We just got home from picking up my wife's new car: a 2024 Mini Cooper S in British Racing Green IV.
This all came together rather quickly. My wife has been wanting another Mini, and 2024 is the last year they are building them with manuals. So we had been kind of looking at what was in stock for new ones as well as used ones. Before Christmas we had tried to buy a beautiful 2019 JCW that was very competitively priced but it ended up being sold before we could pull the trigger. Two months ago we had got a quote for a new Cooper S that was in stock at a Montreal area dealer. That one had the Premier package and was all black – wheels, no stripes, no contrasting roof, black exterior trim in place of chrome, black headliner. My wife loved it but decided against it because it was just too much money. Then a week ago she was looking again, and sent me links to a few she liked. I realized that the lease rate had been cut from 3.99 to 2.49 AND there was a $4250 rebate. Of course the one she liked before had sold, but the same dealer also had this green one in stock. The next day I got in touch with them and immediately put a deposit down.
This ended up being a good chunk cheaper than the other one we had a quote on, but it has way more options. It's the Premier+ which adds a few things we didn't really care about: The heads up display, front and rear parking sensors with park assistant, wireless phone charger, etc. It also had some useful/desirable options we wanted: the adaptive suspension, black headliner, heated steering wheel, heated windshield, and the premium stereo. On top of that it also has the ($2250!) "carbon black Mini Yours Lounge leather" in place of the standard leatherette. This was another option we didn't care too much about but the material is definitely a lot nicer than the leatherette. Ideally it would have been optioned with the same price "Malt brown Chester leather" which pairs really well with the green exterior but oh well. The only other options it doesn't have is stuff we don't want or care about: roof rails, alarm, aluminum interior trim, the piano black exterior trim, and the multi-tone roof. Sticker price is right around $50k, which is of course a ton of money and mentally I think a loaded Cooper S is still a $40k car. My 2017 Clubman JCW also stickered around $50k and was similarly equipped but was of course bigger, had more power, and had AWD. But that's just 2024 for you.
So having previously owned a base F56 Cooper as well as an F54 Clubman JCW, naturally my first impressions are in comparison to those cars. Not surprisingly, our new S largely feels like a cross between our previous two models with some updates. It's obviously the same size as our base, but with performance and features that are closer to the Clubman JCW's. The exhaust note is louder than the base car's, but a good bit quieter than the JCW's. I haven't played with the sport mode yet and I'm unsure of exactly what it changes. On the JCW it firmed up the suspension and made the exhaust louder; not sure if the same will be true here. Despite being down on power from the JCW, it's also a lot lighter than an AWD Clubman, so it's not surprising that straight line acceleration seems to be about on par with that car. At 130 km/h the engine is at 3000 rpm which seems reasonable to me. There's still plenty of useful torque in six gear for accelerating on the highway too. It's hard to comment on the handling since the drive home from Montreal was strictly on the Trans Canada Highway, which is entirely divided except for one small remaining section between Riviere du Loup and the New Brunswick border.
In most reviews of the Mini Cooper they mention that it's a bit loud and stiff for extended highway use but honestly I don't find that to be the case at all. I did notice a bit of wind noise but it's still a quiet car and it's generally quite comfortable. We made the 815 km trip home in just under 7.5 hours including two very quick bathroom stops and one slightly longer gas and load up on snacks stop at the halfway point. And we're planning to take this car on a big road trip this summer to visit friends in St. Catharines and Guelph. I have no issues with how it drives on the highway.
Since 2017 there have actually been two facelifts (or LCIs in BMW parlance) to the F56. 2019 saw some very mild changes such as the Union Jack taillights on models equipped with the optional LED lights and slightly revised engines tuned for efficiency, along with DCTs in place of automatic transmissions. 2022 was a more comprehensive facelift with front and rear styling changes, standard LED lighting (finally), a digital instrument panel, a new steering wheel, and some other interior revisions. I believe the adaptive suspension was also updated at this time but it's not something I've looked into in detail and I'm curious to learn more about how it works.
One thing our previous Minis did not have is any sort of driving assistant tech. The 2022 brought some of that but it is by no means a comprehensive suite of features like most companies offer. It has lane departure warning, forward collision warning with pedestrian detection, and auto high beams. Not something I care too much about but the auto high beams in my GTI worked really well and I'm hoping these do too.
The interior updates are a bit of a mixed bag compared to our 2017. I appreciate the digital instrument panel – I'm not usually a huge fan and prefer analog gauges but the old design was a bit chintzy and this is a nice improvement. Conversely, they changed the steering wheel buttons and the buttons under the screen to
look like capacitative touch buttons instead of individual ones, but when you press them the whole array of buttons moves. That seems like a step backwards. Aside from that the interior is very similar. It still is surprisingly roomy in the front and it has some ergonomic quirks like the headlight switch that is angled down towards your left knee and the iDrive controller that is awkwardly placed in front of the adjustable armrest in a way that means you have to contort your hand to use it. Not a big deal, really just a packaging constraint based on the size of the car I think.
Speaking of iDrive, the infotainment is a big upgrade. The screen is still 8.8" just like the old one was, but everything looks better and feels much snappier. Most importantly they added wireless Apple CarPlay which is of course a game changer if you are an iPhone user. The upgraded Harmon Kardon stereo is also well worth the money. The base system is mediocre at best and the H/K system is immediately noticeably better. Seems like it is not a very common option so I'm glad this one had it.
By the way, the timing of everything worked out really well. Last Sunday a friend of mine who lives in Montreal messaged me and said he and his wife would be getting into Fredericton on Thursday night and staying here for the weekend so they could attend our other friend's 40th birthday celebration on Saturday. So on Tuesday when I was trying to figure out if we were getting this car I asked him if we could get a drive to Montreal with them. He said it was no problem so yesterday (Sunday) we drove back with them and stayed at their place in Pointe Saint Charles. They took us to a cool brewery near their place, then had dinner at a great little pizza and pasta restaurant, then grabbed a cocktail at a speakeasy above it. Made all the driving seem a bit more worth it.
Only grabbed a couple of pics of the car today but I'll have to wash it tomorrow and maybe snap a few more detailed ones.
At the dealer this morning.
In the driveway, with our best friend's 2022 base fraternal twin in the background.
