[Jakx]

Autocar has given the MINI Cooper 4 stars in it`s Road Test today!

"An icon is reborn"

"It would be easy to be seduced by the Mini`s many charms and award it 5 stars. After all, it`s a great looker that also happens to have one of the best front-drive chassis we`ve come across. But a 5 star verdict will have to go begging.

It`s great to look at and sit in, but not even the ride and handling or the superb build quality are stromg enough to offset the mediocre engine and disappointing packaging".

" . . . could be the best small-car buy of all time . . . built like no other small car in history . . . "

" This is the only car to be seen in this summer. We could have been surrounded by a harem of Diablos and F40s and no one would have had eyes for anything other than the new Mini".

(0-60 9.3 ! !, 0-100 28.4 s : Standing 1/4 mile 17.4 s : km 31.9 : Max speed 125)

Test summed-up as . . . " Great, but deserves a better engine"

[Tim]

Or a supercharger.

[BruceK]

Quote:

[b]On 23-05-2001 7:26 Jakx wrote:[/b

"....We could have been surrounded by a harem of Diablos and F40s and no one would have had eyes for anything other than the new Mini..."

This is EXACTLY the kind of attention a classic Mini receives in the US because of the its unusual size and rarity. Day in and day out. An American driver can't park a Mini without being approached for a conversation or questions. And it's necessary to allow at least several extra minutes for discussions when filling up at the gas station. Driving past a school bus means every kid is out of his seat with a smiling face pressed up against the windows. It's really one of the fun things of owning a Mini here.

Things will become very strange in 2002 when the new MINIs begin appearing all over this country (BMW projects 20,000 sales per year) and MINIs then become a normal sight on our roads. The MINI will be one of the popular cars - that's a very weird thought to classic Mini enthusiasts in the US.

Wait a minute... let's see, 20,000 MINIs out of more than 200,000,000 cars in this country…. that means that only one of every 10,000 cars will be a MINI the first year.

I'm okay now B)

[Tim]

Having read the various reviews and comparisons with other cars in the same class and price range, the performance figures for the Cooper are better than the equivalent competition. It seems that where reviewers are unhappy with perfromance (Autocar and Car, but not Auto Express), they must be thinking more of the performance cars in the sector (GTI or Sport models). As only the Sport version of the Renault Clio has a higher power to weight ratio than the S version of the Cooper in this class, it is likely that performance will be similarly entertaining.

In other words, the reviewers are right in that the Cooper does not have GTI/Sport levels of performance - this was already known - but are being a touch harsh as it will only be in S form that the car will be as zippy as its performance competition.

[Jakx]

Thought it worth adding:

Found at www.autohit.com

Quote about the new MINI:

The Sun's very own Mr Motoring, Ken Gibson, drooled: 'It's so good I'm even considering buying one...and I thought my Mini days were long gone.'