The Dec issue of Automobile Mag just arrived, and they have a writeup of the '07, driving from Barcelona (one of my favorite cities) to Andorra.

"We blast from Barcelona to Andorra in the 2007 Mini (sic) Cooper S -- and rediscover the joy of taking a journey for the journey itself".

Here's a scan of the article. Size ~556K

Also a review of the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider concept, and Audi R8

 

I read this in the bookstore the other day in about 10 minutes. This story is OK, sort of a fluffy travel piece first and first impression drive second. There are much better first drive reviews of R56 out there, ones that could care less about the local flavor and purdy countryside and more about all the improvements and refinements the new car has to offer. I 'spect there will be more here in the next couple months as well.

 

Sequence,

You're right on the money with that piece being more concerned with fluff than stuff. I didn't really get anything more than a poor feeling about the R56's capabilities, quality and soul. Guess I'll have to wait for a head to head camparo between the R53 and the R56 by a NAMer.

 

That's got to be one of the worst reviews I've ever read on any new car. Not really a review at all it had just about zero content on the car itself.

 

pretty poor writing for "Automobile" Magazine, but just about right for Travel Magazine.

 

you're right, I'm changing the description from 'review' to 'writeup' :-)

 

i'm waiting for Road and Track and Car and Driver reviews, both loved the first gen car, and I can hardly wait to see wait they think of the new one.

sure glad I didnt shell out $$ for that Automobile issue.

 

I would agree that the article didn't say anything we haven't heard before... and MONTHS before, at that... and it is very much a travel piece vs. a dedicated car review...

...but where is there any indication in the article indicating poor handling, capabilities, quality or soul? What little meat there was in the blurb mentioned that it was twitchey while cruising on the highway, but handled "right on the money" through the mountain passes offering good feedback, despite the design question of the electronic asisted stearing (5th page). As far as power "this car is notably punchier than the old supercharged S". "More impressive is the way the front axel maximizes the shove away from the tighter turns" (little understaer and good pull out of corners-desptite the fact that the test car did not have a limited slip differential).

Now granted, the author hated the logical arrangement of the switchgear on the center console and questioned the larger speedo (as we all have here at NAM)... but made no mention as to the quality of the componetry (an area where every review that has mentioned it has said it has GREATLY improved from the R53).

Question "soul" all you want (In many areas I would agree, too)... but if your looking for someone who has driven both, check out www.mini2.com. The UK is getting their cars very soon and there are a number of posters that have done the R53 and R56 and are lending their opinion.

Heck the article isn't that good, anyway. The blurb about the car being "longer, wider and taller" isn't even accurate. You think he could have at least comparted the R53 and R56 spec sheets!

 

Personally I read MGCMAN's "poor feeling" as a criticism about the strengths of the article as a review, and not of the R56!

 

Well I liked the article. They got it right. Driving a Mini is done for the sake of driving itself. It's the esence of the experience. The technical aspects aside, it's the effect of a Mini that wins owners. Could be it's a left brain right brain thing and I'm becoming more right brain lately. The article describes exactly why I would purchase one of these gems.

 

"Poor feeling" was indeed in reference to the article and not the R56. I just had the impression that for spending as much time in the car as the author reports, we should have gotten a much more "readable" impression of the car's pros and cons. It just didn't happen. Kind of like how Andorra was a disappointment for the author, the article was for the reader.

 

Yeah they did something similar for the Bugatti Veyron: a 300 mile trapise around the Gulf coast with the company test car (and attached VWAG mechanic) that was more on the reactions by locals to this supercar rather than the Veyron itself (prob. because they couldn't get it out of 2nd gear ) and it was advertised as first drive.

I don't dislike Automobile, but they need to focus on the car, not the context they manufacture.

 

Ahhhhhh... OK. Sorry.

In that case, I would fully agree.