Hey guys

I recently test drive a 06 MSC. it was fairly new with only about 20K miles on it. A huge difference i noticed between driving a R53 and a new R56 was that it took so much to steer and turn the steering wheel.

Is this normal? The person selling said they went to get it checked but the mini dealership said it was normal. Anyone have experience with an R56 and a R53, please chime in.

 

Hi,

I had a R50 and have an R55 (basically gen 1 vs gen 2), and yes the gen 1 cars had much tighter steering. I preferred it actually. The 'sport' mode on the R56 should tighten it up.

 

The first gen R50 and R53 have much lighter, more responsive steering.

 

At low speed the R53 has very heavy steering, much heavier than the R50 or R56 quite disconcertingly so. At highway speeds I found the R53 got very light, much lighter than the R56 with sport mode.

I prefer the R56 (in sport mode) with respect to steering feel.

 

My R53 (and the few I test drove) had relatively heavy weighting with a very distinct on-center feel, sharp turn-in response, and absolutely no dead-zone what-so-ever. I haven't personally compared it to a R56 (yet), but that should at least give you some subjective points to reference. Definitely try both regular and sport modes on the R56 as I believe the purpose of having the two modes is to make the car easier to drive in situations where you don't need the edge of sport-mode, which may account for the difference you're feeling.

 

Just test drove another R56 today and the R56 has that like progressive steering thing where its light at low speeds and tightens up with speed. The R53 is very heavy at low speeds because it does not have this feature. I noticed the difference immediately when I got back in my car. So to answer the question there's nothing wrong the R53, just different.

 

thanks guys! thats what u kinda figured but just wanted to make sure.
im a girl and didnt want to develop some manly forearms from driving the first gen mini S. i think ill stick with the r56.

 

The 1st gen's actually do have speed sensitive steering, which people say is more extreme than 2nd gen. At low speeds you have to turn the wheel quite a bit, while at high speeds the slightest turn of the wheel will really move the car.

Either way, the steering shouldn't really be HEAVY even just pulling out of a parking space as it is power steering. If it's difficult to turn the wheel at any more than a couple mph, there's probably something wrong with the power steering.