First impressions of the MINI Cooper were good. I already know and love the shape of the MINI. It really looks like nothing else on the road, and this press car was a highly polished and well maintained piece of kit. The morning weather was pretty clear when the MINI arrived, the Silver paint work was glistening nicely in the sun. I opened up the door to look over the interior. The full leather upholstery really sets of the rest of the trim nicely, and with the silver dash and door inserts, really suit the silver and black exterior combination. Where as some of the colours for the Mini, such as yellow, or red and white look playful and fun, the silver and black looks more solid and purposeful to me, and this interior helped emphasise this effect.

So after looking I get in and start making myself at home. The drivers seat has height as well as reach adjustment, along with lumbar support and the usual tilting rear adjustment. At 6 foot tall I could easily get comfortable, but with my ideal driving position, the leg room and more to the point foot room for anyone wishing to sit behind me was tight to say the least. Abi, my fiancé, is 5′ 3″ and she couldn’t sit comfortably behind me with my seat as I liked it, I had to slide forward to accommodate her in the back. The MINI really is more of a two plus two than a four seater for anything more than short journeys. With the seat comfortable I adjusted the huge wing mirrors with a simple flick of a switch and a few wiggles on the ‘joystick’, put in one of my more recent CD’s, and set off for a first drive.

While I am on the subject of the CD system, I think it’s as good a time as any to give my views on the Single CD player (£70) (which has to have the radio BOOST upgrade, at £135, total cost for a single CD system is then £205). The CD I had with me most of the time was Blow Back by Tricky. Partly because it is one of my most recent purchases, and secondly there is quite a broad style of music on this one CD. The first thing I noticed was even with the fader set at 50/50, the sound balance definitely came more from behind than in front, but most of the high-pitched noises came from the front ‘tweeters’ which gave the sound a good all round balance. The CD player is not the most user friendly. For a start, there’s not much place in the car (no glovebox) to put additional CD’s, so you’d better like what you choose, as unless you have storage elsewhere out of site, you’re stuck with what you have. The volume control is on a ‘dial’ and gives no real indication how far up the scale you are, and in general the operation is not very clear. I am also used to a control stick behind the wheel on the Clio, so to have to lean across to adjust things felt awkward, a multifunction steering wheel would solve this, but at a price.

The quality of the audio was very good, and that is the main purpose of a CD stereo system after all. The volume could increase to unbearable levels, and with little or no distortion the sound remained crisp. The system only really had problems with guitar based music at high volumes, but I’ve not met an audio system yet that doesn’t. I’d say that for £205 you are getting a very good sound system, but the poor controls and lack of standard steering wheel controls detracted from the system for me, as did the lack of CD storage space elsewhere in the car. Both of these can be solved by buying a multifunction steering wheel and a glovebox, but should you have to pay for such simple practicalities? Another small gripe is that the player did not read CD-R’s, so my home made compilations compiled from my favourite CD’s would not play, bit of a disappointment.

As I pulled away from outside the house, windows open, I noticed once again that loud motor sound from the power steering. We have been told again and again this is a pre-production ‘characteristic’ and this MINI Cooper was an April build car, but why send out a press car with a noisy system if they have quiet ones available to fit? It has to be said, I actually like the noise it makes, it’s unusual, and to me it suits the nature of the new MINI, but I know some would disagree.

Something else I notice as I manoeuvre around the street is just how fiddley it is to get the MINI into reverse gear. I crunched the gears in Italy a couple of times when putting it into reverse, but now I had time to consider the gear changes better, and get second and third opinions, it is obvious that the reverse on the 5 speed manual box is not an easy place to get to. Maybe making reverse difficult to get to could be shown as a safety measure, but it needn’t be so out of line with the rest of the box, which has a really nice ‘chunky clunky’ feel to it, very positive, nice.

As the first day went on I got much more of a feel for the car. The seating position for me was excellent, I felt low down to the road, protected by the high sides of the doors, and completely in control of the car. When sat comfortably, I could not see the end of the bonnet, only a small area of the raised ‘wing’ on the drivers side. This however was not a problem as it took very little time to get a feel for the car and to learn exactly where you are on the road. The power steering was weighted perfectly too, it had none of the ‘wishy washy’ and detached feelings I have had in other cars with power steering. It obviously made things easier, the tight turning circle was very impressive, but it still made you feel 100% in control, just how it should be.

On this first day I spent much of the time driving around some of my favourite Bedfordshire lanes and roads. While in the area I took the MINI to show my Grandad, as he has always been interested in cars, but is a real motorbike man at heart. He was very impressed at the quality of the car, and said it looked ‘beautiful’. After going for a spin as my passenger he was even more sold. After years working at the plant in Luton he is a Vauxhall man through and through, but you could see that despite this the new MINI had more than impressed.

The first day was nearly complete, and already the new MINI was growing on me. I got the feeling the coming days would indeed be a lot of fun.

Coming soon is Part Three - Niceties and Niggles.