Cooper New MINI (R56) - first official info

[Star&Car]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

it's more like a fl model..

 

[EnI]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

More to read ...

Article 3 (click "Next Article" for more)

 

[Giannis]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

actually it looks good. The new bumpers have a more sporty look, though, i prefer the more elegant look the mkI had. It's all a matter of taste.
The only thing i don't understand is how this new twin scroll turbo works. I guess the fact the my english are not so good and the fact i don't know that much about engines is the problem..

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Mind that the cars in the pics are still masked, and that yellow color is the reason for cartoonish look.

More pics in blue & silver: HERE

First driving impressions:

Article 1

Article 2

lol...with the crappy resolution on my other monitor I didn't even realise there was tape on there. I see that now...so it should end up looking pretty nice.

Thanks Eni.

 

[Snake Vargas]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Yeah Giannis - before anyone says too much about the bumpers, realise that those yellow rough-looking areas are actually tape. The rear looks decent despite that, though.

As for the overall design, yeah, what can you do? When you've tied the car to its history like the Mini, there's little room for you to move forward. At least the 911 has the benefit of many decades of continual evolution. The Mini was just suddenly resurrected, like the Beetle.

As it is, nothing spectacular. The black roof does look better, though - the white one seemed pretty 'gay' to me..

If it's bigger, it'll be good, too. The first Mini was a bit too dinky for me.

Twin scroll turbo - well, the turbo has two sections already - like two donuts side by side, but each side with one air entry and one air exit, making four holes. The sides are totally separate except that there is a turbine in the middle - a multi-blade fan thing. The exhaust going in one 'donut' spins the fan, and the fan's blades in the other 'donut' compress the air to be fed into the engine.

The air going into the exhaust 'donut' comes from all four cylinders. Normally there's one 'manifold' that collects exhaust from the exhaust ports of each cylinder and the forms it into one stream that can fit into the exhaust 'donut' of the turbo, but in a twin-scroll design, there are two channels to the tubing so that cylinders 1-and-2 are separate from 3-and-4. I think this helps reduce turbo lag.

Plus, there is no such thing a 'no turbo lag' - just less, or imperceptible amounts.

 

[Giannis]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

thanks a lot Snake. I got it now. Ok i know the basics, but in greek, not in english..

 

[Top Secret]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Anyone else find the speedo a bit...too large? I mean, I like clear, readable gauges, but this is quite overkill!

 

[gustavo]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

BMW wants to hide their unreliable MINI behind new pseudo modern style

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

BMW wants to hide their unreliable MINI behind new pseudo modern style

WTH are you talking about.
It's not more or less pseudo-modern than the 911 is.
Unreliable. W-F ?!

 

[EnI]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

BMW wants to hide their unreliable MINI behind new pseudo modern style

Btw, the new MINI will be more reliable & bettter built. In the Mk1 the BMW quality control standards were not present yet, but the Mk2 is design & bulit completely by BMW standards.

 

[Matt]

I had heard that Fiat was going to build the engine for this car...Is that correct?

 

[Alx]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Anyone else find the speedo a bit...too large? I mean, I like clear, readable gauges, but this is quite overkill!

Yeh man that is huge.

 

[Matt]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Now you cant use the practical excuse that you were unable to read the speedo.....What were they thinking?

 

[EnI]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

I had heard that Fiat was going to build the engine for this car...Is that correct?

No!

The new MINI engines were developed in cooperation with PSA Peugeot Citroen.

BMW was fully responsible for engine negineering & development, while PSA for manufacturing, purchasing & logistics.

The engines will be produced in BMW / MINI engine plant in England (for MINI), and in PSA plant in France (for PSA cars).


Regarding the big speedo: it's so big to incorporate nav screen in the nav equipped models.

 

[Matt]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

oh ok, Peugeot. Thats right. I got confused i think.... But Im glad to here that BMW is still handling engineering and production it seems.

 

[gustavo]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

WTH are you talking about.
It's not more or less pseudo-modern than the 911 is.
Unreliable. W-F ?!

Irony is a difficult business, isn't it?

Jesus, this car is really crap regarding long term durability! This is a first hand
experience and is backed up from what I read from different reports. A piss take...

 

[Osnabrueck]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

I read a statistic that the Mini has the highest product malfunction to repeat customer ratio of any "normal" car. And by normal, I mean non-exotic car. Minis have been problem prone, yet their clientele keep coming back for more, regardless.

 

[SDNR]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

I had heard that Fiat was going to build the engine for this car...Is that correct?

Fiat are working on the Minis great rival, the Fiat 500

FIAT500.com

 

[siko]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Powertrain is dissapointing... I would have liked to see a 150 hp base and a 200 hp S model to rival the GTI in power figures.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Re: New MINI (R56) - official info!

Powertrain is dissapointing... I would have liked to see a 150 hp base and a 200 hp S model to rival the GTI in power figures.

The Works will take on the GTI.