2011 MINI Cooper S Refresh Spotted Undisguised

Sections: 2011 LCI | R55 (Clubman) | R56 (Hatch) | R57 (Conv.) Jun 1st, 2010 51 Comments

Here it is, the 2011 MCS refresh that will be applied to the R55, R56 and R57 models. Autoexpress has the first photos of what can only be described as our best look yet at the 2011 MINI. No surprises really. The front clearly shows the 2011 MCS with the new (fully functioning) brake ducts finished in chrome as part of the updated “Chrome Line” option. Also seen here for the first time are the wheels that will be replacing the less than loved Crown spokes. Going back to a cleaner more S-lite look, the new 17″ wheels (standard on cars with the sport package in the US and Chili pack in the UK) reportedly weigh less than the s-lites while having a more rounded appearance.

The headlights are updated and feature a subtly different design that allows for easier parts swapping when MINI wants to offer black headlights as an option. We don’t know how that will manifest itself but we do expect to see more of them.

Around back the new LED tail lamps are still disguised but the new rear bumper is fully exposes. Again as part of the exterior chrome option the rear foglight surrounds have been redesigned.

So that’s it. The 2011 MCS. The upgrades are slightly more subtle than the R53 refresh due to BMW being a bit more conservative with costs. A natural result of most of this planning and design coming in the depths of the recent worldwide recession. However in our eyes these are solid (and functional with the MCS brake ducts) improvements that we prefer. However we’ll have ours without the chrome line option please.

Look for more information and official photos in the coming weeks. You can see more photos at Autoexpress.

We covered the details of the engine upgrades last week but if you missed it you can find the article here. For more information on MINI’s refresh see our previous stories on the exterior and interior changes.

Want to know about the 2011 JCWs? Check back ~~tomorrow~~ Thursday.

Written By: Gabe

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=663864174 Daniel Bennett

I absolutely LOVE those wheels!!
Jas

And the Cooper S convertible R57 will look like this too? I love the back bumper.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabe

Yes.
James Irmiger

As much as I appreciate the dedicated brake ducts, their design reminds me of the dated, cartoonish look of the GP, no offense Todd ;)
Fred

The front and side views are very nice. The rear lights are going to take some getting-used-to. Or maybe a black-out option on the edges…
Barry

I’m a bit confused here. So the reports are stating 37mpg highway for the Cooper S?!?!?! Is that what’s meant when they say its the “same.”
beken

Have the changed the slope of the bonnet any? From this picture, it looks a bit sleaker and less bulgy.

I do like the wheels.
bee1000

That chrome line trim is uglier than ever, especially combined with the bulges around the brake ducts. They need to quit adding more nonsense to the exterior (yes, the chrome is optional, and yes, the ducts cool the brakes, but almost no one needs them) and start cleaning it up.

Wait, let me put a positive spin on this: I love it every time Mini updates exterior styling because it makes me happy to not be in the market for a new Mini!
http://www.lilcoopr.com lilcoopr

The new front bumper is not my cup of tea… or maybe just with the chrome outline on the brake ducts. I think without the chrome I might like it better. I am not a fan of the majority of the MK II bumpers… the one on the WC50/JCW aerokit is my favourite.

I do like the new wheels though!! They are a great upgrade from the Crown Spokes/S lites! The sleeker spokes make the car look sportier – very nice!
Jon

Any interior refresh? If so, got any pics of that?
lavardera

I can see how the new front bumper shares DNA with the countryman, but I don’t like it pushing out the way it does. I think the original R56 is cleaner, simpler. That said I think the rear bumper looks better.The grill area looks smaller and does not appear to be bulging outward as it does on the original R56 – that bulge there never looked right.

And a 10 on the wheels – this is what I’ve wanted all along.
http://www.lilcoopr.com Sideways Eh!

LOVE the new Rims!!! I dig the new bumpers as well…makes the car look a little more agressive…thats good for the Cooper S…
Hans

The front bumper is looking a little busy. Maybe it would be better without the chrome around the brake ducts. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to mod those into our older R56′s! Trim around the rear fogs is funky too. Would like to see the tails more clearly.

