I've decided to put down some thoughts of what I've learned daily driving my R56 hatch in the harsh Erie, PA winters. Specifically I live in the snowbelt just south of Erie where we get 100 to 250 inches of snow per year.

The good:
These cars have very good traction when fitted with snow tires, very rarely am I concerned that it will not start to move.
The fully defeatable traction control is wonderful, I never use it in winter driving.
The cloth heated seats get hot, and quickly!
The hand brake is easy to access and that makes swinging the rear end around fun and easy.
Windshield is super easy to brush snow off of.
Minis are just fun to slide around, lift off oversteer is a hoot to catch.

The bad:
Ground clearance, with the JCW splitter especially, it only clears about 4 inches of snow. Once the snow on the road is much deeper than 6 inches snow will fly over the front and cause visibility issues.
Rear window has no wiper. This is probably my biggest peeve. Snow swirls and sticks to the back end very quickly making it impossible to see out of the rear window. The defroster doesn't have the guts to keep up with it.
Wheel wells pick up snow easily and fill in around the wheels. The front ones get so packed that steering stops working, rear wells fill untill the suspension is packed and it won't operate.
Windshield washer system is not in a warm spot of the engine bay and likes to freeze.
Rear hatch button gets iced over when driving and becomes super difficult to operate. Mini really should have put a hatch release button inside as well.


So from what I've experienced, an R56 Mini is great fun in the snow and can go everywhere I've ever asked it to go, but it has some draw backs. Most of the issues listed are things I have not experienced in my other cars in the winter, an Oldsmobile Eighty Eight and a BMW e39 M5. Both of those cars tackled winter with no problems aside from the ice imbalance in the wheels which I've experienced in every car.

 

Yours doesn't have a rear wiper? Did someone remove it and plug the hole? I love driving mine in the winter. It's very fun to pass subarus and suvs all day.

 

I have the winter package which includes heated washer fluid and heated mirrors. I also have a set of steelies with snow tires, which helps a lot. I'd love driving mine in the winter a whole lot more if I didn't have to worry about all of the other drivers.

 

 

Nice

 

Nice picture! I have a nearly identical one of the E39 M5 I used to own. Same sunset and icy snowy landscape.
E39 M5 sunset ice.
Previous owner installed the GP rear wing which comes bonded to the window. The GP didn't come with a rear wiper so he deleted the wiper and washer system. He tried drilling the glass for the wiper and ended up breaking it, so he bought another wing and window and just deleted the wiper system.

You are correct that they are a blast in the snow. Mini blasting thru snow!

 

Love it. Sort of an apocalyptic look.

 

Its just odd your biggest peeve is just the prior owners fault lol. You could probably fix it if you really wanted to.

 

you do know you can fill with anti-freeze washer fluid..

 

Yes, get the rainX orange windshield washer stuff if it gets really cold, the blue stuff will freeze up if we have a chill like we did here a couple weeks ago when it was like -9 and -22 wind chill.

 

You can the rear bumpers can rust.

Had to replace rear bumper last Spring after noticing some odd movement of bumper cover. Not to mention rear wipers should be replaced as in the whole arm, the ferrel also rusts to wiper arm.
The winter can beat up these cars, just sayin I had to buy a real winter vehicle.

 

Looks amazing man. Question: where did you get your roof cross bars? I want to throw a roof basket on top and I haven't really been able to find any cross bars that aren't insanely priced.

 

Factory MINI roof rails I had painted black.

 

This is my 2nd winter with my R56 and I couldn’t be happier with its performance thus far. With a good set of winter tires it feels stable and planted. With careful driving, it goes wherever I need it to (within reason). I live in NYC and have been caught in a couple of New England blizzards with it as well and it got me through unscathed.

 

He had a vision for the car, to make it as close to a road going Mini Challenge car as possible. He did an awesome job. Because he couldnt get the hole in the glass he deleted the entire rear wiper system. Washer pump, lines, electrical, control stalk, everything. I don't need or want to goto the effort of putting that all back in, plus I like the GP wing so I wouldn't want to lose that.
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