I read several of the threads on how stiff the sport suspension is, but I still can't decide--can someone compare the stock MC well with another car's suspension? I test drove an MC and an MCS w/SS, but there were so many differences between the two I couldn't focus on the suspension. I really like some firmness, for instance, I love the Mazda 3 suspension, but our other car is an RSX, and the suspension is way too much for me--way too bouncy. I don't have a lot of car knowledge, so I don't really know what causes different driving experiences, like sway bars vs. springs. I plan to get 16 in wheels. Can anybody help me out? (p.s.--this is my first post, be nice )

 

Surfblue says:
You owe it to yourself to drive some more demos. One thing to remember is your wheel size choice will have a lot to do with how the car rides. My study before ordering gave me this piece of info: The engineers of the R56 felt it was optimum handling and riding all around with SS and 16" wheels. 17's and up are going to give you a harsher ride. I went with SS and 16's, and even the lady of the house says it rides just fine. And I'll assure you that it's a blast on the backroads, rough or smooth. See my gallery, the basic setup of my car is listed under the picture of it sitting among that roadside greenery and that little bridge. That little sixty two cooper felt like it had two by fours where the shocks go in comparison to the 07, btw, and the Grinnall Scorpion will rattle your teeth on a rough road....so my view may be skewed by those two. Reading what you say about your RSX and your "bouncey" comment, I think you'll find an MC or MCS with 16's and sport suspension will be ok for you all around. You might even decide that 17's are ok, and you could always buy the car with 16's and get some aftermarket wheels to swap on it after a while for a change of pace...keeping the 16's for backup etc. But seriously, go find a demo that matches your potential package, or go meet up with the local Mini guys and find some cars to compare with. But do go back to the dealer and drive some more, and don't be embarrassed about it. Heck, I know a guy who took a dozen trips to a music store over six months before he made up his mind on a new acoustic guitar (that would be my dad). You're going to have that Mini a while...get your feelings for the different setups sorted out BEFORE you order.

 

I guess I should do some more drivin'. Actually, I ordered an 08' several months ago. My MA was pretty bad (I won't say where) and several of the things I asked/requested were answered incorrectly or mis-ordered--I was told my MC would have no spare tire, there would be bulbs where my fog lights would go if I didn't order them (I don't think this is true), and that the MFSW was $500. I was not even aware I had ordered SS (he recited the 07' sports package equip at the time of ordering) until much later. It was a flustering experience for me. Luckily the deposit is 100% refundable; I am thinking of bailing and reordering, since my status has been awaiting transit for about a month and I have gone so long without a car it doesn't really matter how long the wait is if I get what I want.

 

Find a new MA and reorder. The MC has a spare, and a piece of plastic goes over the fog holes if not ordered. MFSW was 500 dollars at one time.

 

Yea, fire him and reorder from someone who knows something about R56 coopers. That could get you in trouble. Sounds like he should be selling pencils on the corner.

 

I had two Mazda 3's --- if you think that they had a sporty suspension, then you might not like a Mini's Sport Suspension. The Mazda is a soft/plush ride by comparison.
The standard Mini suspension is quite good without too much harshness; much firmer than the MZ3. The Sport Suspension on a Mini will be more capable but yield a harsher ride.
I like the harsher ride, myself --- hence the MZ3 trade. I prefer a car that I can whip around corners. Gimme lateral G's, please; yum.

 

I've only had my MCSa w/SS for a week but I'll try to describe the suspension and comparisons to the non SS and the Mazda 3 which I traded-in for the MCSa.

My initial impressions of the SS is "WHOA! This thing is lively!" Basically it really caught me off guard. It made the car feel as if it was going to literally POP itself right off the road and was a bit disconcerting. I'm over that now. I find the MCS ride to be harsh over anything but smooth roadway with whatever combination of suspension/wheels I drove it with so I was expecting the harshness. I wasn't expecting the extra pop or spring that the SS provides. After driving it for a week I actually prefer the SS. Even though the initial hit against a rough patch is felt in the shoulders and head more it also feels as if the car recovers much faster then the normal suspension. On my way into the office there is a crest in the roadway where some railroad tracks are. On my first day driving I really wasn't comfortable driving over them as it just felt like the car was so stiff it was going to launch itself up into the stratosphere. After a week, I hit that crest as fast as I want. The initial bump against the railroad track is pretty jarring but the tires keep themselves firmly planted against the roadway and it feels that the only thing raising itself up is the body of the car. The tires just stay firmly planted against the asphalt, steering never gets lite, and its a wonderful driving experience. This feeling is what I mean when I say the car recovers quicker with the SS. When I test drove the MCS without the SS and would hit a rough patch it seemed to take the car a little longer to get that firmly planted feeling back and the steering response to return to normal.

