2012 Mini Cooper S Roadster
Okay, those of you who are used to our Comparison Test format might be thinking at this point, “Ah, the Mini lost, it just can’t compare with the perfect balance and ideal layout of the RWD MX-5.” And you’d be right. It can’t. It is a wholly different beast.
    Mini Cooper S Roadster. Click image to enlarge |
The Mini arrives at its magic in one of the most distinct and polarizing packages in the automotive world. It is unlikely that you will mistake a Mini for anything other than another Mini, so strong is the family resemblance between their models, and so unique is their adorable mug. With wheels at the absolute limits, big, googley-eyed headlights, and a tiny footprint, the Roadster carries the Mini brand look and offers a blister on a brick look with the roof up, and looks a bit like an anvil with a windscreen with the top down, and it feels just about as solid. That windshield is well secured, too, with almost zero cowl shake over even rough roads. However, that solid chassis comes at the price of weight–1,245 kg for a car this size is pretty hefty.
Trunk space is good for a weekend getaway (240 L), but you’ll be leaving the golf clubs at home (likewise with the MX-5) and paying full attention to your partner on any road trips, not only because of the lack of golf clubs, but also because of the close quarters. You’ll be rubbing elbows with your passenger most likely, but it’s a fun cabin to spend time in, and anyone who allows their inner child to come out and play will be flicking each and every toggle switch to find out what it does before trying to decipher the pictograms. Then again, if you just want to lower a window, you might spend more than the usual half-second locating the switch… In general, the controls are awkward and trickier to use, but well worth the charm factor in my opinion, and Mini masks some of the chintzy plastic with funky design, which may not be to everyone’s tastes. Then again, this was never a car that needed to cater to the Camry and Civic masses.
The steering wheel, however, is a hefty piece, and while it carries on the look of round things, it steers the front wheels with sharpness and immediacy and returns all the information one could ever want about a road. Steering isn’t feather light, nor is it needlessly heavy, offering up only enough resistance to make sure you really mean it, and reciprocating with even, accurate, and lightning quick changes in direction and clear feedback when the front tires stand to lose traction.
On the roads of central Ontario, there are too few curves to excite drivers, but the Roadster is a joy on a hot summer day, enjoying the sun, or closing the top for a respite from the sun and A/C blasting on high. The Mini’s roof is a soft top, but if anything, it seems quieter than the MX-5 with the roof up, which has a tendency to echo engine and mechanical sounds–a plus in some people’s books, but the Mini is a ‘premium’ brand so its refinement is fitting.
Put the Mini back in the city and every turn, lane change, or tight parking lot becomes an exercise of imagining the city as a go-kart track. At low speeds or on the highway, the Cooper S has the power delivery to slot into gaps as soon as you see them if you’re keeping the boost well primed–if you’re not, you’ll have to wait out a bit of turbo lag.
