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The new Mini Cooper has some pretty big shoes to fill (from a pretty small car!). It not only has to exude the character of the original, but improve on it in all other areas. Does it do it? Well, yes it does, but not too cheaply. It?s a great handler, the general consensus is it looks fantastic, it attracts a bucketload of attention, has excellent safety and is good fun to drive. Let?s have a closer look at the new Mini Cooper.
The car tested was a Chilli Red Mini Cooper, the base model 85kW 5-speed variant, with a number of options including climate control, partial leather upholstery, 16-inch wheels, run flat tyres, sunroof and cruise control. Base sticker price is $32,650, but the test car is a lot heftier $38,030 plus on-roads. Quite a bit for a small 3 door hatch with a 1.6-litre single overhead cam engine.
Owned now by BMW and built in Oxford England, the Mini comes with ? as you?d sure hope ? massively improved safety features over the original (such as an impressive 6 airbags and other improvements), and shares some mechanical components with the 3 Series BMW. The build quality seems pretty good, but isn?t quite up to BMW car standard.
The interior retains the large central dial of the original, but now it is a tachometer (due to Australian road legislation, the speedometer cannot be so far from the driver?s view). The round central speedometer sits on the steering column. The interior is retro, modern and funky but still fairly practical. It doesn?t take long to get used to the switches and buttons, and most of them feel precise and of high quality. We say ?most? because the indicator and wiper stalks are at odds with the rest of the switchgear, feeling rather cheap and flimsy. They look the part though, and operate fairly well. The left indicator stalk also holds the trip computer button which navigates (with a single press action) through external temperature, fuel tank range, and fuel economy in a digital readout within the large tacho. As with other European-based cars on the market, indicators are activated using the left stalk, wipers with the right.
The factory stereo/CD player is easy to use (coupled with the optioned steering wheel mounted controls) and has excellent sound quality. It really pumps out some decent sound for a small car and has nice touches like fade out and fade in when changing stations.
This Cooper was fitted with optional cruise control, with simple operation from the steering wheel spokes, and also the partial leather seats option. It was easy to find a comfortable seating position, and the seats were comfortable but firm, although lacking some lumbar and lateral support. Hard cornering would see passengers sliding into the door around right hand corners, or teeteringly close to you around left corners! The front passenger also has no grab handle. Rear seating is at best described as minimal. It?s possible to fit a rear adult passenger behind the front passenger seat, but this isn?t something you would want to do for long trips. Forget about trying to talk a medium bodied person in the rear behind a tall driver; there simply won?t be enough room.
This trend continues into the luggage space. There ain?t much unless the rear seats are folded forward. Enough room for some overnight bags, and that is about it. The rear hatch opens with an easy action, and has convenient internal grab handles to pull it down, but did take a good amount of force to make sure it shut properly. On more than one occasion we realised the door light was on because the hatch had not been shut firmly enough. (Note that this trait wasn?t apparent on a Cooper ?S? that we later tested.)
Visibility when driving yourself and passengers around is excellent, thanks to the large expanses of glass in the driver?s doors and rear passenger glass. Also fitted as an option were the very large sunroofs. The front/main sunroof takes up a good 60 per cent or so of the roof area of the car. It is huge and enough light is easily let in to make sure people on the sidewalk and in other cars can see you driving around.... A smaller sunroof (which does not open) hovers above the rearward passengers. Spring-loaded sunshades offer some protection from direct sunlight for each sunroof, and can be retracted but there is no cover that will totally block light entry. Operation of the front roof is electronic, and straightforward. Very tall wind deflection flaps rise at the front of the sunroof when it is opened, but it doesn?t take long to get a little annoyed with the amount of wind noise generated when the roof is open. It might be OK for slow cruising, but at highway speeds, choose some more comfort over style and close it!
OK, so you can look the good when driving a Mini Cooper, but what is it actually like to drive? Well, the pedals are well positioned, and although not ideal for those with large feet, still fairly easy to use. The electronic throttle control was very good and coupled with the well-weighted clutch and accelerator made driving the car extremely easy, even from the first effort.
The gear knob is huge, and feels in size nearly like a softball! The action though is precise and quick, giving the shift a sporty feel. This is one gearbox that certainly won?t leave you guessing.
Although the car feels quite sprightly and keeps up with traffic, some good revs are needed to make it hurry. Even when you are ?hurrying? it doesn?t take too long to start wishing there was a little bit more oomph. One-point-six litres and 85kW are certainly not figures to make people jump with joy and although they compare petty well to the original Mini mill, this engine has to lug about 1100kg around.
Steering is well weighted, communicative, quick and direct. The Mini really is good fun to steer, and first impressions are the steering ratio is quick. Because of this ratio and directness, you may find yourself initially turning too sharply into corners. It corners hard, and grips hard, but when pushing hard shows some understeer. Lift off throttle will help the front grip, but the rear of the car is very stable with active brake force distribution working to make sure it is kept in line.
Suspension is quite firm, and does not cope with secondary or rough inner city roads as well as your average sedan. Large thumps and bumps ?thud? inside the cabin, and the odd groan and squeak was heard as interior panels flexed when rough roads were encountered. We would expect his to become more of an issue after more kilometres. But on smoother surfaces or your favourite piece of twisty road, the Cooper suspension and handling will reward. The car shows little body roll, and the tyres work well with the rest of the handling setup to bite hard when cornering, breaking into a bit of a squeal to let you know that you really are trying to go a little too fast around that bend!
Excellent steering, good brakes and smooth throttle response and what feels like reasonable torque on the road leave a very good impression. We recorded a 0-100 km/h time of around 9-10 seconds. It certainly is fun to drive, and never really draining. Most of the staff queued up to take it for a drive, and came back smiling. We saw figures of about 8.5L/100kmh around town, and about 6.5 on the highway, both very good when some occasionally spirited driving is taken into account.
There were a few little niggles with our press car. The ABS light appeared after a day or two, and will most likely remain on until service (ABS still seemed to operate effectively though). We hear this is a fairly common issue. There were some squeaks over rougher roads caused by door movement, and the run flat indicator light came on after some spirited driving, but just needed to be reset. There was no tyre leak found.
In conclusion we have to add this car has so much character that you can?t help but smile like a goon as you drive through traffic. It becomes apparent that when driving this car you have to take into account another item that is not often seen on a new car buyer?s checklist except for new Beetle or PT Cruiser buyers and that is ?character?. People may well buy this little car just for its looks and memories. Lucky for them, it is also a great little drive.
When looking at the dollars alone, well, it?s a tough call. BUT, the Mini Cooper is about more than just value for money. Like the new Beetle, it is a car with character. It has stepped forward in time, with improved dynamics, features, and captured the look of the original beautifully. It has some qualities of a small BMW, and attracts more attention that a streaker at the football. Be prepared to be stopped, waved and smiled at as you cruise the cafes with the sunroof open. The character and fun of owning this car might be enough to get you to shake hands with the dealer. If you are after performance, then wait till you drive the Cooper S?
Why you would:
- More character than Austin Powers
- Looks as great as the original
- Instant recognition on the street
- Handles like a go kart
Why you wouldn't:
- Some NVH over rough roads
- Won?t take many passengers (or luggage!)
- Where?s the power?!
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The Mini Cooper was supplied for this test by BMW Australia.
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