Advice on buying an F56 S

[Hammy98]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy an F56 Cooper S in the next month. The top end of my budget is 14500.

My current car - a DS3 Dsport Plus - has an upgraded stereo which I believe was an optional extra. It easily sounds better than setups in friends cars, like a 1 series, a3.

From what I can tell, my car has an 8 speaker setup. Two fronts, two A pillar tweeters, a central tweeter below the front windscreen, two rear spekers, and a sub in the boot.

I enjoy listening to music in the car, and to be honest its really the only place I do listen to it. The majority of the minis I've found in my budget don't have the Harman Kardon upgrade, and I've seen it mentioned a few places now that the non-harman stereo is quite weak.

I've managed to find 2 cars so far with the Harman Kardon upgrade, but both are the very top of my budget - not ideal. Are there any upgrades available for the speakers on the Media XL and Visual Boost?

Ideal spec would be:

Leather
Media XL/Visual boost with HK
Sub 20k Miles
TLC or some form of warranty
NOT volcanic orange

So, in short:

Do you think the standard speakers are sufficient? And if not are they easily upgradeable? Also any pointers buying an F56 would be great, as this is my first mini.

If anyone knows an example exactly like what I'm after that also happens to be for sale then let me know

[kayzee]

Spending a few hundred quid on an amp and sub sounds better than factory upgrades worth many times more!

I only have an R53, but actually the audio system is one of the best I've ever experienced (and it's not the HK upgrade) of course, I added an amp and sub and now it sounds absolutely superb

[Hammy98]

kayzee said:

Spending a few hundred quid on an amp and sub sounds better than factory upgrades worth many times more!

I only have an R53, but actually the audio system is one of the best I've ever experienced (and it's not the HK upgrade) of course, I added an amp and sub and now it sounds absolutely superb

My dad had an R53 S around 2006-ish. Cracking cars with that supercharger whine!

My issue was more along the lines of the standard system in the f56, it appears to be quite difficult to upgrade especially as the head unit cant be swapped out if I want Media XL/Visual Boost. One company sell replacement speakers, but I can't see these accounting for the lack of tweeters when compared to the Harman Kardon.

[Goatex]

If the car has visual boost or pro nav then this includes upgraded speakers over the standard set up including the under seat sub woofers...I wasn't clear on this until we picked up ours so was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality albeit having low expectations. We came up with the ideal spec and decided what was essential and what was nice to have...HK was the latter. Waited a while until a car came up that we wanted within budget, but worth holding on for.

[Hammy98]

Goatex said:

If the car has visual boost or pro nav then this includes upgraded speakers over the standard set up including the under seat sub woofers...I wasn't clear on this until we picked up ours so was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality albeit having low expectations. We came up with the ideal spec and decided what was essential and what was nice to have...HK was the latter. Waited a while until a car came up that we wanted within budget, but worth holding on for.

That doesnt sound too bad, I might pop into the local mini dealer and ask if I can try the system on a car with visual boost/media xl. I hear you on the spec - theres that many options its hard to find a car with what you're after. No doubt I'll be looking for a while.

Cheers

[daydotz]

Test a car with H&K you may find its doesn't live up to the claims in the brochure

[steve-5snwi]

i would be prioritising led headlights over HK. There are plenty of company's that build you a system that will sound better

[Hammy98]

Bit worried about trying out an HK equipped car incase it becomes top of the list for spec requirements! The LED headlights are something I'd like, but adding more requirements is making it harder to find a car in budget

[creepy coupe]

The HK in our JCW (same as Cooper S ) is excellent. I don't think you will be disappointed.

[Hammy98]

Been offered a very good deal through a nearby mini dealer. Budget upped to 16k however must be within their dealer network.

They currently dont have a single used Cooper S within budget that has HK...

Was offered a reasonably specced car today:

Pepper White with black roof and bonnet stripes.
JCW Spoiler.
Visual Boost.
Crosspunch leather.
15 plate 10k miles.

Amounting to 16k, only thing stopping me is the Halogen headlights. I could probably overlook this if the car had HK, but for now I'm going to hang off and keep looking.

Edited by Hammy98 on Thursday 4th May 16:29

[JustinL]

I am in the middle of purchasing a mini cooper s as well, I really wanted HK as well but the cars with it were either well over budget or missed out on the Mediapack XL or LED Headlights/Fog lights which I wasn't willing to do without. In the end found a 2014 plate Thunder Grey with MediapackXL, Connected XL,Leather Cross Punch, LED Lights/Fogs,Chilli Pack,rear parking sensors,extended lights, TLC until August 2019 and it's only done 7500 miles, managed to get it just above your budget but great spec and took me ages to find.

Good luck with your hunt they do come up!

[Hammy98]

Purchase made!

2015 Cooper S, visual boost with harman kardon, half leather, black headlining and dash, ddc (I think), 6k miles, warranty til november 2018 and TLC til 2020.

The dealer wouldn't negotiate on the price of the car, however did give me more for my trade in to bring the payments down a bit, lowered the APR as well to match an offer from another dealer.

Currently awaiting proof of no claims coming through before I can pick it up. Hopefully within the next two weeks. Chuffed!

[daydotz]

Very nice

[Hammy98]

daydotz said:

Very nice

Cheers buddy, counting down the days to collection now...

[Dolf Stoppard]

Nice to see an all red 'S'. And with the best wheels as well. Enjoy.

[creepy coupe]

Very nice.

[Hammy98]

Cheers everyone, collection date was the 29th however they're giving me 7 days driveaway insurance so picking it up on the 22nd. Few days off work to get used to it and get some decent driving in.

[creepy coupe]

I thought they had stopped offering the insurance? 29th is a long way off. Good luck.

[Hammy98]

creepy coupe said:

I thought they had stopped offering the insurance? 29th is a long way off. Good luck.

As far as I know they still offer it, but it isn't complimentary. They included the 1 week policy for me as part of the deal since the salesman doing the handover goes on holiday before my insurance is ready to be changed over.

[creepy coupe]

Hammy98 said:

As far as I know they still offer it, but it isn't complimentary. They included the 1 week policy for me as part of the deal since the salesman doing the handover goes on holiday before my insurance is ready to be changed over.

Ok Understood. Ta.