Just got back from a roadtrip through Colorado for the past week. While stopping in Frisco (CO) to top off the tank I came across two R56's being worked on at a small shop in the gas station.

Being the nosy bastard I am, I quizzed the guy at the register who indicated they were installing new turbos on them. I go out and speak to the guy working on it and discovered that he was a BMW field engineer and these were road test Coopers from Death Valley. I couldn't snag any pics but the new turbos looked slightly bigger. The inside of the MINI's had laptops and instruments hooked up on the dash. I wish I could have gotten more out of the engineer, but his English and my German were both spotty.

All in all it was pretty neat to see.

Roughly 45 mins later I got to drive side by side with what I think was the new Corvette prototype as well. Very masked up and not driven by a 'friendly' individual either...

 

Should have snapped a few pic's from distance and sold them to the mags.

 

I thought i read somewhere that the 2010 mid-cycle refresh might include higher HP numbers...i wonder if that is what they were testing...

 

WHAT, higher HP?! :(
I really don't want to trade mine in, yet hate the idea that there will be faster ones out there than mine. ...what to do?!

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there already is a faster one. It is called a JCW.

The 2nd Gen S got the brakes of the 1st Gen. JCW. Perhaps the 2010 S will be getting current JCW turbo. If so, it would probably also need the JCW transmission and pistons as well.

 

Well that sucks! I just ordered a 2010! I'm guessing these changes will be for model year 2011, right?

 

I am well aware of the JCW, ...yet my Mini is already as fast as a stock JCW w/ the upgrades I've put on my car.

(ECU tuning chip, DDM street intake, Helix FMIC).

It's just getting harder and harder to keep up w/ the faster and faster Mini's they are making! (When I bought my 2008 MCS, they didn't offer an R56 JCW -or I would have bought it). Anyway, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my MCS.

 

There will always be a Mini faster than yours- it's Darwins second law.

 

It's not the hp I need....it's keeping the front end planted! Get me a fix, brotha.

 

you don't want a 2011... give them a year or two to work the bugs out of the changes.

 

of course ...maybe my original email came off as too serious.

 

Hmm... I think I will be doing a little drive up to Frisco over the weekend.

 

Quite true I remember with my 2002 Electric Blue MCS that I had it in the shop at least twice a week until BMW got fed up and shipped it to Germany. Drove a BMW X3 3.0i (Again the first model that came out) had some problems... Now MCS 2008 nearly no problems except for the sunroof and the windows that stopped because the sensors thought something was obstructing it...

 

There should be a huge difference in quality between the '02 and the '11 mid-cycle refresh. The '02 was the first year of a completely new design and by all accounts it took several years to get most of the bugs out--issues that fill the NAM archives. The '07 R56 was a bit buggy too; however, many of those problems have since been mitigated in later model years with improved design of components (to wit: the timing chain tensioner).

As I understand it, the '11 MINI (or whenever the refresh emerges) will essentially be the same basic design as the R56 so it will benefit from all of the R56 lessons learned. It's hard to imagine that the changes to the '11 model will be significant enough to generate a whole new suite of bugs and issues -- particularly since several of the changes in the refresh are specifically to improve upon the R56's real and perceived shortcomings.

 

My SA told me BMW/PSA determined the Prince can carry a twin-turbo system, so I wonder if something like that will be introduced, maybe in the JCW?

Also heard that while MINI will retain the Aisin auto tranny in their base models, the S's and JCW's will offer a dry-clutch, SMG-type 7-speed automatic (hmm, Aisin recently developed one of those for small, <250hp FWD cars?) as an option. Hopefully it wont be as expensive as the PDK offered by Porsche, nearly $6,000 I think it is.

My arthritic left knee and my lead right foot loves hearing stuff like this! If both of these happen, woo-hoo boy look out....

 

AWD, brotha. Amen!

 

I went to my dealer recently to order the JCW kit. My representative told me that if I wanted to wait a new kit is coming out. He called it a "stage II" kit and by "stage II" he was not referring to the JCW MINI.

 

Oh thats trouble! One of the only reason's i'd consider replacing my MCSa with a newer model is if MINI integrated a DSG like transmission. I guess only time will tell... but it definately perks up my interest

 

trouble is right. the only thing that prevented me from ordering a factory JCW was there was no option for a high performance, dry-clutch automatic gearbox like what VW and Porsche offer. If MINI does this, I'll prob be first in line. 7 speeds and no fluid couplings? Yum

I also believe that by the end of the next decade the further development, refinement, and widespread utilization of these kind of hi-tech auto trannies will result in clutch-driven manuals, as we know them now, only being offered on the most elite level of performance cars--and prob then as an option, gated-style.

Please dont rip me, stick-heads, for I (and others who feel this way, including my MA and a couple SAE friends) could be wrong. It's just that all the current signs are pointing to significant changes in transmission technology and performance culture.

 

cool rumors but don't hold your breath

 

I wonder about that. When they put a larger turbo in the JCW they determined that it was necessary to use different pistons in the JCW.

 

Guys I think that the new engine may be the same as the Peugeot's new concept. It produces 218bhp thanks to an intercooler...

Here's the link for the Peugeot concept:
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evoc..._308_rc_z.html

 

Oh I never do, but speculation can be fun. Who knows what direction these cars will take?