loan you? A basic MC? I'm wondering if it had the base seats, or the sports seats that are standard in the MCS.

Substandard tires? MC with 15" wheels? MCS with 16s?

 

Right...the new c-pillar profile is not meant to keep the boot cleaner. It does reportedly have other aerodynamic benefits though. It would be interesting to know more about this feature.

 

As regards the standard seats versus the Sport seats the only differance i saw was the side leg bolsters. I ordered the standard punched leather seats which are very comfortable, still have a side bolster, and let me slide my old Irish A$$ out of the seat.

 

Meh. I love my R56 MCS. People that come onto the R56 board just to talk about how inferior the R56s are to their own cars are, in most cases, saying more about themselves than the Minis the are supposedly "offering feedback" on.

If the only 2 big additions to the R56 found worthy of transfer over to the R53 were the ultimate fluff additions: the mood lighting, and the slight bumps on the "C" column, well... I'll go with Gabe's recent comparison on Motoring File. He managed to review the things that mattered in a meaningful way. I liked this part in particular:



MF Long-Term Review: 2007 Cooper S

I'll take an intelligent, proven enthusiast's, review over "the R56 is worse than mine except for 4 minor points" list any day. I think there's a forum for that type of feedback, and it's titled, "Coupe Talk (2002-2006)."

Sorry, but enough's enough of these non-R56-owners coming on and saying how bad the R56s are. If R56 owners, or long-distance test/review drivers, were coming on here and saying the car is a miserable pile of... Well, then it would be deserved "feedback." However, I trend is certainly waayyyyy against that, so maybe the ones with some deep-seated need to declare their own car's superiority by naysaying others need to get a little perspective and not be so bothered by the fact that there are people out there who got a later model car than yours, and actually found new might actually <HORRORS!> be at least OK, if not better.

Considering how heavily modded "Mayumi" is, it sounds like more kit car than Mini anyway. The body shell seems to be all that is still made up of any factory parts! It seems fairly unreasonable to get a dealership Cooper (which are usually about as stock as can be) and compare it to a Mini that even "Pimp My Ride" would look at and find little to do with.

 

I guess I am a sentimentalist. I like my car because it's my car. If the next MINI, would say, be able to fly or something, I would still feel my own to be better.

I realize that my car is modded and therefore isn't really comparable to the stock 07 MC. My sister's 02 MC is bone stock and would have provided a better comparison. Going with that, the 07 MC is far superior to the 02 MC.

Later this week I plan to test drive an 07 MCS. It will be interesting to see how fast it really is. If it is indeed faster stock than my modded car, so be it. I will never get rid of my car.

"Pimp My Ride" would add maybe 7 LCD tvs and something dumb like a washing machine in the back. Then jack it up and put 30" rims on it.

 

I have a feeling after a drive in your car with all the performance mods, the washing machine might come in handy to clean my soiled knickers!

But, yea, you're right. and the 7 LCD TVs would take up the last of the usable interior space. So they'd buld a balcony. With a wet bar. And a hottub. And...