I recently purchased a 08 MCS hatchback as a result of my MCS being totaled in an accident. I was very happy with my previous car, I had 70000 trouble free miles that I put on the car with only needing to replace tires and brakes. The decision to replace it with another mini was easy, so I purchased a new one that even had more options then my previous one did.

Now after surfing the forums it sound like mini didnt engineer the turbo as well as the supercharger. When people are talking about melting hood scoopes incredibly high bonnet temps. it makes me wonder if this turbo was thought out as well as it should have been? The SC worked and certainly didnt have temp issues, so why the change to turbo and do you think it was as well thought out as it should be??

 

There are some design flaws on the car, that just seem to be due to the speed at which a completely new engine was brought to market. The heat of the turbo is part of what makes the MINI so efficient and I wouldn't call that a design flaw. Many more cars will probably head that direction with CAFE standards. The fact that they didn't account for the temperature in external designs is a design flaw. The holes in the hood scoop should help, mine hasn't melted yet, but it does get very hot.

 

Can you bring me up to speed? (I'm new, big time ) What are you referring to about the "holes" in the hood scoop? Also, I am about to order mine, I was looking at getting the chrome hood scoop, would this help? (Hurt?) Or is it the same basic (plastic?) part, just with a chrome coating?

Any info will be appreciated.

 

I was gonna say i figure the turbo is the problem.... That and the aweful radio speedo. Im not fond of the front but i do understand why its there.

 

Its the fake intake they kept with the styling to be similar to the outgoing model. On the early ones the vent was completely closed and later on they opened it up. Just a little space for the heat to escape make a decent difference. Plus it should help moving by venting the hot air from being all over the intake. The chrome one wont make a difference its just a different color. Turbos are much more efficient and with the minis small size there is barely any lag.

 

So you're saying that on the first turbo versions, they kept the old style, which was closed, but later on they opened it up, corrct? So if I'm ordering one now, it will be the "open" style. Am I understanding this correctly?

 

Yep.

All is well. And nobody with a recent build has any of the initial bugs, at least that I've seen. Mine is a 9/07 build, and I <knock on wood> have not had any of the common issues @ almost 8k.

 

I have had only one problem w my R56 (broken hood latch-11K miles) and can not say the same for 2004 Cooper that preceded the MCS.

 

Almost 7K on my 07 MCS & only flaw from my point of view is visibility of traffic lights when stopped close to light. A $16 fix available from "Light and Sight" - that I found on this forum - works fine.

 

^that's pretty awesome. it's "light in sight" though, still able to find it on google though.

 

+1

From what I understand, it was only the early '07 models that had issues with the hood scoop melting.

 

My '07 R56 MCS's hood scoop did not melt even during a day on the racetrack, or at the Dragon. I'm not sure why others are having problems unless they are exaggerating the issue, or they have an earlier build that was fixed by the time my Feb '07 build was put together.

The Prince engine has far superior part-throttle drivability to the Tritec engine; it's much smoother and more refined, not to mention significantly better fuel economy AND more power.

The only design flaw [sort to speak] I've found on the R56 is the front control arm bushings are overly soft, creating a torque steer effect when they deflect. This is fixable with aftermarket pieces.

 

more info please...

 

Mini Madness has polyurethane bushings for the R56.

 

any info on how they compare to the alta psrs?

 

I currently have 12.5K miles on a 2007 MCS manual, my first MINI. I purchased the car after long reflection on my needs and wants, as well as comparisons with other "hot hatch" offerings on the market (notably, Mazda 3 and VW GTI.) To date I am immensely please with my choice. The car has proven safe, economical, very comfortable for two adults, dependable, capable of hauling an astoundingly large load of goods from COSTCO, and most importantly, fast, brilliant-handling and an absolute exhilarating blast to drive. The kind of car that makes a mundane trip to the grocery store into 4-wheeled entertainment. Since taking delivery of the car, I have experienced NOT ONE SINGLE PROBLEM of any sort. Build quality is up to BMW's excellent standards. In my view, the R56 is an overwhelmingly successful design.

