Specificlly for those who were there (Dave, Gabe, a few others perhaps):

Were the panel gaps between the hood and fendes as bad in person as some have implied?

From the pics Dave took of the SS/BLK/Redwood Red car... they look pretty darn tight and very uniform. Definately not as noticable as on some of the earlier pics we were seeing posted:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=91331

Did MINI make any mention of this at the event?

Is it camera trickery, just the SS color choice masking the gap some (darker seems to be less-noticable), or have they tightened this up considerably?

Gawd... it's shaping up to be a beautiful car. I can't wait to drive it! Listening to Dave and Gabe go around the track (www.whiteroofradio.com) was both very cool and very difficult at the same time. I'm pretty sure I've been on that track outside Phoenix (Tempe, technically?). Dunlop Driver's Cup and Bondurant's Driving School. I think I could pretty much envision exactly where you guys were at... uggghhhh... I want to play, too!!!

 

Reading a thread on MINI2, it seems like MINI did a recall to adjust the gap. Attached is the before pic and after pic.

 

aznqt - are you coming to the MINI of Peabody R56 unveiling on the 16th? I guess we'll see the gaps for ourselves then!

 

lucky... my dealer's not doing an unveiling party until the 23rd and 24th...

...we get screwed on the west coast!

 

thats good that they fixed the gap

 

I believe that is a UK car. There is quite a bit of discussion on the gaps on that forum.
I'm still unclear whether the US models will have a factory fix to the bonnets or will the dealership be required to tweek it to the correct.
I think MINI2 indicated that the issue was preDec builds. I do not think any US builds happened before January so if what I read is correct we should be good. If not then the dealers (in the UK anyway) have the spec to get the bonnets to within acceptable tollerances.
This was a concern for me so I've been keeping a eye out.
The AZ cars are not being catagorized as "production cars" -- I think Dave mentioned this, so those cars might not be a good representation.

 

Yes I will attend the MINI of Peabody unveiling and I'm also going to Herb Chamber's unveiling on 18th as well.

 

Not the F1 Boston - they cancelled that but they still haven't taken down the website announcement :(
I was told an alternate plan was being worked on but I still haven't heard anything more ...

 

Rich at Herb Chambers said it's going to be at Gillette Stadium instead of F1.

 

Well, by "fixed" MINI was trying to make sure it was at least uniform along all of the areas where the hood runs close to another panel. Making it uniform is an attainible QC goal (hence the service bulletin).

...but I'm afraid eliminating, or even minimizing more than what we're seeing... especially the overslam area over the front fenders... will be pretty much impossible with this design.

That said, the SS car Dave shot in Arizona looks great. Better than I've seen anywhere else. I was just just curious if it's the car, the color, or some trick photography on Dave's part. Only someone who has seen the car up close would know.

 

Well, darker colors do help conceal that gap. We were told that MINI was making the U.S. market cars (the ones customers will get) from revised tooling dies, so the panel gaps should be pretty good in general, but lighter colors will show them more than darker colors. Also, the gap on the Arizona cars did look to be improved over what I was expecting to see. That said, if you're really concerned with minimizing it, get a darker color.

As for what the gaps will look like on the cars that get to the dealers, i would suspect they will be uniform and have a chance of being tighter than what we saw in Arizona (just a hunch).