[Rainbow-Walker]

Had a go in a Mini Diesel today, to add to the Cooper, Cooper S, and Cooper CVT Auto I have already tried .

The car had a lovely spec, leather seats (black and tan), climate, anthracite dashboard (which I really like - wife is changing her order from the brilliant silver to anthracite).

I really really loved the car, I am an advocate of diesels, and it was a smooth, responsive drive. The sixth gear is very tall, a cruising gear - and it was fun having 6 gears to play with.

The only criticism I could bring is that there could be more power. If it can be chipped for an extra 18bhp (re chip available for D4 Yaris), then I would be seriously interested - although i guess that stuffs the warranty. I tried to overtake a Volvo, and I had to wind the car up to evertake. I think after a while this would annoy me.

The chassis and handling (after a Corsa Diesel), were sublime, and I cant fault it at all. The chassis is definately not the limiting factor here.

Cheers.

R.

[A8P]

We drove a One and a One D back to back on Saturday.

The D was a very nice car, but I can't say it did much for me really. Gearbox needed too much stirring and I felt the change was notchy compared to the One. It's difficult to describe but it had that 'diesely' feel, and wasn't as quiet as I'd been led to believe.

Agree totally that it needs more power. The One felt so much more lively and it felt happier being reved harder and higher, but this may be due to the D being new and the One had a couple of thousasnd miles on it.

A good car, but not for us. We ordered a One