To me MINIs are always about loving your ride...not just the car itself but what it does on the road and what it does to the driver. I was never a personal fan of R53, but most of my buddies drove/drive them so what am I going to say?? They love it...my opinion is my own. Same w/ R56. It's great and understandable to love the first gen car....but when folks start showing up at events and such thrilled w/ their R56 MINIs, can we at least give the car some degree of cred even if it isn't our choice? If we can stretch ourselves to do this at least, then yes, I think we are MINI enthusiasts. We still have our preferences....heck w/ all the options/packages/mods/variants available now...we almost have to have a preference!!!!!!

 

See my reply below.

 

I suspect the MINI is capable of drawing in a whole range of enthusiasts that other cars might not. Among the owners I know, the spectrum is huge...and so is their expectations of the car in terms of performance!!! Lots of different backgrounds...from muscle cars, to p-cars, to british sports cars, to bikes, and a bunch more. That's all a problem when trying to come up with one definition...but on the other hand it isn't from the perspective of having an interesting bunch of owners.

 

I agree with you, gokartride.

Maybe as the brand grows there will be harder-core "enthusiast" models as well as other variants aimed at slightly different segments. I'm eagerly awaiting the development of an AWD JCW retro "R53" variant. Please MINI, please oh please! I'll be ready for mine by 2010.

 

When MINI come out with a true 2 seater, then we can talk true "sports car"

Oh gees, there I go shooting from the hip Sorry

Mark

 

Oh, are there seats in the back in my MCS?

 

There are in mine, but they have been up about 10 times in the last 5 years, mostly to just wipe off the dog hair

Mark

 

[quote=ClubmanS;1973526]Not quite correct. The original Issigonis 1959 Mini was sold virtually unchanged from 1959 until October 5th, 2000. That is 41 years of the same model car, an absolute eternity in the automotive world.

Surfblue says: Incorrect. I assure you that there was not a piece of glass or metal panel/you name it that fit a 62 Cooper that fit the cars made later on. A 2000 Mini was a fairly complex machine compared to the "stark" 62 Cooper. That's not "virtually unchanged". Let's not take this personal, as these are simply FACTS.

 

Yeah, those Tauruses sucked. The one the lady of the house bought new ONLY ran trouble free beyond basic maintenance to over 225k miles. Now she's driving a Toyota Yaris that has gone over 34k with nothing but my diy oil/filter changes and tire rotations. I'm gonna bet that she'll have the last laugh when the history of my R56S is compared to the Yaris at the end. And the Yaris was $12.8k out the door! Of course, I fully realize that that's a YARIS, and I'm DRIVING a Mini! BTW, something that irks me about the R56S... I have to put the SPORT button on to get the type of instant tight throttle response that the Yaris has full time. Again, the acceleration levels are just a BIT different.

 

I like the way you think.

Dean.

 

Well... the general masses has got their R56... so now we just need that R53 variant in 2010... geared to the driving enthusiasts! Are you listening BMW?

 

Wow for someone who SOLD HIS R53 to buy a Porsche, you seem to have made quite a few posts about how great it was. One question, If you think that the R53 was such a great car, why don't you own one anymore?

BTW. I do agree that the R53 was a great car. I owned one. I loved it. It was totaled by some jerk in an F-150. I moved on. Maybe it is time for you to move on too.

 

I think the whole range of JCW tuning bits are going to provide the only R53-esque variants we are ever going to see. You watch, folks are going to do some neat stuff to R56, but it'll take some time. It will be up to the individual enthusiast to figure out the setup for their car, and a great deal of that will be available straight from the factory. That seems to be the way things are going...the full-on JCW car is pretty extreme (and so is the price, no doubt).

 

Q: What's the difference between Porsche and a porcupine?

A: With the Porsche the ***** is on the inside.

 

Please forgive me if I state anything incorrectly - as I recall Slag said he sold his R53 after only 3000 miles.

I put basically that many miles on a rental Ford I had to drive home across the country the day after 9-11.

Long live the 3000 MILE R53!

 

This thread had moved away from taking pokes at each other, and our choice of cars, lets keep it that way shall we

Mark

 

Ok, before I go further, my disclaimer is that I only have so much time for my automotive preoccupation until it interferes with things like job productivity, therefore, I basically have just enough time on forums to obsess over R53s and classic minis.

That said, what's the status on JCW R56s? Has MINI released the R56 version of my R53 JCW? I love my version, and during the three-year lease on my previous 2003 MCS, I daydreamed of having a fully-warranted factory JCW car. My dream came true, which is why i PURCHASED my '06 R53 JCW. I had the dealership install the JCW suspension, as it was not a factory option. I'm waayyy happy with this car. I have nothing against the R56 and haven't spent much time looking at it because, well... why should I?--the R53 JCW fit my description of a nearly perfect MINI. For me, all that's missing is AWD.

Ok, back to my question, is there an R56 version of my car? Not just floor mats, gearshift ***** and other expensive accessories, but actual performance components? Is there anything like a 230hp turbo? If so, just for kicks, I'll go test drive one.

 

Recently announced!

http://www.motoringfile.com/2008/02/...kit-in-detail/

 

^ and as you can see from the comments in the Motoringfile article, there is also a dealer-installed kit (sometimes called the stage-1 kit), which is cheaper and is already available.

 

Thanks, Ferroequine! Just looked through the MF review and Q&A. That's pretty exciting/interesting for the R56 development. One gripe I have about MINI R53 & R56 is that they keep branding cars as JCW, but still make you buy a la carte items such as SUSPENSION, LSD, what else?

I have never purchased an M3, but I don't think you have to chunk out another $2-10K to finish it off as real M3? I might be wrong, and, maybe BMW "accessorizes" their customers to death with items like $500 illuminated M3 sill plates which could be stuck on a basic 3 series just in case some weenie wants to impress/fool an eight-year old.

Ok, this is not a pretty post, but I still love my MINI. Just think the continued hyper-marketing of expensive appearance accessories and incomplete real performance packages is annoying. Had my JCW suspension been a factory option/package, I would not have had to return to the dealership three times before they finally installed it properly.

 

Thread Summary to date:

Slag1911: I hate the R56. I hate it I hate I hate I hate it. If BMW/MINI doesn't change it back I'm going to hold my breath till they do.

Rest of the thread: *background noise*

 

Where were you before I read several pages of this thread? You could have saved me some time.

 

Summary of thread... slag is kicking our collective R56 butts with factual data about our clown car... so we better turn to personal attacks and derail this thread quick!

 

I want whatever you're smoking.

 

i think it is the molten metal fumes