I think Evo has it spot on myself, have heard many fellow owners say the same and quite a few magazines...quality feels better but there seems to have been as many people taking there cars back on here as they did when the original BMW Mini came out...dont get me wrong it does have quite a few plus points over the R53. But after driving and seeing there are more minus points for the R56 than there are for the R53..in particular the S.
To much Torque steer, that awful view of the rear axle/exhaust, 4x4 looks, lack of supercharger (particulary kills the character of the S) fake bonnet scoop, fiddley new key, over assisted power steering and to refined in comparisson with R53..not the drivers car it was.
The extra torque/performance and better MPG are good points but dont do it for me....but if I had to replace my S at the moment it would go on a GP...if I couldnt decide on a differnt car though I would take the R56 into consideration over alot of its rivals