Wheels are great, never liked the crown spokes!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=636940663 Benjamin Sidon

Those wheels are a 100% improvement over the Crown Spokes on my car…
Minipuma

As shown here with the chromeline exterior, the new front looks a little bad, and the new rear is absolutely hideous. I can only hope that without the chrome calling attention to those disharmonious geometric inserts in the bumper grills that the effect will be dramatically less offensive.
goat

Some good news then… the front bumper has finally shed the featureless and “puffy” look that plagued the first 4 years of R56. A HUGE improvement over current car in that respect. Ditto the wheels… so long cheap-looking-knock-off-of-S-lites and hello a proper update on the “minilite” / S-lite wheel! The headlights are hardly changed and regrettably retain their fishbowl look and the hood is unchanged and thus continues to suffer from an overly smooth and featureless expanse of metal but I guess we can’t have it all in a refresh. I’d give this effort a C+…

A headlight refresh is prohibitively expensive so that was wishful thinking but some monies should have been pried out of finance to allow redesigning the hood. Nutshell: markedly improved yet still not a patch on the R53 for design detail and cohesion, stance, and aesthetic balance. The only full fix for the R56′s exterior appearance will be the 3rd gen MINI.

Looking forward to seeing the improved interior bits too!
that.guy

Want to know about the 2011 JCWs?

Oh, you are such a naughty little tease. I have my fingers crossed that the new JCW engines are at least 50% franÃ§ais.
Fred

Without the chrome bits on the brake ducts and rear fogs, I see a very appealing build. Naysayers and sour-grapesters, find yourself a nice R53 to cuddle, and let me enjoy the refresh! Black headlights, you say, Gabe? Will they be on the August configurator?
JonPD

Not bad though I agree the chrome trim around the brake ducts are hideous!

Still really disappointed that the interior is not getting some major changes. With the center stack still being produced apparently by PlaySchool design engineers I think they have missed a huge point raised by a large number of people.

I recently took a friend to my local dealer to check out the R56 he was hugely disappointed in the interior ,enough so that he went out and bought a GTI (which I agree is hands down better than MINI with both design and materials.

The new wheels do look nice and the rear lights look decent.
Minipuma

Oh, you are such a naughty little tease.

Naughty enough to make your roof turn red?
rj

@Minipuma…..ohhhh man…..love that red roof!!
Dusty

The brake air duct unit looks like a cheap retro fitted insert. With or without chrome it bulges out there. I don’t like the change. I like my 2008 much better – clean lines. What happens when a rock goes rocketing through that duct? What’s it gonna hit/potentially damage going out the other side? Can it get wedged into the braking mechanism? The countryman has a cleaner look for the air ducts. This refresh may change my choice in MINI’s for 2011.
Herr26

Living Proof there that why people will have a MINI instead of the rebodied VW- Audi A1. For some reason Audi have contaminated Munich with these dumpy little hatches in a game of MINI baiting, but the MINI has much better proportions , Audi might have the one-up in the interior but MINI has the looks and the cachet of the brand it amplifies a fun, cool nature , I do not know what the A1 stands for, That film series just takes every cliche used in BMW’s The Hire and interprets it badly.
Matt

Is it just me, or does this look like a bit of a retreat from the last redesign — back closer to the R53 styling (from the front end, at least)?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000375640584 Melis Heerens

Does this mean rear fog lights are going to be standard? Looks like the rear fogs are now a combo back-up light and rear fog. Maybe going retro, like the R53 with the low mounted back-up light?

Hate the new chrome line. Love my chrome line on 2007-10 S. I like he new front end, minus chrome line. Looks better than I expected, with all this talk of bulges. But still, I think thy could have done a better job with the ducts.
Tristan Cruz

i seen brake ducts that were build into a bumper that look a lot better than that. is that the new grey too? looks pretty generic. DS FTW!
Hoover

I like a lot about this. Cleaning the indentation above the brake ducts might be a real pain. BMW seems to be designing “busy” bumpers with a lot of unnecessary detail (see topic on the Z4 bumper design on BimmerFile). Wheels get an A+ in my book. Based upon the comments above and my own taste, I don’t think that the chrome line is going to be very popular. Too bad…I like the current R56 Cooper S in black with the chrome line, but I would not want it here. I wish they would offer the chrome strip on the lift gate as a stand-alone option. I’m looking forward to seeing the Cooper refresh.
Hoover

Too bad the side scuttle is taped, but we’ve seen blurry but promising images of that before. Ummmm….why did they even bother putting the black tape over the front MINI logo with this much of a reveal? Silly.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabe

What we saw before was the Cooper side scuttle. The MCS version reportedly will not change.
Ric

Not liking those rear fogs much. Wheels are nice but the brake ducts would be much better blacked-out. A more agressive front spoiler would be nice.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=610504117 Dylan Bland

The refresh is a lot more subtle than I anticipated. Think the brake ducts are a visual step backwards, and the wheels a step forward. LEDs are neat, but was expecting more significant changes to the front lights (less round, like the countryman). All in all I don’t think the facelift will be any more desirable than the current R56 which is good for resale.
bee1000

