Globe and Mail: Look-at-me MINI has a truly modest thirst
Subcompact cars typically boast spacious interiors and astonishing cargo capacity as reasons to buy. Not so the Mini Cooper S.
The premium price the Cooper S commands is for pace, not space; good sense takes second place to good times; and the person behind the wheel best be an extrovert ’cause everybody looks.
As cars go, it’s a two-door party.
But it’s also a rarity among look-at-me cars in that its thirst for premium fuel is truly modest. A rating of 8.0 litres/100 km for city-area driving qualifies the Mini Cooper S as an EcoDriver subject. And our test driving confirms it as a worthy choice for drivers concerned with limiting gasoline consumption and pollution, because we average 9.6 L/100 km in our usual week’s combination of 250 km in the city, 50 on the 401.
Those with a light foot on the throttle might come closer to the Energuide number, but light-footing is always going to be a challenge in the Cooper S. The marvel is that this very sporty car can be driven with the gusto it invites — and still consume less than 10 L/100 km in the city.
What’s more, in a 600-km drive to and from the Almaguin Highlands — north of Muskoka, in the eastern Parry Sound district, bordering Algonquin Park — the Cooper S averages 7.4 L/100 km.
The Mini line has been a remarkable success since BMW began its production in England in 2001. The trick with that car was capturing the character of the original Mini, as introduced in 1959, in a larger package. Now the trick has been repeated with the second-generation model, officially the Mk II, lengthened by 59 mm in the interest of meeting evolving standards for pedestrian safety.
Some claim it’s not as razor-sharp as the 2001-2006 edition (as traditionalists quibbled that that car wasn’t the equal of the ‘59). What can be said unequivocally is that driving this car is less like driving anything else currently on sale than it is putting on your dancing shoes and finding yourself making moves like Astaire, or Ali.
The steering is so direct that the 90-degree turns of city intersections are executed effortlessly. In so doing, there is no untoward leaning of the sort that sometimes causes passengers alarm. BMW engineers have put together a suspension that delivers taut handling, along with a surprisingly compliant ride.
Ride quality is firm, to be sure, but the damping quality of the shock absorbers is so effective that potholes, speed bumps and frost heaves are taken in stride. BMW took its lumps in criticisms of its first-generation Mini’s rough ride, attributed to the stiff sidewalls of its run-flat tires, but the ride has become quite acceptable with run-flats still specified.
The engine is new as well. Now turbocharged, where the Mk 1 Mini was supercharged, this 1.6-litre four-cylinder generates 172 horsepower, truly amazing output for the displacement.
Our usual acceleration test to 60 km/h yields a time of 4.0 seconds using first gear alone. Other cars capable of sub-10 L/100 km consumption are incapable of such haste.
The six-speed manual transmission is a model of smoothness. Changing gears plays a large part in the pleasure of the daily downtown experience as enjoyed in the Cooper S.
Torque steer often nags at the steering wheel in hard acceleration. Given the on-off nature of the throttle response as well, the one unpleasant aspect of the Cooper S personality is its jerkiness in hard charging. Driving less like a jerk, on the other hand, with a gentler touch, produces smoother progress.
Highway behaviour is impeccable. In the fast lane, it behaves more like a BMW than an economy car, with reassuring stability and hushed sound levels. Only a touch of wind noise from the large sunroof, even when tightly closed, is a cause for complaint in the test car. That, and the shift knob pulling loose.
Most of the car’s negatives relate to the diminutive dimensions. Rear-seat room is not in the same league as that of a Toyota Yaris. With the front seat adjusted for this 5-foot-8 writer’s driving position, the space behind was short of foot room and tight at the knees. Taller people would fare less well.
Trunk? BMW claims it holds 10 bags of instant cement with the rear seats folded, but, with the seats up, one bag of mulch pretty much fills the space.
Putting on your seatbelt can be trying. One needs to master pulling it between the seat and the door because there’s not enough room if the fastener isn’t turned just so.
Space under the bonnet is similarly tight, which may explain the air-conditioning’s marginal performance in plus-30-Celsius weather. A/C components, like everything else, are a tight fit.
Options are more of a factor in Mini showrooms than in those selling more conventional fuel-savers. A Cooper S starts at $30,600. A base Cooper — minus the S, minus the turbocharger, also minus the torque steer — can be had for $25,900. But when you’re buying a car with this much personality, it’s easy to get carried away.
Ours adds a premium package for $1,600 (glass sunroof, heated seats, computer) and a sport package, $1,200 (sport suspension, 17-inch alloy wheels with performance tires, anthracite roof liner). The premium sound system adds $750. No charge for the black roof and mirrors that set off the gorgeous mellow yellow paint.
Beyond this, buyers typically are tempted by such offerings as piano black interior trim, $120, or white or black exterior stripes, $130, or a choice of three different kinds of leather — $1,200 for leather identified as punch or gravity, or $1,900 for lounge leather. A chrome line package, exterior and interior, $390. The Bluetooth package, $750.
Pizzazz, punch, premium fuel. The Mini Cooper S stands alone among fuel-efficient automobiles in personality and function. But our 9.6 L/100 km qualifies it as a genuine alternative to more ordinary, more practical, approaches to fuel efficiency.
2007 MINI COOPER S
TYPE: Two-door hatchback
BASE PRICE: $30,600; as tested $35,745
ENGINE: 1.6-litre, inline-four, DOHC, turbocharged
HORSEPOWER/TORQUE: 172 hp/177 lb-ft
TRANSMISSION: Six-speed manual
DRIVE: Front-drive
FUEL ECONOMY (litres per 100 km): Energuide rating, 8.0 city/6.0 highway; actual city-area driving, 9.6; premium gas
ALTERNATIVES: Volvo C30 T5, Mercedes-Benz B200 Turbo, Honda Civic Coupe Si
DAN PROUDFOOT
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
