British car mag Top gear has landed a quick drive in the upcoming AC Schnitzer MCS. For those who aren't familar with AC Schnitzer they are a highly thought of German tuner that is famous for it's aftermarket BMW products. Here's an excerpt of the story:

R&T

“Shhh… Can you hear that? It's the sound of legendary Mini designer, Sir Alex Issigonis, turning in his grave after seeing the limited edition Schnitzer Mini Cooper S. But you can't blame him seeing as he originally had reservations regarding a faster version of his creation, needing some arm-twisting by John Cooper to put his namesake into production. And that was with just 55bhp. The Schnitzer has an extra 145…

Schnitzer has adjusted the supercharger, modified the engine management and fitted its own twin exhaust to give the car 200bhp over the standard's 163bhp, meaning it will reach 62mph in 6.9 seconds and is good for 140mph. Now these may not be much more than the standard car's figures, but where Schnitzer has concentrated all of its energies is with the torque. The car boasts 181lb ft compared with the S's 155 and it shows; there's oceans of power that will still make the diddy car accelerate hard, while the mid-range power is fantastic, having a 50-70mph in fourth gear figure of 5.4 seconds. And the power is delivered immediately making it a very addictive drive. It also makes the car feel bigger, like it's a genuine grand tourer with performance to match.

Since Schnitzer has lowered the suspension by 55mm and fitted sports suspension, the handling is out of this world. Chuck it into a corner at any speed and the car will firmly stick to the asphalt with no hint at all that it's going to snap away from you. This does mean that the ride is extremely hard, although Schnitzer says it can fit slightly softer suspension for people who don't want to feel like they're at a track day every time they nip to the newsagents.

In fact, while the car shown here is one of only 250 complete conversions Schnitzer is bringing into the country, it's offering different stages individually. This means you can take your Cooper S (and not a One or Cooper) and ask for the engine upgrade (at £3,480), or the styling pack (an extra £2,440) or the handling pack (for £1,655), meaning you can choose what bits you want and ignore the bits you don't, while all conversions carry a BMW approved warranty.”

You can read the entire article here. To my knowledge there's no word on this convertion coming to the USA with a MINUSA factory warranty. Has anyone heard differently?