Firm suspension / tyre gap question

[MangoCat]

Hi everyone. Need some reassurance if possible.

Got the mini cooper e (new) a while back. Suspension is very stiff - expected the car to less smooth than a lot of rides, but it's much more bumpy more than I would have liked.

Noticed the distance from the top of the tyre to the car's wheel arch is different between the front and the back of the car.

Back tyre: 7cm distance from car to tyre
Front tyre: 9cm distance from car to tyre

Is that to be expected when it's in park?

Just want a sanity check that it's normal.

If it is, any advice on how else to smooth out the ride would be ideal! At the moment feel like I could detect if I were to drive over a 2p coin. This is just in green mode.

Thanks

[E-bmw]

I couldn't tell you specifically on that car but the great majority of cars are higher at the back as the rear suspension is where most of the additional weight of passengers sit, so it is to allow for the car being 4 up it would then be somewhere like level.

BMW Minis have all had very firm ride, a few years ago I had an R53 Cooper S & the "sweet-spot" for handling/ride was generally considered to be 15 or 16" wheels, the difference to 17" was certainly noticeable especially on RFT.

[tr7v8]

Never ceases to amaze me people who buy "sporty" cars & then complain about the ride. Audi especially Sportpack, BMW, Mercedes. If that's its philosophy then why buy it.
I bought an Abarth 595C, the ride is dreadful and I knew it would be. The wife hates it & it bounds from pothole to pothole, but I accept it for what it is.
However a few years ago my second Jaguar S-Type was a Sport on 18" wheels & the ride was very poor (for a Jaguar), however all my friends with German cars though it was great.

Colin Chapman proved you don't need rock hard suspension to handle well.

[MangoCat]

tr7v8 said:

Never ceases to amaze me people who buy "sporty" cars & then complain about the ride. Audi especially Sportpack, BMW, Mercedes. If that's its philosophy then why buy it.
I bought an Abarth 595C, the ride is dreadful and I knew it would be. The wife hates it & it bounds from pothole to pothole, but I accept it for what it is.
However a few years ago my second Jaguar S-Type was a Sport on 18" wheels & the ride was very poor (for a Jaguar), however all my friends with German cars though it was great.

Colin Chapman proved you don't need rock hard suspension to handle well.

You can't just say "it's a stiff ride" indefinitely though - concerns about suspension do exist. That's why I posted the wheel gap so I could sanity check that it was typical. If it's typical, fine, but if not I'd like to address it.

As much as it's a sporty car, it's also made for a mass market.

[Olivera]

Lower tyre pressures from ludicrously high MINI figures and, if applicable, ditch runflat tyres.

[Weejus]

As above, my GP3 is suppose to run with 39 psi on the front, it is way to bumpy at that pressure, I run on 35 psi and the ride is way more compliant.