R53 swap for R56

[craigib76]

Is it worth it
Should I do it
Where to find someone to swap with lol

Cheers craig

[MINI William]

I loved all my R56's that I had over the years. Far better car, I would try and avoid early engine cars

[Mon the fish]

Depends what you want out of your car. I would definitely take a late R53 over an early R56 - I suspect you would have more issues with the R56.

I own one of each, and this is my take on it - an N18 R56 will be faster, cheaper to run and better in every measurable way. But the R53 just appeals more to me - it has character, it's addictive. It's the better car to me.

The R56 is a great car. It's grown up, fast, hardly uses fuel (40mpg! Remarkable), it's all you could want in a daily. However the throttle response compared to the R53 I find frustrating; it's not turbo lag as such, it's just not as crisp as the R53. I'm also not that keen on the torque delivery of modern turbo engines, almost diesel-like in that you get the plateau of torque from low revs right through the midrange - but as the torque doesn't naturally ramp up with revs, there's less reward for taking it to the redline. Obviously this makes for a better daily, however IMO it's less fun when you're having fun.

It's up to you, go try one. Your experience may be different - but put it this way, I've lost count of the number of people who've previously owned an R53, tried something else, then went back to the R53. I've yet to hear of someone love the R56 as much they go back to it after owning something else.

Sent from my SM-P605 using Tapatalk