A legendary name and a car thats worthy of it
The Mini Cooper has a name thats the stuff of legend. From heroic rallying triumphs to fantasy shenanigans in the Italian Job, its the little car with a big heart. Not that its quite as little as it used to be but deep down its still a Mini.
All Coopers have the same basic spec level, with alloys, air-con and an MP3 stereo as standard. Theres a good range of safety gear, and on a car of this nature its worth noting that you also get a split-fold rear seat. That leaves a lot for the options list, but the prices here tend to be very reasonable: you can add cruise, Bluetooth, parking sensors and metallic paint, and the bill will come in at just a touch over a grand.
The Cooper is available with 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines, both of which spin it along nicely when mated to the standard six-speed manual gearbox. The petrol unit needs a lot of revs, but still manages to return better then 50 mpg in everyday driving, while the diesel scrapes 75 mpg and sneaks into the lowest tax bracket with CO2 emissions of just 99g/km. The auto option costs comfortably over a grand and plays havoc with fuel economy and emissions alike, particularly on the diesel, so its best avoided unless its absolutely essential.
The Mini is as stylish to look at on the inside as it is from anywhere else. Its very retro and extremely cool as a result, though this comes at the expense of usability in some areas. The dash is not so much dominated as overwhelmed by an enormous central speedometer, for example, the result being that every other display looks like an afterthought. The switches are cutesy, too, but less easy to use than the most sober items youll find on other hatchbacks. The cabin is reasonably roomy, however, even if the back seats are hardly the last word in living space, and the boot is adequate, if rather narrow.
This is where Minis have always excelled, and the Cooper is no different. The petrol version we tested is great fun, revving excitably as you work the gearbox and blat around from corner to corner. These too will put a smile on your face, with loads of steering feel and excellent body control making it almost as much like a go-kart as the original wheel-at-each-corner Mini. It rides quite firmly, as youd expect, but not as harshly as you might fear.
Minis are enormously popular, which means that even with a steepish price list youll face a battle to score any sort of meaningful discounts. On the plus side, that same popularity means they hold their value better than most cars in their class, and running costs are impressively low especially if you pay upfront for servicing. Mini owners tend to keep their cars for a long time, which points to a pretty contented experience all round, and theres a whole host of personalisation options available to enhance the way of life image thats so strong in this car.