The Mazda 3 (mine was an '04 with almost 70000 miles on it) I felt had a good suspension as it wasn't too stiff nor was it all that comfortable but it was more comfortable then the MCS. It certainly had far more body roll in the corners and hitting things like the crest described above would make the steering all kinds of loose/lite. The Mazda 3 just felt like it "traveled" more so the car would absorb/flex more of the road then your body. While this can be fun once you get used to it, it is certainly not the characteristics of a well handling car. Compared to the Mazda 3 the MCS is stiff with or without the SS. They are just very different cars. The Mazda 3 has much liter steering so when the steering gets lite on the 3 it _really_ gets lite. The 3 just starts to feel as if the car doesn't have enough weight to allow you to drive it hard after being the MCS for a while. For cruising around town the Mazda 3 is going to be more comfortable all around compared to the MCS.

In summary: Compared to the Mazda 3 the MCS is stiff and will throw you around a lot more but the MCS also handles a lot better. It's a good trade-off in my opinion as long as you don't have back problems. When comparing the sport to the standard suspension I think it is worth it. With the sport you feel it more when the road surface changes which also means you feel _all_ the road surface changes. The positive result of this is that the change in road surface does not effect the handling of the MCS with the sport as much as it does on the standard.

 

We have a 3 in our household as well and if you really like the suspension tuning of that the base suspension will be more than plenty for you. Even though it's the base suspension it'll still handle better then the 3 and the ride is pretty decent. I'd go for that as its a very nice compromise for someone who really wants a good ride and who isn't going to push the car all that hard
Mike

 

This is a very difficult question to respond to. We are all so different in our perceptions that one person will experience a particular car as soft, while to another person, it may seem too harsh. My '07 MCS was ordered with the sport suspension and 16" runflat tires. I liked the way it felt, but at the same time, I felt that runflat tires allowed too much harshness from small sharp bumps to come into the car. After I fitted 17" wheels with new Potenza 215/45 tires, the car felt just right to me. Of course my wife complained that the car had "bad shocks," a complaint that she voices about any car I drive that feels good to me. I have since fitted H&R springs, keeping the rest of the suspension alone. Now the ride is back to about where it was with the 16" runflats. But there is a difference: the small harsh bumps are less of a problem, but big hits come through suspension more, so hitting a real pot hole is annoying. I can live with it very nicely because of the improvement in the car's handling and feel.

I hope this is helpful. As I started out saying, making sense of other people's subjective impressions is difficult, at best. I regard the MCS as a sports car, and as such expect it to be a bit edgy, but also very communicative as to what is going on where the rubber meets the road. I have never driven a Mini Cooper S with the basic suspension, but my attitude toward cars leads me to suggest to anyone to go with the sport suspension. The components are very inexpensive when ordered on a new car, just a fraction of what the parts would cost as after market products. If it should turn out that you simply can't stand the sport suspension it should be easy to find someone willing to trade you their stock suspension parts for your sport suspension parts.

I hope this is helpful; maybe it will be when added to other people's opinions,

Joe

 

I ordered my MCS with sport suspension and the 16" wheels. It is stiff compared to most cars. It is definitely stiffer than my sisters Mazda 3 (2.3 S model). It is not as harsh as either of my fox-body 5.0 Mustangs that I owned in the early 90's, esp. the '89 model. And, that is how I would characterize the suspension; stiff, but not harsh. I haven't had it bottom or hit really hard on any road imperfection. The place where I feel it the most is over a dip in the road, similar to a frost heave. I believe it would toss you out of the seat over those types of road imperfections were it not for the belt. You definitely want to take it easy over speed bumps in parking lots.

My opinion (and that's all it is, since ride comfort is such a personal issue, influenced by things like your build, the seats in the car, road conditions in your area, etc., and really cannot be "quantified" as you requested) is that if you live in an area with a lot of rough roads with potholes, uneven pavement, frost heaves, or do a lot of backroad driving, and are calibrated towards the Mazda, you might like the standard suspension better. However, I live in the South and drive secondary highways, city streets, and interstate, and it is not my daily driver. So, I don't have any real problems with the sport suspension. I do think I made the right choice by moderating it with the 16" wheels, and wouldn't want it any stiffer. Hope this helps.

 

..it was pretty clear to me that the Sport option provided a more firm, more confidence-inspiring ride without being too harsh.....subjectively, the turn in response was marginally better and that's all i can attest to.....for a more objective determination, BMW-Mini NA should be able to provide spring rates and anti-roll sizes and whatever else may constitute the difference between sport and non-sport....maybe even skid pad results? Nah, just dreaming...

