[Silverstone]

I see in the US brochure that the 0-60 time is given as 8.5 sec. Not bad eh?

The UK brochure and web-site quotes 0-62mph as 9.3 sec.

Surely it doesn't take 0.8 sec to do the last 2 mph??

I wonder if BMW were "sandbagging" during the initial launch in Europe?

 

[BruceK]

I see in the US brochure that the 0-60 time is given as 8.5 sec. Not bad eh?

The UK brochure and web-site quotes 0-62mph as 9.3 sec.

Surely it doesn't take 0.8 sec to do the last 2 mph??

I wonder if BMW were "sandbagging" during the initial launch in Europe?

I think the official US brochure (and website) listing of 8.5 seconds for the Cooper is because (or strengthened by) the 0-60 time that was independently obtained by the US publication Road & Track (the MINI’s first US test). Or perhaps it was just a nice coincidence.

The strange thing is that the Road & Track's measurement on the Cooper was carried out on a German-spec MINI Cooper tested in Europe. So you can't base any performance difference on US-spec Coopers vs. any others by that 8.5 second time.

And don't forget that many members of MINI2 have reported that they feel their Coopers are quicker than the published UK numbers.

 

[Rob.]

I know this id off topic but here goes.
Silverstone, have you had any problems with your new car as it is a relatively late build?

 

[Dave Wright]

What Car and Top Gear magazines both got 8.6 sec 0-60 and Auto Express got 8.5 sec, so the Road and Track time is typical.

Road & Track timed 0-70 at 11.6 seconds i.e. the extra 10 mph took 3.1 seconds. Very crudely, you might expect the extra time to 62 to be about 0.5 seconds.

 

[Silverstone]

I know this id off topic but here goes.
Silverstone, have you had any problems with your new car as it is a relatively late build?

Nothing much to speak of (whew! ) - just squeeky seats.

It's done well over 2000 miles now and is coming-up to 2 months so I'm keeping them crossed

 

[BruceK]

...Road & Track timed 0-70 at 11.6 seconds i.e. the extra 10 mph took 3.1 seconds. Very crudely, you might expect the extra time to 62 to be about 0.5 seconds.

Part of that 3.1 seconds between 60 and 70 mph involved a gearshift from 2nd to 3rd gear (according to graph accompanying the Road & Track article) which tends to slow things down a bit. So the actual time from 60 to 62 mph should be even less than 0.5 seconds.

Looks even more like BMW was sandbagging.

 

[Rob.]

Thanks for the reply silverstone
It does sound like the problems are slowly getting eradicated, which if true is a very good thing.

 

[Drakken]

I was talking to Eric of Helix Motorsport on Saturday at the SCCA auto-x. He showed me the dynographs from the MINI they imported from Sweden which showed 111hp at the wheels. Eric said that the motor was putting out about 127hp at the crank. Hopefully the US spec cars will have this fault!

 

[Silverstone]

MINI Cooper Power

I was talking to Eric of Helix Motorsport on Saturday at the SCCA auto-x. He showed me the dynographs from the MINI they imported from Sweden which showed 111hp at the wheels. Eric said that the motor was putting out about 127hp at the crank. Hopefully the US spec cars will have this fault!

I spoke to an ex BMW insider today - he was deeply involved in the MINI project - he confirmed my suspicions - MINI Cooper does make more than 115ps

He claimed BMW wanted the real power to be over 120ps for most cars and for the extra to be a "suprise & delight" feature. He claimed that they exceeded the target a bit! Well I'm delighted

He also said that the Cooper-S is way more powerful than the claimed 163ps too - but they electronicly limit the power in the high gears - sounds like a godsend to the chipping industry.

 

[Siricepick]

Different Measurements

Hey... I was reading your specs and it's possible that the magazines and the manufacturers are using different miles calculations.

The international mile is the one typically meant when the word mile is used without qualification. It is defined to be precisely 1,609.344 m or 5280 international feet. It is used in the United States and the United Kingdom as part of the Imperial system of units. The international mile is equivalent to 8 furlongs, or 80 chains, or 1760 international yards.
The statute mile is precisely equal to 6336/3937 kilometres or 5280 U.S. survey feet, approximately 1609.347 metres. One international mile is precisely equal to 0.999 998 survey miles.

This is a possiblity to why the differences in specs.

 

[Cooper76]

I spoke to an ex BMW insider today - he was deeply involved in the MINI project - he confirmed my suspicions - MINI Cooper does make more than 115ps

He claimed BMW wanted the real power to be over 120ps for most cars and for the extra to be a "suprise & delight" feature. He claimed that they exceeded the target a bit! Well I'm delighted

He also said that the Cooper-S is way more powerful than the claimed 163ps too - but they electronicly limit the power in the high gears - sounds like a godsend to the chipping industry.

WOWOWOW!!! This read to me like a revelation!!! Is this seriously true??!

I've always thought that my Cooper was quicker and showed more guts than 115hp. If this is true, then it wasn't a feeling after all, but the truth! A "surprise and delight" feature?! WOW! That is amazing! It really is a surprise and delight, if this is true of course!

Also, why would they limit the power of the S in the higher gears? Wouldn't they want a higher-performance S out there???!

 

[Big Col]

Also, why would they limit the power of the S in the higher gears? Wouldn't they want a higher-performance S out there???!

Course they would. It's called a works. Having the standard 'S much faster might limit sales? Just a thought.

 

[cafeine]

Guys just think of this.....many guys in my age (20 ) here in Greece, weren't allowed by their parents to take the S...because it was toooooooo fast.....mercy.....its not a ferrari, its 163hp.....imaging if they has manufactured an S with 200 hp....nobody would buy it except 100-200 people really in love with speed.....think mystery solved...

 

[pocketrocketowner]

I think it has to do with the Europeeans using imperial miles......

 

[lmassauk]

They're both the same - different review in different magazines, both show the US & Euro MC with 0-60 of 8.5 secs.