Vehicle: 2012 Mini Cooper S Coupe with BRG, Punch leather, black headlights, heated front seats, DTC, comfort access, style pkg, sports pkg, chrome pkg and wired pkg
Price as tested: CDN$39570
Performance: Its pretty much a given on which powersource the Cooper S has. Exactly like the one standard in hatchback, Clubman, convertible and Countryman; Mini’s latest offering comes standard with the same turbocharged 1.6 liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder with 181hp and 177 lb/ft of torque. Along comes Valvetronic, direct fuel injection and electronic throttle. This familiar powertrain continues to come with familiar “overboost” feature. For up to 30 seconds, its able to boost the torque from 177 to 192 lb/ft of torque with the touch of a “sport” button on the dashboard. Its very useful when passing on the freeway, as well as accelerating off a traffic light. All have done without the annoying turbo lag one associates with turbocharged engines. Even if the Coupe weights in at 2679 lb, its so willing which makes Cooper S takes off with ease. The engine note is what have been expected from a Mini Cooper S. Deep. Solid and entertaining. Mated with this familiar engine is the sweet 6-speed manual. With the progressive clutch that provides right feedback, gates are well-defined and nicely ratioed have pretty much wrap up the familiar Mini equation.
Handling: Dynamically speaking, the Coupe is all-Mini. That means sharp and precise handling when pushed it to the max, regardless its on the racetrack or beckoning on the open road. Thanks to the famous solid and rigid chassis, which have been the hallmark of the Mini brand. The steering provides sharp and responsive feel and feedback, without all the twitches one expects from a sports car. There are minimal body rolls and understeer is well-tempted. With the uninstrusive stability control, any enthuisastic drivers are able to press the Coupe a bit at the limits before it starts to step in. That’s godsent because it allows for higher threshold on oversteer after terminal understeer. However, the ride quality isn’t on par with the handling quality. Along with our run-flat tires, which we have loved to hate on all the BMW and Mini products. The ride is choppy without actually absorb the bumps and roughness acceptably. You can feel every expansion joints and washboard pavements through the hard suspension. We pretty much love supple ride quality, which have a nice combination of firm ride and solid handling. But a relentlessly harsh suspension as a trade-off for better handling seems to be the latest dynamic thought of Mini engineers. All we can say: Thank you very much. When press the “sport” button on the dashboard, which is supposedly to firming up the driving characteristics. While the adjustable suspension damping does improve handling a whole nine yards, it makes Coupe’s ride quality a nitemare on poorly paved roads.
Brakes: The braking performance is up to the standard set by Mini. That means short stopping distance, with pedal always feels firm and well-modulated. The pedal always have a lives to its travel. Even after a couple of harsh stops, it remains fade-free. ABS doesn’t have any unwanted intervention is truly an added bonus.
Interior: Form-over-function pretty much say it all. Open the hatch-esque trunk, it has 9.8 cubin feet of cargo space which isn’t much by any coupe standard. Thankfully, Mini haven’t squeezed the cramped backseat into the coupe. Instead, their designers are smart enough to scrap it for the sake of slightly better luggage space.
Up front, thanks to the lowered roofline. Anyone as tall as 5″10 would have difficulity checking out traffic light. Another problem is the low A-pillars which generate poor visibilities up front. The same goes for the back with its thick and low C-pillars. The tiny back and side screens don’t have much neither. With poor sightlines all around, it needs both back-up camera and parking sensors as parking assistance. Otherwise, you would need to visit your nearby bodyshop in no time.
But there is one trick up Coupe sleeve. And that is the first retractable rear spoiler on a Mini, or on any BMW Group products. Given there aren’t any cutting-edge technologies coming out from this arrogant auto giant lately, its pretty much guaranteed they would overhyped this new feature for awhile.
Conclusion: Mini is a cash cow for BMW Group. Their latest creation of a Coupe certainly is a prime example. With the Coupe’s low roofline, its pretty much guaranteed there will be a Roadster coming on a horizon. Abeit with as much compromises as the Coupe we tested. The Mini Coupe is for those who want the sake of a Mini Coupe, instead of going for other brands. Those are the ones who are willing to accept the compromises: poor visibilities, lack of luggage space and choppy ride quality. As the old saying goes “love is blind” pretty much well described.
As for those who us who prefer more traditional approach, as well as a huge fans of the Classic Mini Cooper. Hatchback remains the only Mini we would take.
Competitions:
BMW 128i
Honda CR-Z
Hyundai Genesis 2.0T
VW Golf GTI
OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2012 Mini Cooper S Coupe
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Performance: 4.5/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 4/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 2/5
Value-for-money: 2/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5