2020 Mini Convertible Reviews

MINI calls it "Not Normal." We've been known to call it "creepy." Wherever it lands on your personal spectrum, MINI's ad flavour is definitely unusual. The latest, for the new Paceman, is called "Street Attitude". Showing a guy that's in a hurry to grab some vinyl, pick up dinner, and flash his girlfriend--with his lights--as he pulls into his living room/garage, we're not entirely sure what's going on here. Par for the course with MINI. Three versions of the ad are offered, with the primary ad featuring a run-in at an intersection with another Paceman--later revealed to be the first driver's bird-flipping girlfriend. Not that it's the first time MINI has flipped us the bird. The second version has a happier ending, and the third version ends with a much lonelier scene. Almost loser status. So what do you think of these ad spots? Is MINI out in left field again, or do they resonate with you? If so, could you please tell us what sort of person you are, because we still can't figure out who the typical Paceman buyer is. Thanks.   www.motorauthority.com    

There probably isn't a huge market for a somewhat off-road-capable, three-door, sporty, compact hatchback. So what is the market for a more hardcore, sporty, less off-road-capable version of that same hatchback? We're not sure, but that's exactly what the MINI Paceman John Cooper Works is. This is our first look at the hot edition of the Paceman, courtesy of rampant leakage around the web today ahead of its official debut, expected sometime in the coming months. The 2013 MINI Paceman the John Cooper Works edition is based on was just unveiled to the public at the 2012 Paris Auto Show in September, so the JCW is close on the heels of its more normal (though still somewhat oddball) counterpart. Leaked to the web without specs or information, the MINI John Cooper Works Paceman is already familiar--if not quite pleasing--to our eyes. But do the official details on MINI's latest car persuade us to want to like it? Close, but not quite. You see, this is arguably the most confusing and least attractive cut of MINI's one-sausage-many-lengths theory of design. Pairing the high-riding and soft-roading qualities of the Countryman with the enthusiast-focused John Cooper Works formula could have resulted in a three-door MINI Paceman Baja Edition--a sort of micro-Raptor. Instead, it leaves us with a John Cooper Works Paceman, good for 7 seconds to 100km/h from a 160 kilowatts turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine driving ALL4 all-wheel drive. Peak torque of 300 newton-meters is available from 1,700 rpm to 4,500 rpm with the Overboost function enabled--pretty stout for a smallish turbo four. A choice of manual or automatic six-speed transmissions is available, and it won't affect the 0-100km/h times. But as strong as that little engine is, the 7-second 0-100km/h time hints at the problems of going tall and off-road-ish: weight. The JCW Paceman is quicker than the JCW Countryman, but not by much. By way of contrast, the Scion FR-S manages a rather anemic 147 kilowatts from its boxer engine, with at most about three-quarters the torque of the MINI JCW Paceman's engine--and even then, it's all at the top of the tach--and yet it can dash to 100km/h in about the same time, with rear-wheel drive only. The comparison is apples to oranges on everything, and all of it should favour the MINI. But the clock doesn't. That spells a stout curb weight to us. MINI doesn't disabuse us of this notion with the official announcement--curb weight isn't anywhere to be found. www.motorauthority.com  

A Mini for men is the pitch behind the launch of the Paceman. To date, especially in Australia, the buyer base for the Brit-built cars has skewed in favour of the femmes. The Paceman - essentially a two-door, four-seat Countryman with a lower ride height and sportier suspension - is designed to change that with more aggressive bodywork. But there’s another agenda at work here and it’s dragging the romanticism of the Mini brand down to the bottom line.  This, the seventh body style for the brand, embodies the beancounters’ formula for building cars: take a proven product and wring every last derivative from it. That competence-driven approach makes economic sense ... but Mini is supposed to be about emotion and the Paceman leaves me feeling jaded. An estimated starting price of $36,000 for the base Cooper model will lift to around $45K for the turbocharged Cooper S Carsguide tested in the hills of Mallorca. A John Cooper Works version is in the works, but I’d save the cash and stick with the S - it already has enough urge to hit 100km/h in 7.5 seconds. Standard gear runs from a typically sound audio system to satnav and switchgear that feels as solid as it looks. There’s a pair of diesels in the form of a 1.6-litre D and 2.0-litre SD, but they weren’t available for the international launch on the backroads of Mallorca. There’s nothing radical here in the mechanicals or the software. Been there, driven that. So it’s good, just not new. The turbo four-cylinder is as punchy as you can ask it to be and still runs on very little petrol. The diesel will be better still in terms of fuel use. The taillights are a dead giveaway you are following a Mini Paceman, rather than anything else in the family. The horizontal design is a first for Mini and helps differentiate this car from the Countryman. That tapering roofline means rear-seat headroom is marginal and those of 180cm-plus stature may find themselves in need of a neck massage if ensconced in the back for too long. Leg room is good, though, so it may fulfil Mini’s aim of getting people to move up from a regular hatch as the little one’s get bigger. They’ll need to be big enough to do up their own seatbelts, though, or mum/dad are going to do their back in trying to stretch that far. The more masculine look works well, with the front and back having a more unshaven edge than most Minis. The Countryman’s a five-star proposition, so there’s every reason to expect the Paceman to follow the same route. Competent without being poised, the Paceman faithfully reflects its parentage. It doesn’t go as hard or corner as well as the smaller, more Mini-esque hatch but it dumps on the more upright Countryman. That’s what comes with lowering the ride height by 40mm and stiffening up the springs.  Push hard and the Paceman wants to push through the corner rather than go around it but it’s testament to the chassis that a slight lift in accelerator pressure has the car back on track with very little fuss. The S version is no slouch, with a 7.5-second time to 100km/h and there’s very little evidence of the body roll that can be found on the edge in the Countryman. Rear seat access isn’t ideal, with a big step needed to clear the door sill on exit. The front seats don’t look that well bolstered but still manage to keep occupants in place even at silly speeds.