 

Wow, thanks for all the helpful opinions, guys!! So the opinion seems to be that the Mazda3 has a lot of body roll. . .that's really funny to me, because I think I have so little car experience that body roll makes a car feel very sporty to me (don't flame, take into consideration that I drove a Tercel for nearly 10 years during my hippie grad school phase). Also, the roads here are terrible; I'm not sure I want to be too wired into the driving feedback. I like to think of myself as a car girl, but I am coming to the realization that my driving style is more "wild granny" than hell on wheels. I guess that means I am getting old. . .

Oddly enough, as soon as I posted that I didn't know where my car was, I got a sales survey from Mini. Curious, I checked on my car status, to see that the OL now says it has been at the dealer since 12/30. I know they need a few days to clean it up, but it makes me wonder if something happened, since by my contract they can sell the car if I don't pick it up w/in 3 days of delivery. I would think my MA would have called me, since I obviously need to make arrangements both to get together the funds and get a ride there. I am too curious to see how this will play out to call the dealer. Hmmm. . .

 

_______________________________

...rule #1....don't ever believe a dealer.....especially the sales dept....not that they don't sometimes tell you the truth mind you...

 

I'm very interested in your comments regarding the H&R springs. Every one I've talked to has told me that they actually improve the ride over stock. I'm looking to add a set of lowering springs and am contemplating between the H&R's (lower, which I like) or Mach V's (softer than the H&R's, which I also like, but marginally higher ride height). With 215/35/18 tires going on soon, non-RF though, thank goodness, the last thing I want to do is make the ride any worse.

 

I had the sport suspension and thought it was a lot like my 10 year old stock 6 cylinder Camry, which by the way was about as fast as the new R56. It did ok until the corners where it felt like marshmellows. Plus it couldn't handle the power of the engine and created a shocker of a torque pull. So I switched to the JCW suspension asap and all improved. I wouldn't waste my money on the Sport suspension.

 

Agreed. I don't have the JCW suspension, but have taken numerous drives in MINI's with it and others with the sport suspension. I'd either go stock suspension or JCW. Only way I'd recommend SS is if you absolutely can't afford JCW.

 

Msteadman you are right to think twice about the spring choice. I have the softer Mach V springs and they simply can't hold the weight of the car especially with more than one passenger and they allow the tires to rub constantly on any bump. I'm afraid I may have made a $600 mistake by buying and installing them, plus it will cost me more to change back to JCW springs.

 

Crap, so the H&R's are too hard (and I'm also concerned that they're too low for 18's + the roads I drive) while the Mach V's are too soft... Coilovers are way out of budget and I'm scared my MINI will look absolutely ridiculous with low profile 18's and no drop.

What size tires do you have, flaco?

 

_________________________________________

....my advice is to be very careful about changing spring heights.....the issue is the shocks.....with a lower spring height you change the working range of the shock absorber.....on the Porsches (993) we found that when changing to lower height H&R , the factory shock lasted 10,000 at best....H&R came out with a system that included the shock and it has been very well received......i'm waiting for Dinan

 

215/45ZR-17 Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season XL$520.00N/CN/C17x7.5 SSR Type C RS Anthracite

 

Yea, that's my primary worry about lowering springs in general when you're not changing out the shocks. Especially since the R56 has very little suspension travel in stock form. Only reason I'm considering them is because of my planned wheel/tire change... Also would be great to get rid of some torque steer and that whole SUV look which the R56 has from the factory. Those two issues I know the lowering springs tackle quite nicely.

Will have to check around how long other NAM'ers have had their H&R's on for. Quite a few have them, but all the installs seem to be relatively recent. Very few R56's in general that I know of with over 10K miles.

 

Hey M,

If I had to do it over, I would go with the 215/40 or 45's/18 instead of the 35's. I think the extra height in the side wall would go a long way to improving the harshness. I'm a little dismayed with the harshness over the God aweful speed bumps around here. Almost have to come to a complete stop to ride over them. I can understand slowing down traffic, but this is a sham!

 

Wow, that definitely makes me think a bit harder. Especially since the roads where I am aren't horrible, but they certainly aren't that great either. Also I'll be taking lots of road trips in my MINI, so I'll need a wheel/tire that can stand up to all kinds of roads.

215/40 I'm definitely gonna look at. 215/45 I'd be scared about fitment issues with. It's over an inch larger in diameter larger than my stock 16's and almost an inch and a half larger than the stock 17's. Speedo will be way off.

I'm also contemplating going with a wider tire since it effectively adds to sidewall height as well, even keeping the same profile. Only problem is then I'll have to deal with possible rubbing issues. Especially if I do go ahead and lower it.

Depending I really may resort to 17's. I love the look of 18's but I just don't know... Would save me a ton, great ride and on a MINI (especially lowered) they look pretty big anyway. We'll see.

Curious to know if your 35's are rough just over speed bumps or more in general? Thanks so much for the feedback! It's highly appreciated.