Had a drive in US R56's yesterday

[jimskater]

Granted they were pre-specc'd cars, but here's my first impressions:

Had a drive in an R56 S yesterday, with the 6 spd, as well as a Cooper automatic.

Got to agree with most, if not all, of what Owen said in his S review. Power is smooth, ride is good. Love the sport button--just have to remember to turn it on when I'm ready to go thrash the car. The dynamics of the "old" car are all there. The rush of power delivery in the S will be seriously addictive. Brakes are really, really good.

Some interior bits are cheesy cheap--especially the plate between the remains of the down pillars. That should be trimmed out with the body color or the interior trim chosen. Switches are chunkier, but not as satisfying from a tactile basis--they look cool but don't "snap" into action.

Love the new seats--supportive & grippy. They look especially good in the Tuscan Beige. The Lounge leather is amazing, can't wait to see it in another color (i.e. not red). The slight raising of the belt line puts the window sill in exactly the right spot for perfect elbow resting--for my 6' 5" height, anyway. . Don't like the decrease in door storage. Haven't seen the "extra" dash storage yet--US doesn't get it until March or later. Don't like the fact that the interior door latches are smaller.

Cooper Auto, after having driving the CVT on a number of occasions, is a revelation. It just gets up & scoots--like it should have from day one.

US doesn't get aerokits of any sort, LSD, and a whole bunch of other stuff until next month at the earliest.

Not liking the enclosed battery storage, unless someone can point out the easy way to replace the battery when needed. HVAC / Radio controls aren't as intuitive as earlier, but I didn't mess with them much.

Overall, 9.2 out of 10.

[1lightningd]

Where did you get .2 from :?

[irlmin]

I think most of Your comments on R56 are very valid and close to My thinking Jim , The centre 'stack' will grow on You and the trade off for more legroom is a positive , it was a downside I was worried about and now having lived with R56 for a Month I now see the + side and an happy with the re-design . sure there are things I would have loved to keep but time moves on , I am on record as saying We will be looking for 2002 Cooper S models in a few Years as 'Toys ' to put in the garage with the Classics most of us have already , thats 'evolution ' for You .
Gerard

[jimskater]

Where did you get .2 from :?

It's the 0.1 or 0.2 deductions for the revised switchgear, the back panel to the stereo & HVAC, the interior door releases, the loss of the door storage, as well as for the new headlight configuration.

[Rakey]

glad to hear that the door height change has made it possible for someone to now sit and use this as an armrest as I used to in the old car.

Guess I'll have to grow 5 inches taller for this now :roll:

[madbrummie]

the current car works for me ok!!