I just picked up my MCS with the Sport Package last month and like many others here, noted that the suspension was extremely rough. I knew going into it that sport = firm and have had the "sport" option on my last two cars (Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series) so I wasn't a stranger to life with a firm suspension. Needless to say the MINI was significantly harder than anything else I have driven.

After 600 miles of hoping that things just needed to break in, I finally decided that there had to be something wrong so I took it back to the dealer this week. I'm sure they thought I was off my rocker at first but after a short test drive and visual comparison to a few other cars on the lot, they got a tech to look at it. Long story short but he immediately checked the front suspension and noted that all of the shipping spacers were still installed from the trip across the Atlantic. If you havn't seen these, they are hard spacers placed in the suspension to keep things from bouncing around on the boat. I had to leave it overnight to have them removed and the alignment checked but I just drove home and finally things are as they should be.

I personally could not see them on the car so I'm not sure if there is any easy way to check for them or not.

So if you are still fighting with an uncomfortable suspension, have the dealer make sure there aren't any extra parts still attached underneath.

Hope this helps someone else.

 

Interesting. I thought my suspension was unusually hard from the start, but I have become used to it. Still, driving over any uneven surface can be jarring.

 

If you still have stock suspension, you can jam you fist into the wheel arch and feel with your fingers if the spring coils are clear or if the block is still in there. Chastise any dealership that forgets to properly prepare your vehicle for delivery accordingly. Sport suspension or not, your car should feel very similar to the MINI you test drove and not unusually hard.