The team of 28 gym members squashed and squeezed their way into a 2012 Mini Hatch yesterday in London, UK, to make it into the Guinness World Records. Getting four people just into the boot space of the Min, they went on to use every available pocket of room in the car, including folding bodies into the footwells and across the dashboard. The successful bid broke the record they set last year with 27 people, but that wasn’t enough for the women. After unfolding from the Mini Hatch – and gulping a few mouthfuls of fresher air – they hightailed it for a television studio, where 23 of them set a second record for the number of people in a much smaller classic Mini from the 1960s. The stunts were part of the eighth annual Guinness World Records Day, which saw 4000 people around the world try to make it into the record book. Australia was represented by 15-year-old Lachlan Phelps from Scone, NSW, who set the record for the longest note blown on a didgeridoo -- without using the continuous circular breathing technique – blasting past the previous 60 second record with a 65.66-sec note.  

This car, caught by Carparazzi, is regular Mini but with extra rear doors to make it more family friendly. European sources say it is part of the third-generation Mini family and should be ready for showrooms in the second half of next year at around $50,000.  

A convoy of Minis is setting out for the Arctic Circle, carrying a load of letters written by children and Christmas-spirited grownups from 16 countries around the world. The trek is a bid for Guinness World Record fame as the longest gift wishlist ever – and if successful will join other Guinness gongs on Mini’s trophy shelf, including world’s tightest drift parking and most people crammed into a Mini (26, in case you’re worried about not having that vital piece of data). The Mini models lining up for the trip are the Hatchback, Clubman, Coupe, Roadster and all-wheel drive Countryman micro SUV – possibly the natural choice as lead car, although Mini hasn’t confirmed if it will be sporting a red nose. The Christmas expedition will leave Munich on November 24 with a 3000km journey ahead of them, finishing in Rovaniemi in Finland, on the border of the Arctic Circle. It’s not known yet if Santa has arranged a meet and greet, but waiting for them will be ‘flying Finn’ Rauno Aaltonen in a classic Mini. The Mini-helming champion of many races, including the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally and the 1966 Bathurst 500 at Mt Panorama, Aaltonen now runs an ice rally school and will pay tribute to the modern convoy by showing his stuff in the new Mini Paceman. Knowing Aaltonen’s skills, expect enough flying ice and snow to more than make up for any lack of flying reindeer.  

Mini Coopers, Mini Clubmans, Mini Countrymans … hatches, convertibles, ultra-compact SUVs – even a model with an extra door on one side. You’d think Mini had done everything they could with the heritage of the iconic little car they turned into a modern sales success. But there could still be uncharted waters out there – with a Mini boat floating up among their press blurbs over the weekend. Mini in the US challenged their network to come up with something different for a special sales event, and this is the brainchild of their Eastern Region dealers. "We challenged our regional staff and the dealers in their respective areas to identify 'Not Normal' ways to celebrate this Motor-Tober by engaging the Mini community and demonstrate why it's an exciting brand family to be part of," Mini USA marketing manager Tom Salkowsky says in the press statement. The boat was the brainchild of the Eastern Region dealer network. The Mini boat – riding on a small pontoon and powered by an outboard motor -- was launched over the weekend during the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Massachusetts. With a member of the regatta committee at the helm with the task of keeping an eye on the competing rowers, it makes the little Mini the first safety car for the boat race. We have never before allowed a company to float a car on the Charles during racing," the regatta's executive director Fred Schoch says. Sadly for you nautical types, this is a one-off concept and won't be headed for the showroom -- unless Mini truly runs out of ideas for new models. And on that score, we’re looking forward to seeing what the brand comes up with to top this. Mini helicopter, anybody?  

