As has been said above, EB may be on the base Cooper soon. I prefer the dark IndiBlue myself, but that's just my personal preference!
The CVT is not your regular automatic transmission, using belts and pulleys instead of a fluid torque converter but it does what you want, doing the 'gear shifting' for you so to speak though there are no 'gears', really. You can paddle shift through 6 simulated gears if you want to.
I test drove the Matrix/Vibe before the MINI Cooper and while the former is not a bad little tall wagon/crossover, it does not come even remotely close to the handling, style and fun of the MINI Cooper, which is a hatchback sports coupe. In many ways, I'm not sure why I cross-shopped them, except that both are hatchbacks; that's about where the similarities end.
Harry
MINI Cooper Cabrio: now the car with go cart handling really feels like an open go cart!
"... the only man that can come home at 3 am in the morning without getting into trouble with his spouse is the owner of a British sports car!" -- Phil Bailey |