I traded in my F55 Cooper S back in June for an F54 clubman Cooper S.
We actually have two clubman's in the house now. It's a much more refined car vs the smaller minis and as such probably feels less "fun". I thought the barn doors were going to be annoying but it turns out that they are more useful that I realised and now quite like them.
Loving the blue on that, I have been looking into the new F54 JCW which is the 300bhp 4wd version that has the engine from the new BMW 135i X-drive. 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds its the fastest Mini ever built in a straight line(Before I get told the GP3 has the same engine and handles better, its actually slower at 5.2 due to being fwd). I've never driven an F55 so interested to hear your thoughts on that compared to the hatch. The F56 hatch never handled as well out the box as previous gens buts thats easily sorted with a decent set of coilovers etc.
Once I move over to the Mini extended warranty later this year, do we know whether there is any rule as far as switching to non-runflats goes?
Does anyone have any experience of this on the hatch?
Thanks!
I've removed run flats from every new mini I have owned(Around 8). Some tyre places are really nervous doing it but there is no rules to say you cant, you just need to let your insurer know. From what I understand an alloy wheel has to be slightly different in design to work with run flats, from memory an additional lip/hump, this means that you cannot fit fun flat tyres to none run flat designed wheels but you can do the reverse as in switching from run flat tyres to non run flat tyres on the stock wheels. Best thing you can ever do for handling on a new mini as the rock hard run flats ruin the experience for me.
First time I did 100mph (indicated) was in a 1275GT with my dad driving in the 70's. I remember him talking about the old Dunlop Denovo tyres with their early run flat technology and how awful they were in the wet. One of my earliest car memories.
Having been around new minis for the last 12 years plus, I still havent driven a classic/Pre-BMW one. Something I really need to do at some point.