This is Mini's baseball cap car because the roof looks like one. It's also been described as looking like someone dropped a brick on it and also as a helmet. Whatever, they all seem apt enough. The gold and black striped test car would cost more than the kick off price of $42,990, probably a lot more when you tally up all the options but the good news is, you won't be disappointed.Why? Because the Cooper S Coupe has excellent performance and handling and is generously equipped in standard trim. Mini has plenty of options to add but you might only be tempted by a couple such as the stripes. Satnav is an option and there are numerous other goodies.  But you do get Bluetooth phone, multiple audio connections, climate control, power assisted ancillaries, park distance control and other stuff. Our test car was a six speed manual with a sweet shifting action and close intermediate ratios for sporty driving. It will put away a 0-100kmh sprint in 6.9 seconds bet feels quicker. Fuel economy averages 6.3-litres/100km - quite impressive when you consider the Mini's performance potential. The engine, from PSA (Peugeot) also used in various BMW models, is a 1.6-litre, direct injection turbo petrol with 135kW/260Nm output (on overboost).  The look inside is modern and classy and the interior offers plenty of comfort and sporty seats. It's all soft feel and multi textures with a huge speedo in the middle that's fairly useless because of the position. Lucky there's a digital read out directly in front of the driver on the instrument pod. The Coupe is a real attention grabber that takes onlookers one way or the other, no fence sitters. We love it because it's so whacky in a cute/tough kind of way. The active rear spoiler pops up at speeds above 80kmh adding to the sporty effect generated by those imposing black alloys, the squat appearance, the muscular rump and the large tailgate covering the surprisingly big load space. There are two interior roof bubbles to give more headroom and there's enough seat adjustment for people over 185cm to get comfy. But what you need to know is how good this car is to drive. It's a step back from the hard core JCW model but is arguably a better day to day drive -- a real hoot.  There's a Sport button just in front of the gear stick that optimises a number of functions including throttle response, steering and suspension as well as opening flaps in the exhaust to give a muted 'pop' on the over-run. It sounds excellent and we had the Sport button on all the time. Though relatively small in capacity, the engine delivers maximum torque from as low as 1500rpm which translates into superb throttle response across a wide engine operating range. You can feel it in the seat of your pants and under your right foot. It's addictive. So is the way this car corners. Like a kart is no exaggeration. It sits flat and through fast corners and simply scuttles through with barely any body or wheel deflection. The brakes are right up to the task and the steering is quick and well weighted. Having a wheel at each corner is a big advantage for a front wheel drive hot hatch like this.

The once staunch rear-wheel drive car maker says it will use its new front-drive platform for future BMW models - including the Concept Active Tourer on display at this week's Paris motor show - and for the new Mini. The new Mini Cooper, expected in early 2014, will be the first to use the shared platform that is called UKL. Speaking at the Paris show, BMW board member Ian Robertson indicated a range of front-drive models with the BMW badge that could arrive together in 2014. “One of the big advantages of UKL is that we are able to launch a lot of products almost simultaneously because we are doing the engineering at once,” Robertson says. In reference to the Concept Active Tourer, he says: “This is the first car that we are showing.” BMW is on record as saying the premium small car market will become the fastest growing segment because it offered flexibility in design, spaciousness and a compact footprint. “We will attract a broad profile of customers, from young families to people entering the later phase of life,” Robertson says. “You get a lot of flexibility.”

The JCW Countryman is the first performance model of the range to come with Mini ALL4 all-wheel drive. Power comes from a newly developed four-cylinder, turbocharged 1.6-litre engine with 160 kW/280Nm (300Nm with overboost). It's the most powerful drive unit in the Mini range, featuring construction principles and materials adapted specially from race-trim cars. There's a combination of twin-scroll turbocharger, petrol direct injection and fully variable valve management based on the BMW Group's Valvetronic technology. It gives the JCW Countryman acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.0 seconds and stand-out efficiency in this output class. Mini also uses plenty of its ‘Minimalism’ fuel saving technology including brake energy regeneration, gear shift indicator, auto start-stop function and electric power steering.  A six-speed manual gearbox is standard with a six-speed auto optional. It has steering wheel shift paddles. Other standard kit includes a sports exhaust that produces a stirring soundtrack and a Sport button that tweaks the engine's responses and vocal character, the power assistance provided by the steering and the shift dynamics of the optional automatic gearbox.  Power distribution is varied seamlessly between the front and rear axles by an electromagnetic centre differential positioned directly on the final drive. A range of electronic dynamic controls is fitted. The JCW model has a sports suspension with firmly tuned springs and dampers, strengthened anti-roll bars and a 10-millimetre drop in ride height; powerful brakes with red calipers and extra-lightweight 18-inch twin spoke alloy wheels optional to 19s.  Inside it gets a JCW cockpit with sports seats, sports steering wheel, interior trim strips in piano black, anthracite-coloured roof liner, dark speedometer and rev counter dials and John Cooper Works door sills.