MINI2

MINI have kindly provided us with a MINI Cooper S to live with for a week. 29th November: Day 7, It’s been fun….

Delivery Miles: 2483
Miles on collection: 2856
Miles covered Today: 13

Total miles covered: 373
Average MPG (according to trip computer): 29.5 mpg (imperial)
Average Speed (according to trip computer): 29.6 mph
Pictures: MINI2 Galleries
Forum discussion: Here

The last day of being with the Mellow Yellow S was sadly undermined by other MINI related activity, so on the day itself there’s very little to report. I say sadly, but don’t really mean that, because the “other MINI related activity” was the collection from Wollaston MINI of our new Laser Blue MINI Cooper S!

Continue reading MINI2 - At Home with the MINI Cooper S - Day 7

MINI have kindly provided us with a MINI Cooper S to live with for a week. 28th November: Day 5 & 6, getting familiar.

Delivery Miles: 2483
Miles today & yesterday: 108
Total miles covered: 360
Average MPG (according to trip computer): 29.5 mpg (imperial)
Average Speed (according to trip computer): 29.6 mph
Pictures: MINI2 Galleries

Forum discussion: Here

Due to a complete lack of activity on Monday, there was really nothing to report. But Tuesday was a day of driving and filming, covering many of my familiar roads in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire I spent most of my time filming the car from lots of different angles, hours worth, hopefully ending with enough footage to put a little sequence together for the website by the end of the week. It seemed someone was working against me today, as every road I went on, no matter how small and remote, somebody, be it in a car, walking their dock, or riding their push bike would come along and linger in shot while I waited for them to clear off! Never mind, I’m sure I’ve got something useable!

Continue reading MINI2 - At Home with the MINI Cooper S - Day 5 & 6

MINI have kindly provided us with a MINI Cooper S to live with for a week. 26th November: Day 4. Sunday, a day of rest.

Delivery Miles: 2483
Miles today: 42
Total miles covered: 252
Average MPG (according to trip computer): 30.1 mpg (imperial)
Average Speed (according to trip computer): 31.7 mph
Pictures: None today!

Forum discussion: Here

Not much to report from Sunday’s driving. We had a quiet day today really. I can add that the rear seat access is so much improved, I know I’ve already mentioned that, but taking our three year old’s car seat in and out of the back of the new MINI is so much easier than the old model, as is getting in to fasten his buckles and the like. And the wider rear seat bases make a difference too, making fitting in the seat even easier than before. Who says you cant have a MINI as a family car?

Continue reading MINI2 - At Home with the MINI Cooper S - Day 4

MINI have kindly provided us with a MINI Cooper S to live with for a week. 25th November: Day 3. Loving the lanes, or is it?

Delivery Miles: 2483
Miles today: 97
Total miles covered: 210
Average MPG (according to trip computer): 29.9 mpg (imperial)
Average Speed (according to trip computer): 30.9 mph
Pictures: Photos from the day
Forum discussion: Here

Some interesting developments occurred during day 3 of our MINI Cooper S experience. The weather was terrible, raining hard for half the day, and then overcast for much of the rest of the day, the sky’s only clearing just before sunset. So our plans for videos and photo shoots were pretty much scuppered from the outset. We did try and shoot some film, but it was a disaster, so that’s gone straight into the out take bin!

Continue reading MINI2 - At Home with the MINI Cooper S - Day 3

MINI have kindly provided us with a MINI Cooper S to live with for a week. 24th November: Day2, Getting Familiar

Delivery Miles: 2483
Miles today: 72
Total miles covered: 113
Average MPG (according to trip computer): 29.6 mpg (imperial)
Average Speed (according to trip computer): 29.8 mph
Pictures: Photos from the day
Forum discussion: Here

Day two of living with the new MINI Cooper S, and the advantages of having a car to live with in order to be able to offer a more valuable and considered opinion are starting to show. Living with the new MINI as our family car, compared to our current 2006 MINI Cooper S is already starting to be a little more revealing.

Continue reading MINI2 - At Home with the MINI Cooper S - Day 2

MINI have kindly provided us with a MINI Cooper S to live with for a week. 23rd November: Arrival Day.

Starting Miles: 2483
Miles today: 41
Average MPG (according to trip computer): 28.8 mpg (imperial)
Average Speed (according to trip computer): 29.2 mph
Pictures: Photos from the day
Forum discussion: Here

Today the MINI Cooper S arrived, in all it’s yellow and black spledour. The car pulled up about 10:30am, and as I spend most of the daylight hours looking after our 3 year old Son, he was also here to see the car when it arrived. Initial impressions from him were it’s better than my Chili Red 2006 MINI Cooper S. Why? Because it had yellow door handles!

Continue reading MINI2 - At Home with the MINI Cooper S - Day 1

MINI2 gets behind the wheel of the new MINI Cooper.

This was the first time we’d driven the new MINI Cooper. After testing the MINI Cooper S quite some time ago, it seemed a little strange to be finally getting our mitts on the new Cooper, which is after all the best selling model in the MINI range and as such you may have thought the Cooper deserved more of a fanfare than it has received at launch.

Continue reading MINI2 Drives the New MINI Cooper

MINI2 Drives the new MINI Cooper S at the International Media Launch in Barcelona. Turns out the new MINI is very much the same, yet ever so different.

This wasn’t the first time we’d experienced driving the new MINI Cooper S, MINI2 were fortunate enough to be one of the few invited to an exclusive predrive at the Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands. However, this was our first time behind the wheel of a fully finished production model and, so the engineers assured me, the suspension and cornering brake control settings had been slightly fettled and fine tuned since our first experience of the R56 MINI Cooper S.

Continue reading Full Second Generation MINI Cooper S Test Drive Report.

Following on from our reports from the MINI Driving Dynamics Workshop at the Zandvoort Circuit, Netherlands, we compare our exclusive shots of the new R56 MINI Cooper S, with the outgoing model.

While at the test drive event of the new MINI prototype, MINI2 captured several exclusive images of the car to provide as much detailed visual feedback to our readers as possible. In this follow up article we compare some of our shots of the second generation MINI with new like for like images of the current ‘06 model year MINI Cooper S.

Our first shot is looking over the bonnet, obviously many changes in this area. Continue reading 1st Generation & 2nd Generation MINI - Exterior Design Comparison Photographs

On the 25th July MINI2 attended a Driving Dynamics Workshop, test driving the next generation MINI Cooper S in the Netherlands. This report is a summary of our impressions of the new model and a guide to what we saw at the event.

This car isn’t finished yet. That was made clear to us from the very start of the MINI Driving Dynamics Workshop. The MINIs we were to test drive were not production models, although they were assembled at Oxford, and they would still be disguised, albeit lightly. Our feedback was wanted, and key members of the MINI development team from powertrain, chassis, safety, suspension, testing and overall product development were on hand to both ask and answer questions of the assembled distinguished members of the motoring press. And we were there too, of course.

Continue reading MINI2 Exclusive Report on the 2nd Generation MINI Cooper S - Design & General Overview