Was out in Annapolis today and dropped by Tate and also to see if my car happened to be dropped off by the truck yet (it hasn't).

Scott my SA was very generous and said "Hey our first 07 is getting PDI'd right now and if you wait around we can take it out!"

I'm no fool... so I waited for about 20 mins - sure enough the car was finished by the lot guys and parked in the side lot. Scott produced the key about five minutes later and off we went. Scott told me that I was the first person in the Dealership (save for the lot guy) to drive the R56 (although Scott, Brian H. (another nice and genuine SA) and Rick their GM just came back from training. I think I felt special for about a nanosecond. :-)

My initial impressions - the seats are fantastic and comfortable. The engine is much smoother with an extremely flat and fat torque curve. The model we were driving had 17s but not sport suspension - it handled well but definitely not as well as my 06 MCS JCW. The radio controls take a bit to get used to but once you've got the radio set correctly (not that I listened to it much) you're good to go.

My biggest impression and most memorable is how the car is so well connected to the engine and suspension - everything seems to be designed as a cohesive whole rather than the good but comprised (Rover/Chrysler/BMW) engineering of the R53. Where the R53 feels like a very nice sum of parts - but you can tell what all the parts are (kind of like a nice kitted together gaming PC) - the R56 feels as if it was engineered like a really good Apple MacBook Pro laptop.

I'll have more comments hopefully next week when I receive my very own R56.

 

Thanks for that, krut. Those are some very encouraging words. Needless to say, exactly what I wanted to hear !

dean.

 

Excellent news. I'm sure all of us are anxious to hear about Day 1 with your new Mini.

 

I took a test drive yesterday and it was wonderful. The ride is much improved and like you mentioned the seats are so much better. Now I just have to wait for my car...

 

Trinity - was it a MC or MCS that you drove?

 

Kurt, what specs were on the car you drove? Which interior?

 

Sparkling silver, lounge red leather, (no heated seats), premium package, and 17" web spokes, xenons, and rear fogs.

 

Okay just got back from Moritz from driving one.. Thanks to Neil & James for helping me with some questions afterwards =]

Sparkling Silver with Black top and Bonnet Stripes. Interior had lounge leather red/orange. MCS of course.

I had my friend whos better at stick then me obviously tag along.. He drove it around most of the time, but he was a good opinion since he drove the 2006's and has a WRX right now.

Interior - Looks fantastic. I hated the center stack w/o Auto AC but with Auto AC it looks much much better.. All the controls seem pretty durable.. I didnt really notice a "cheap plastic" that some have mentioned.. Felt sturdy to me.

The radio controls are quite quirky.. Those will take a while to get use too for sure. The mood lighting was pretty awesome.. Like 4 - 5 different colors available to choose.. was really a nice touch when the sun went down. Seats felt great. The lounge leather was soft and plush.. Side bolsters are very nice.

The dual pane sunroof, with both going up was pretty sweet. Though driving at about 40mph or higher you can hear wind a bit in the sunroof when closed.. Hopefully this can be fixed or its just this model.

Windows still go down a bit but not as much as before when opening doors as well.


Driving:
The car is so freakishly quiet.. You can't hear a thing.. I even listened to a White Roof Radio off of Motoringfile when they were in AZ and it seems like you can hear the engine more on the podcast then here.. But when all windows are closed you can't hear a thing unless you really hit it or you get over 50mph.

The car at low RPM's and lower gears pulls MUCH harder then the 06 MCS. You can feel it so easily and you can tell.. 2nd and 3rd gear is like a dream come true.. It really really is a quick car..

Sports Button really really tightens up the steering.. You can feel it and it feels great. Standard mode is a great pleasure with a softer wheel in normal city mode, enjoyed both alot.

Hill Assist seemed a little flakey.. we couldnt seem to get it to work.. We did a complete stop in the middle of Green Oaks with no traffic on the 1 hill East of Collins and it didnt seem to kick when DSC was on, but my roomate thinks he hit the gas barely and it deactivated.. just a habit on hills.. The MA's said they would go test it out and get back to me on it =] (For non dfw people its a big *** hill)

When I got behind the wheel.. I decided to see if it would be harder for me to start in first then the other car.. and IT WASNT!!!

It was much much easier! The clutch is so incredibly smooth compared to the 06 models, that my roomate even pointed it out soon as he got in and said it felt like his WRX. Shift gears was much smoother too.. The car is much easier to learn in!

We felt no turbo lag at all.. The twin scroll turbo does its justice.

Overall Im very impressed and excited.. The sunroof thing I'm hoping can be fixed, and the interior I got use to much faster then I thought. The LCD gauges on the tach/speedo are nice since they have much higher resolutions then the older models.. Everything looks sharp!

I confirmed.. My car left the VDC on Wednesday February 14th. It has a chance of arriving at Moritz on Saturday, but most likely will be Monday or Tuesday.. 5 hour prep time needed at dealership then I can drive off!

So close!

 

I drove a MY/W MCS, no Sport package though. Im curious the difference in the ride since I opted for the Sport package.

I must say that the Mellow Yellow is a great color! I really loved it and you should have seen the looks people were giving us when we drove by. Im a little jealous

 

Can you explain what you mean by this?

Thanks.

dean.

 

They go down but when you close the doors and watch the windows.. they seem to only go down about 1 CM and it doestn seem visible with the stripping on the inside.. But you can most def hear the Windows engine moving it up and down.. I made sure on this and tried it like 4-5 different times.. My roomate confirmed as did the MA's.

 

Almost every reviewer mentions the poor audio system control layout. On my current car I control my audio exclusively from my steering wheel buttons. I'm presuming I'll be able to do the same on my new MCS.

Any comments on this krut .. PezRadar

 

Yes you can and I plan on doing the same.. But getting the channels set and so forth will be a bit quirky.. Sometimes buttons share the same option you just have to hit the left side or the right side of one of the buttons.. Its kinda odd..

When I get use to it and need to just put in a radio station (lets say im at 89.1 atm, and I want to get to 102.1) it is really simple to do so.. its like multiple choice questions and you enter it in like a calculator almost and you get to station immediately

 

Woot double post =/

 

The audio layout is not that bad.. it's just counter intuitive. If you can put your left brain hat on - it doesn't take long to work the controls out without the manual. Took me about three minutes.

 

Dang! You're going to beat me to it. I was hoping for a trip up there this weekend, but even if they tell me it's there by Saturday, I'll have to wait until next weekend to get it.

I just hope they don't let people drive it!