A New Version Of A Classic
A convertible Mini is a piece of joy. It’s how a small car should be. It’s a fun bit of entertainment that you don’t want to let go of. I had the open top Cooper S for a week, and although the weather was hell bent on limiting my ability to drop the top, I prevailed and had a whale of a time. The base car itself is already very good, and you’ve probably read about it in our recent article, but throw on a folding soft top, and it’s even more joyous.
There’s a very clever folding mechanism here. On first click, the sunroof opens to give you air and sky. Click again at up to 30 kilometers an hour and the frame folds back out of the way, tucking itself neatly at the back of the vehicle, protecting the rear window and exposing the black on black and Union Jack. The mechanism is fast and high quality. I’m scared about some soft tops, but not this one, it’s solid. Once you’ve got the top down, crank the Harman Kardon hifi way up, sit back in the beautiful vegan leather seats and enjoy the wind in your hair.
I love the attention to detail, from the speakers to the coloured cloth segments, upholstery trim and other little adornments. It’s a constant positive surprise. The power plant is pretty good too, it’s 2.0L 4 -cyl turbo puts out 150Kw / 300Nm for a 6.9 second sprint to 100, and while that doesn’t set records, you just don’t care!
In a world of ‘bigger’, ‘faster’, ‘more powerful’, I admire that Mini has chosen adjectives such as ‘cute’ , ‘cool’, and ‘classic’. I admire that. Minis may have grown over time since the 1970’s orange number that I was ferried around in as a kid, but they retain their four on the floor rallyesque driving feel, and that’s underlined with the firm suspension setting and amplified when the lid is down. So easy and convenient it is that I was looking for opportunities to use it. A road trip wasn’t possible due to the worrying weather reports, but I know it would be ideal for tourist jaunting around the countryside, and I’m about to find out, because I’m taking a Mini around England soon, and you can read about that trip right here – and see updates at @follow.tim.warren on the gram.
