About to own F56 Cooper S... some questions

[highway]

I pick up an options laden Cooper S on Saturday. It’s going to be my daily. I have some questions-

The car has Harman Kardon yet no CD player. I assume streaming from iPhone is the way forward? What’s the sound quality like?

Has anyone had the official JCW exhaust/remap option fitted by a dealer? I’m curious about how the 19bhp increase feels in reality . Worth it or not? What’s the best price supplied and fitted? I prefer the warranty with the oem kit

What’s the best dedicated UK F56 forum?

Is it still advisable to lose run flats to improve ride quality?

My car has adaptive dampers. Are these manually adjustable or on an auto setting? Worthwhile?

I’ve seen pictures of cars with spacers fitted to the wheels which nicely ensure the wheels don’t have that Porsche 356 look of the body overhanging the wheels. Are spacers considered advisable or do they ruin ride/handling

Thank you PH

[steve-5snwi]

Has it got pro nav ? yes you can stream from it, use spotify and it also has a hard drive

The dampers are not adjustable, only comfort or sport, you cannot adjust them any other way.

JCW tuning kit, try cotswold mini, price to fit is in the region of £300, its one of the better exhausts but if after more power someone like Evolve offer more power, but by all accounts the 210 works gets a good review and is often seen as better than the JCW

Forum wise, try the F56 forum.

Enjoy the car and get some pictures up.

[Armitage.Shanks]

Update the maps to 2018 version for c£50

[DelicaL400]

highway said:

The car has Harman Kardon yet no CD player. I assume streaming from iPhone is the way forward? What’s the sound quality like?

Streaming or a usb stick or anything you can plug into an Aux In socket.

[sak83]

I'm really impressed with the Harmon Kardon in my F56 Mini cooper S, it's significantly better than the Harmon Kardon in my F15 X5. That may be down to the smaller cabin space.

I found the pro exhaust too loud so fitted a JCW standard exhaust on mine. This suits me just fine as its a bit more vocal without being too loud.

I've also fitted Michelin pilot sport PS4 tyres in 215/45/17 non runflats. They fill out the arches a bit more, ride nicer with less road noise .

One point to note is that the standard cooper s brakes are extremely poor, no feel, and fade easily.

[steve-5snwi]

Its a good thing we are all different, i find HK quite poor, no mid, harsh tweeters and flabby bass .... I do want the JCW exhaust for our F57 as well

[cerb4.5lee]

steve-5snwi said:

Its a good thing we are all different, i find HK quite poor, no mid, harsh tweeters and flabby bass ....

I also agree with this, the salesman was waxing lyrical to me on the test drive about the HK system. Its not terrible, but its nowhere near as good as I was expecting.

[sak83]

That's interesting to hear a different opinion of the HK I've only had my car for a couple of months so maybe my opinion will change in the long term. Regarding the bass, i actually find it tight for a factory system.

[highway]

I’ve been phoning around for a price on the JCW performance conversion. Clearly some dealers happier to do this cheaper than others. Best price fitted so far is £1494 with chrome tailpipes. Anyone know of anywhere cheaper? Considering it’s a back box and ecu reflash I still feel it’s hardly price competitive.

What’s the difference between F56 and 57?

[daydotz]

I had H&K in my cooper while I agree it's not got a wow factor it's a noticeable improvement over the standard speakers

F57 is the soft top

Minif56.com is worth a visit

Edited by daydotz on Wednesday 13th June 18:35

[steve-5snwi]

I was quoted £1100 for the exhaust supplied, i would fit it myself and then just a bit of coding, so around £150 at BMW rates ..

[highway]

You surely want rhe Ecu reflash as well as exhaust though. Bmw won’t sell the flash without the exhaust

[steve-5snwi]

£1100 is for the exhaust and upgrade to 210, I could fit the exhaust and wire it up but it would need to go to bmw for the 210 upgrade, allow 1 hours labour. However i would rather an Evolve remap.

[Deep Thought]

cerb4.5lee said:

steve-5snwi said:

Its a good thing we are all different, i find HK quite poor, no mid, harsh tweeters and flabby bass ....

I also agree with this, the salesman was waxing lyrical to me on the test drive about the HK system. Its not terrible, but its nowhere near as good as I was expecting.

Likewise.

Much better than the standard unit, but not brilliant.

[Deep Thought]

DelicaL400 said:

highway said:

The car has Harman Kardon yet no CD player. I assume streaming from iPhone is the way forward? What’s the sound quality like?

Streaming or a usb stick or anything you can plug into an Aux In socket.

+1

I stream from Amazon Prime Music on my phone but predominantly i've a little tiny USB stick with a couple of thousand tracks on it.

[Hammy98]

Presumably since you mention its highly specced it will have the Pro Nav?

IIRC that gives you further options for music connectivity however my car only has Visual Boost with HK and its perfectly fine - just incase yours is the same.

I ditched the runflats on mine which is running the 18 inch cup spokes. I went with Michelin Pilot SuperSports and although the ride is slightly better, don't expect miracles. The main improvement is the performance, the Michelins make the standard Pirellis seem like ditchfinders.

[highway]

Car is on Hankooks, which surprised me. Spec is here
The specification is as follows -
Chili Red with Black Cross Punch Leather, Black Roof and Mirrors.
Media Pack XL, Sport Interior Package, Sport Exterior Package, Sport steering Wheel, Storage Compartment Package, Dual Zone Climate, Interior Light Pack, Fibre Alloy Interior, 17” Track Spoke Alloys in Black, Aero Pack, Spoiler, Dark Rear Glass, Auto Dimming Rear Mirror, Heated Seats, Heated Windscreen, LED Headlights, Harmon Kardon Sound System, Head-up Display, Connected, Cruise Control, Park Distance Control Rear, Front Armrest, Navigation XL, Variable Damper Control, Bluetooth with USB Audio, Multifunction Steering Wheel, LED Fog Lights, Rain Sensor with Auo Headlights... One owner and has only really been used at weekends so has covered 2100 miles. THE INVOICE PRICE was £27430!

[Alex Z]

That's a nice spec.
Personally I think the HK in my F57 is superb, and I'm quite fussy about my audio equipment. No CD player is a bit of a shame at times but I don't miss it that much and there's plenty of options for music in digital format. Spotify capability is much more useful.

To touch on your other questions, ditching runflats is often recommended on MiniF56.com and I'm considering it for when my 18" tyres need changing. That's the best forum I've found so far. It's not UK specific or hugely busy but it does have a lot of people who know their stuff.

You might also find it worthwhile looking at Bimmercode which you can use with a bluetooth OBD dongle to make a number of tweaks to your car that you can't do through the infotainment. It's not too expensive to buy but there's usually someone on the forum that could help out for a couple of beers.

[Deep Thought]

Alex Z said:

You might also find it worthwhile looking at Bimmercode which you can use with a bluetooth OBD dongle to make a number of tweaks to your car that you can't do through the infotainment. It's not too expensive to buy but there's usually someone on the forum that could help out for a couple of beers.

+1

I used it to code driving modes to always start in Sport - worth the price of it for that alone.

[highway]

Picked up the Mini earlier. I’m very pleased with it. Contrary to opinions above I thought the Harman Kardon was great. Don’t know if the system includes a sub, but I think you’d struggle to do better aftermarket (supply for speakers, amp - sub?) for what that option cost new.

Economy was impressive as well. Sport mode wakes the car up. The only thing really lacking is sound. I’m curios how much better the JCW performance exhaust sounds.

Must be better than the stealth version on their currently.