That said, however, there are a few niggles. While I love the retro mega-speedo, the stereo controls are fiddly, overly-complicated and non-intuitive. Through repeated study of the stereo instruction manual I have over time learned to make this bit of over-engineering do what I want without drama. As blues singer Leadbelly once commented when asked how he played those incredible 12-string rags, "It's just so easy when you know how." No problem now, but it didn't need to be so hard to learn.

Another issue for me is the exaggerated size of the rear-view mirror, which blocks forward vision significantly when approaching right-hand curves. It's just much bigger than necessary, for reasons that are not obvious.

Torque steer, as mentioned by others, can be a little distracting, but if you know it's coming and are prepared, it's easy to handle. Interesting that Ryephile notes this tendency can be mitigated by a bushing upgrade.

Finally, I must say that for a small car, MINI has the biggest, longest, heaviest and most difficult-to-open doors of any car I know. My wife continually has problems opening the passenger door and making it stay put on the detents. I know the mass of the door is directly related to the safety-beam reinforcement - which resulted in a 5-star safety rating from the very demanding EU testing standard - but still it's an annoyance day-to-day.

But none of these flaws is anything approaching a show-stopper: just somewhat sub-optimal. What car, in fact, is perfect, without any flaw? Overall, the R56 is such a fantastic and entertaining ride that its imperfections are very easily overlooked.

 

BMW seems to do that on purpose. More of a German thing from my understanding. Going for the solid build feel by making everything seem very sturdy. Where as Honda spend thousands of engineering hours making the doors feel very light and close easily with a solid thump sound. I don't think anyone spends as much time as Honda engineering how a door opens and closes. Still that said with the rimless glass its not really possible to make a door close lightly, to combat that some the windows already automatically pop down to relieve some of the pressure. Subaru doors feel much lighter, but because of the rimless glass, you'll never shut them all the way if you don't shut them like a heavy door.

 

I have an 07 with the JCW Kit. No problems with my scoop melting. I do have the later build with the 1/2 open scoop. I must have lucked out and got both the more open scoop and the larger (14mm) wheel lugs).

 

I have a manual Cooper and I have to say that the more time I spend w/ the car (I've had mine a year) the more I find that MINI got right....to the point of amazement. Lots of thought went into this car...I'm very impressed.

 

Hello all, I'm new here and would like to know how the trannys and clutches are holding up. I plan to buy the non-s and if anyone would like to share info it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

mx5apex

 

Do soft bushings really create torque steer?

 

Your Feb '07 probably has the same closed scoop that I have--just look from the front. I have a week 3 (2007) build and haven't had a problem with the scoop melting. Most people don't. The scoop DOES get extremely hot, though, especially about 5-10 minutes after the engine is shut down.

A friend of mine got an '08. It does have an open scoop, but I wasn't able to tell any difference from mine when I put my hand on it (or tried to!).

After reading all of the comments on the various "hood scoop" threads, I think I'm going to either drill out all of the spaces in the honeycomb, or remove it altogether. I do think this is something that could have been designed a little better, and I do wonder if I'll have any long-term problems with my red paint.

 

Check out this thread I started. The big smash is the post I just made at the end though.


Not explicitly, however as they deflect they create a misalignment in the front suspension, perhaps binding the CV's and inducing a sort-of torque steer effect. If you drive a stock R56 and an R56 with ALTA PSRS back to back, the difference is absolutely crystal clear. When the suspension is kept in-line it behaves very well.


No, it had the partially open bonnet scoop.

 

my bonnet scoop is doing the weird melty thing... the dealership apparently ordered me one and they were going to paint it and install it but it's been 2 weeks and no work. le sigh.

i love my Ollie though.. my only gripe is that getting him serviced is ridiculously difficult.