Well, we’re just past our break-in period. With all the rain this Spring (good ol’ Seattle), the power is just barely controllable on wet pavement, even with LSD and DSC. LOVE that 2-second hill-holding feature for city driving!

The interior definitely ain’t cheap feeling after the addition of wood dash and English leather. Only regret is that they killed the wood steering wheel for safety; we’re trying without success to find at least a wood gear shift knob and brake pull. Recommendations appreciated.

Any suggestions for a retired (and now resurrected)auto-crosser whose last win came in a showroom stock Datsun 2000?? Sometimes it feels like I need to drive this thing in reverse to make it snap corners. I know: practise, practise, practise.

Ratio of positive:negative comments from friends and gawkers runs about 30 to zero so far. Just love that grin that won’t wipe off people’s faces when they get a good look. Also, so far, the grin hasn’t left my face, even when my wife wants to ‘take it to the store’. Go, girl!

I personally love a super stiff suspension and go kart handling. I drove the MCS with sport suspension and was impressed and agree it is ESSENTIAL. However, you have mentioned a JCW suspension is coming soon. Do you have any insight on how it will improve upon SS or for that matter do we need to buy SS and then have the JCWS added?

For that matter, any news on when stage one JCW is available in the US? They say “springtime” and here it is May. I am waiting until this infomation is released before ordering my black/black/black R56.

Nice work BTW. Thanks!

Hey Gabe, do you know how the JCW strut brace affects the handling of the R56 mini cooper s?

As with the R50/R53, the firewall is so close to the point where the brace is installed that there is essentially no structural gain with it. However it looks really nice :)

Also I’m not sure why people think the sound is ‘Enya’ they obviously are not going full throttle. The R56 has that old british small sports car sound. It’s awesome. The s/c whine was cool too, just different I think.

There was a great review on the Cooper in the newest issue of Winding Road, but I’m sure MF conveniently left it out due to their hate toward the Cooper. ;)

We need db to step up here and fight for the little guys!

As Gabe already said, there is plenty of MC love in the house!

I personally haven’t seen the review yet, but I’m sure it’s great.

Yes, 4+ years in my MC. I’ve also got the 154K miles to prove it!

“Less brutal”?! But honestly… does this reviewer not realize that a significant percentage a Mini owners strap themselves into a harness and don a helmet regularly?

By significant do you mean under 1%? I wish it were more but the hard facts are that the vast (vast vast) majority of MINI’s see nothing beyond a spirited drive to the mall.

I would prefer this review were truly honest – the R56’s amazing driver experience and handling dynamics have been diluted and nudged toward the automotive mean.

Keep in mind one very important thing: none of the US press cars that are being reviewed right now have the optional LSD or Sport Suspension. Both are essential options on the R56 – much more so than with the R53.

In fact with those two options we’ve already seen the R56 beat the R53 on the AutoX circuit this spring.

Having seen the car in person now, I like it infinitely more than I did only seeing it in photos. I love almost everything about the exterior and interior, but I still hate the center stack. Here’s why:

1. Form doesn’t follow function Looking at the interior, I love the dash. I really like the new proportions of the all-in-one speedo and radio controls and I even like the new upper, front-facing portion of the dash with the new vents and such. I like the idea of more of an all-in-one approach to the stereo controls, but I don’t like what got left over.

Centralizing controls makes sense, but the execution is only half way there. In pulling only some of the controls from the center stack into the speedo, all you’re really left with are the heat/AC controls and the orphan volume knob (which to me makes no sense at all to be where it is). So what happened to those remaining controls? They got spread out across the whole area of the center stack above the toggles where all the previous controls used to live. You’ve got all this dead space of cheap plastic behind an array of disproportionate and enigmatic buttons and knobs. Though I like the concept carryover of MINI logo heat/AC controls, where it was subtle and classy in the previous setup, it’s now pretty overdone – like a characakture of the logo rather than the subtle nod to the circle and wings. These controls are also much harder to use, in my opinion – less intuitive. If your passenger would like to turn down the temperature, they’re going to be clueless.

In my opinion, given what they did with the speedo they should have just done away with the center stack altogether and hung the remaining heat/AC controls under the speedo in their own little module – leaving an open floor under the dash, which would be super retro. The center stack as it is now takes up basically as much space as it did in the R50/53, but only houses a couple of functions. So in an attempt to fill that space, the buttons and knobs are all fancy, but actually less functional. The down tubes aren’t really down tubes anymore, so I wonder why they’re there at all.

All of that is just a long way of saying that in my opinion, the center stack looks the way it does in an attempt to “look cool” – not in order to function better. And in so doing, functions less…better. They’re the leftover controls and their placement and style seem really tacked-on to me. The longer I sat in the R56′s wonderfully comfortable seats and enjoyed the better leg room, the more I continued to loath the look of the center stack. Then I handled the controls and really hated it.

2. Materials feel extremely cheep Pretty much everything on the interior, from the groovy new seat fold-handles on the seat backs to the individual buttons on the dash, feels like it was made from reconstituted 2-liter soda bottles. I know they needed to cut costs on the car, but how much extra does it cost to have the plastics a couple millimeters thicker? That’s all it lacks is some bulk to make them feel more solid – like I’m not going to push my finger through the dash when changing the radio station. Most of the buttons feel like they’re gong to last about two weeks of normal usage before they either snap off or just quit working.

So on top of the eyesore and poor function of the center stack, the tactile experience is even worse. But that’s true of the stereo controls in the speedo too. I also don’t like the stylized, smaller toggles, but that’s just personal preference. I like the older-style toggles that feel like they could have come off an old Spitfire or something.

That’s why I hate it. But I still love the car. Wouldn’t trade my R53 for it, but it’s still a MINI.

NS in MN

“Less brutal”?! But honestly… does this reviewer not realize that a significant percentage a Mini owners strap themselves into a harness and don a helmet regularly? I would prefer this review were truly honest – the R56′s amazing driver experience and handling dynamics have been diluted and nudged toward the automotive mean.

And yes I have seen them in person.