While waiting for delivery of my Clubman, my wife went with me to the dealer to see those weird little cars. She bought a MCS (AFTER WE MADE SURE THAT IT WAS LOADED TO THE GILLS). Took delivery last week but needed to get the invisible bra and windows tinted. We now have 500 miles on the car. She said she is "going to get her first ticket" with this car. I believe it. We were on the NJ Turnpike and she is doing 85 MPH! Of course she is grinning like Jack Nicholson in "The Joker". On the way back from the daytrip to a dog show, I drove. Holy Mackeral--I looked at the speedometer and I am doing 95 MPH! The ticket race is not what I want. It is responsive and fun. We waved and beeped at all the MINIs we saw--the gold one, the green one, the blue one and the all yellow one. In our unsophisticated survey that there are those who buy because they are inexpensive (MC) and those who buy because they are fun. We got the greatest response from those who appear to have bought for fun.

MORE SMILES FOR THE MILES

 

Yea, the MINI surprises me at freeway speeds as well. Cruise Control is your friend.

However, the speedo in MINI's are typically 5 to 10% optimistic. On the other hand most cars also have optimistic speedos.

 

I've not found this to be true - my 06 MCS is pretty accurate. At 50mph it's bang on with my GPS, 75mph shows faster than GPS and 130mph is a GPS confirmed 128mph.

However, as you can see, I have the see problem with highway speeds

 

Yes... "ooops, I am speeding (again)" is becoming my daily mantra. Kirky will be getting her Valentine in the next few days.

 

The R53 speedo may have been more accurate, although some say the GPS speed isn't. From this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=121797
You can see that quite a few R56 have speedo errors, and there are other threads on the subject.

Indeed! If you are doing 128 mph on California hwys it wont just be a ticket. Go straight to Jail, do not collect $200, and don't expect to see your license again.

 

Its easy to go fast in a MINI! I use cruise control just to ensure I don't go to fast on the freeway, something I have never had to do before. We purchased our first MINI three months ago and have had a blast driving it!

 

I would suggest that we keep the comments to having fun with our MINIs, and not breaking site guidelines by talking about breaking speed limits.

Mark

 

Without breaking the rules....I have to say the R56 (my first) and subsequently the R55 are some of the easiest cars for accidental spirited driving.

 

Breaking in a new Clubman doesn't mean going 95 mph.

And rather than test the top speed try testing the cruise control set at the speed limit of your roads.

Sounds like you might enjoy a High Performance Driving School event or two. Check around in your area for one. It's a safe place to learn car control and what you MINI can do.

 

My MINI does a 150 mph on the Autobahn and I give a *** if that is a real 135 or a couple of mph more or less. It is so amazing how well a literally small car like that goes even way above 120 mph. No sweat no panic, just joy!

Whenever I overtake some big Beamer, Merc or Audi at very high speeds, I look over to catch their surprised look at their own Speedo - the disbelief in their faces... absolutely sweet and priceless, never fails to produce a smile on my own face!

BTW, even on the Autobahn we do have sections (that stretch over miles) with speed limits of something like 50 mph or 65 mph and whenever I'm on those parts, I wish I had a cruise control to set it at an allowed speed, because whenever I don't pay attention to my speed I start speeding... the MCS goes so fast so easy - I love it!

The most enjoyable car I have ever driven in the 20 years of having my license!

 

I finally let the roommate drive the new mini this weekend, it was all over as soon as we hit the freeway. I gently reminded him that 30 over the limit isn't a good idea, he mumbled something about how big the speedo was and slowed down.

I think I've gotten much better, it's all a matter of getting used to how slow everything feels and not trying to compensate for it.

 

Carry one of these; it's so hokey it might work...

 

Get a radar detector.

 

This is exactly why i wish i had cruise control on my R53. It's waaay to easy for me to speed in this thing, although i am getting better.

Still trying to find info about adding it, money is not a concern to me.

 

In response to this thread
1. I went through thesame speeding phase until I got a warning for doing 70 mph in a 45 zone and that was within a quarter mile after accelerating from a standing start and I was not even flooring it! I rarely exceed the flow of traffic anymore by very much and use the acceleration factor as a rush to burst through traffic as needed. The speed control helps.
2. The speedometer with 17 inch wheels is highly accurate. At 73 mph indicated, the actual speed is 71 mph which is about 3 per cent optomistic.

Happy motoring.

 

Mine aren't. At within 1% of the OEM 17" tire O.D. my speedo is about 7% off.

 

You can set a speed alarm, too. I have mine set at 90, just in case.....

 

I know totally what you mean .... I said the same thing when I picked up mine last week...

 

I find that I use the cruise control all of the time, even on secondary roads, especially after traveling on the highway for several hours. The 30 - 40 mph of a secondary road can seem so slow that I find the cruise control is a great aid.

Depending upon which wheels and tires I am using determines what my speedo error is. When running my winter wheels with 185/65-15(24.4" dia.) tires my error is quite small, only 1 - 2 mph @ 60 - 70 mph. The stock summer tires were 195/55-15(24.4" dia.) were about the same. My current summer tires are 205/50-16(24.0" dia.) are off by about 3 - 5 mph @ 60 - 70 mph. My sticky tires are 215/45-16(23.6" dia.) are the furthest off at 5 - 7 mph @ 60 - 70 mph.

My wifes Audi A4 is only off by 1 mph @ 70 mph. I do not remember which size tires she is running, but I think they are a +1 over stock.

 

I let my bf drive my MCSC with me in the passenger seat this past Easter, and he is known by friends and family to not be a speeder. He found it amazing how stable the MINI was at speed, and didn't realize how fast he was going since the center speedo is also not something he is used to. To him, the car never felt like it was going fast, and I had to constantly remind him of the speed limit!