Hoover – not sure what the deal is with taping over badges. I once came across a Z4 coupe in a parking lot wearing dealer plates but with all the BMW badges taped over. There must be some little rule about not showing the badges before a car is officially on sale. Why they don’t just remove them from pre-production models, I couldn’t tell you.
JonPD

No argument on the brand image Herr26, MINI has always had a much clearer message. Other than the hot hatch which I believe MINI has pretty much disappeared from in Europe.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall of the discussion about the interior during the mid-cycle redesign. I am sure why they have left overall design of the center stack in place was pure budgetary. Still seems completely out of reason to take the single biggest interior complaint of the R56 and ignore it. I have seen the current interior lampooned in a huge number of articles, I do wonder about the business case leaving it in place.

Interesting though that the lower surround of the ducts reflects the classic Mini grill to my eye though. The way the ducts stands out feels a bit aftermarket though.
James Irmiger

All this talk about the interior has me thinking… with the Countryman’s production interior almost exactly mirroring the current R56, do we really expect that much of a change in the refresh, or for that matter, the 2013 redesign?
JonPD

For the refresh James you can see details here:

http://www.motoringfile.com/2010/03/18/2011-mini-refresh-update-interior-colors-trim/

I would bet with all the feedback with the R56 interior that redesign will bring some much larger changes.
Boro Boy

Not bad, I particularly like the redesigned rear bumper (and I’ll have mine without the chromeline option too). The brake ducts though … I can’t help thinking that their addition is the result of the design team feeling they needed to do something with the front – as doing nothing was not an option – and in the end they panicked.

Is this car painted in the new ‘Eclipse Grey’ by the way?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000375640584 Melis Heerens

@Hoover You can get just the boot chrome strip for the R56 from MF sponsor OutMotoring.com for about $70.
Pingback: AUSmotive.com » MINI Cooper S facelift spotted
Jerry

I wonder if the brake ducts can be retro-fitted to an older MINI…perhaps? (Or even an after-market part)
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabe

I wonder if the brake ducts can be retro-fitted to an older MINIâ€¦perhaps? (Or even an after-market part)

Yes they can! However you can only do it with the JCW bumper and brake duct retrofit kit.
txdesign

“The only full fix for the R56â€™s exterior appearance will be the 3rd gen MINI.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. The car’s design is getting stale. Can’t wait for the Gen 3.
Tristan Cruz

It would look nicer if mini switched the location of the driving lights with the location of the brake ducts imo.
KPH

I love chrome on cars, but glad the brake ducts and rear fog trim is an option. New wheels look good. Would like to see these repeated through the smaller sizes too. I suppose a machined lip was tabled for the budget. Speaking of budget, is a good wash not on the check list before it hits the street? Parading a new color around covered with dust seems an oversight.
Eric

I’ve been reading this site for over 3 years while I planned on getting a MCS and I think the 2011 is going to be it. After reading these comments I am confused about the new wheels though. Were the S-Lites a wheel option on the R53, then they changed it to the Crown Spoke for the R56?
Gerarddm

Those wheels are nice – sort of a TorqThrust/Turbine combo.

And I like the new front fascia too – minus the chrome. Dislike the new taillight detail.
Bill in Iowa

Love the wheels, I wonder what the weight of them are? Those brake ducts will be, ALMOST, invisable when they are the grill black color, probably close to the same for the rear, but the lights needed to be larger. The old rear fogs, pretty much useless for real fog use.

All in all, considering that this is just a refresh, I don’t think that Mini did a bad job, considering. The 3rd Generation is what, two more years out? As for the comments on the headlights and hood? Looks all right to me, maybe I’m just not one of those still in love with the 1st Generation. Looks good for my new Mini in November.
JonPD

Whats interesting is reading about this online and it seems most of the stories are not about the changes MINI has made, rather the lack of the change of the “comically” large speedo and the center stack. Guessing MINI is aiming at the 2013 redevelopment for fixing the most contentious issues with the MINI which tend to center around the interior. Don’t get me wrong, the current cars are great but do have some low points well documented with it.
cheswick

The rims look alot liek the ones offered on the Mayfair. or is it just me?
Hoover

@cheswick: The Mayfair wheels have 12 spokes. The wheels picture above look much sportier to my eye.
jas

i got this off a msg board..but needed to ask Gabe and others here:

I was recently told by a MINI dealer in California that the 2011 Mini S engine will not change from the 2010 engine. The salesman said the revised engine will be in the new Mini Coupe and Roadster for 2011 but not the Mini S until 2012. This contradicts what I have read, has anyone else heard this?

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