I am looking at picking up a Mini for daily driver use as well as for auto-x and some light fun, nothing serious.

I am trying to decide between a newer 08 R56 MCS M6 or going with an 06 R53 MCS JCW M6. If the price was the same, and the mileage and condition were similar, what would you choose and why?

Thanks,
Scott

 

the '06 with the supercharger and the JCW kit... win+win... but this is in the R56 forum so I'm gonna go away now.

 

I posted this in both sections to try and filter through the favoritisms and simply focus on the facts. I will go and drive the JCW tomorrow hopefully, already driven the R56, so I'll see what feels better to me. I was just curious about true advantages/disadvantages between one or the other. MPG seems to be a plus for the R56. I heard that the size was larger, but when I read the interior dimensions for both cars, they were almost exactly the same. .1" difference here and there. I think rear legroom was the only major difference which was 2", but I'm not too worried about rear leg room.

 

Now that the Accessport is out for the R56, the only way I would buy an R53 is if it was a GP... which there have been quite a few of in the marketplace lately.

 

R56 gets my vote because the R53 JCW is just a tuning kit, and it's a 2 year older car. The R56 turbo is probably a stronger engine for daily driving. But drive them both and see.

 

The 06 could be a factory JCW. Which means it has the upgraded JCW brakes for the r53 - which means it has the stock r56 brakes.

The R53 will have more HP then the r56 but the r56 would have MUCH more torque. The $900 worth of power mods on each and the r53 will get smoked (R56 Alta AP vs r53 pulley, intake, cat back)

The r56 would beat the r53 red light to redlight without mods. A long track MIGHT be different.

The r53 will cost more to modify for big power.

R56 will be smoother and more refined. The r53 will be more raw and go-cart like.

The r53 - sweet supercharger whine
The r56 - blow off valve and turbo whistle - neither of which sound as good as the supercharger.

There are things I miss about the r53 but I prefer the r56 more overall.

The R53 Factory JCW is a pretty nice ride. I wouldn't mind having one in addition to my r56 JCW.