Cars is fast and torquey but the old Supercharged engine is no slouch either.

Ryephile, I agree that the ’02-’04 MCS with the ultra tall gear ratios felt very lacking off the line. In ’05 MINI remedied this problem (In my view) when the gear ratios were shortened and the car was shot with 8HP more and a few pounds feet of torque.

Personally, I am biased towards Supercharged engines (Durability in the long term is better than Turbos) but I do recognize the advantages presented by turbocharged engines, including fuel efficiency and power. But I am too adicted to the Supercharger whine!

Last week’s show (MotorWeek #2625 February 23, 2007 – Road Test: The all-new 2007 MINI Cooper S) was an expanded and full Test Drive of the 2007 Cooper S. Motorweek will probably post the Test Drive Video in another couple of weeks.

Just thought I’d pass that info on.

I’m a bit mystified regarding their comment saying the turbo isn’t as responsive off the line as the supercharged R53. I remember when my R53 was stock; it was positively a DOG off the line if you let the clutch out at idle [I had the old extra tall gear ratios '02-'04]. The R56 is no different in that same scenario, but what grandma launches their car like that? The big difference beyond idle is the turbos’ boost threshold is amazingly low, and by 1500RPM, wwooOOOOOOsh it takes off like a banshee.

AFAIK the 172HP rating is SAE HP and the 175HP rating is BHP (brake horse power). They are different standards with different testing methods. They are generaly very similar numbers which causes a lot of confusion.

If I remember correctly the facelifted R53 is 170 BHP and 168 SAE HP.

“The MINI’s signature central speedometer has grown larger, now too large we think, making way for navigation screen and audio controls.”

At least they didn’t say it was “startling”. If it sounds polite … it’s still way too big.

I think they did mind the interior changes, at least somewhat. All in all, sounds like they liked the changes. I still hold out hope that the center stack gets a redesign by the time I am ready to trade in my ’06.

It doesn’t represent a deficiency in the engine or the car itself, but just different engine characteristics, design and tuning.

Hello?? That sounds like someone who hasn’t driven it and is going by the old train of thought that superchargers are better than turbos down low. While true in most cases that has been turned around with teh r56. If you compare torque at 2k rpm the supercharger gets slaughtered. The supercharger doesn’t catch up in torque until quite a bit higher in the rpm range.

I wish I could have an engine with the r56 power from 1.6k-5.5k and the r53 power from 5.5k-7k – and the supercharger whine the whole time.

Hello??