This afternoon, I drove to MINI Peabody (yes, again!) … I had been very kindly offered a test drive in “Stryker” (Steve’s MINI); Stryker has had a new pulley and intake so has much better performance than a standard MCS (it also has an anti-sway bar for improved handling):
I was extremely careful driving someone else’s MINI, so I cannot say there was a massive improvement over my own MCS; I still noticed a slight dip during first gear acceleration with the A/C turned on, although it was less noticeable than my car. On the downside, the air intake makes the car much more growly – some people will no doubt think this is a plus!
I noticed significantly better handling on the off ramps, presumably due to the anti-sway bar (Steves car and mine have the same 16″ wheels).
When I returned to MINI Peabody, Mike was there with his yellow “71” MINI; he had just had the new pulley and intake and anti-sway bar added to his car!
Mike insisted I try his MINI too – so I did! I found similar small gains in performance but again was being careful, avoiding high revs where the improvements might be most noticeable.
Mike had also changed his 17″ tires to non-runflats … the ride was definitely a little more comfortable than my 16″ runflats, on the Route 1 bumps.
Overall, I am not yet convinced I should go with a new pulley & intake … the cost is not unreasonable, but I was not convinced the performance was significantly better (not enough to risk losing warranty if I had any engine issues down the road). I will have to keep thinking about it …
Thank you very much, Steve and Mike. Name me another car / dealership where owners happily share their cars special features with others in such a generous way. MINIs are very special cars, owned by very special people!
M&I / GBMINI 