The fount of youth
“When you get out of this automobile you feel five years younger”, claims Kay Segler alighting from the Mini Coupé in racing helmet and overall. For the head of the Mini marque the 3.7 metres long and just 1.4 metres high coupé is the “wild child of the family, perhaps just a bit naughty.” Mini had already scored PR points by pitting the new model against rivals in the 24 hour race through the ‘green hell' of the Nürburgring. The coupé… officially given the American pronunciation ‘coop’… will be on the roads in October after its appearance at the IAA. Even standing still there’s a hint of Porsche here… at the touch of a button, or automatically at speeds in excess of eighty kilometres an hour, a little spoiler emerges from the lid of the boot at the back. At high speeds this exerts up to 40 kilos of downforce but, hey, it looks really cool, too! The power for the Coupé is provided not by the familiar basic engine but only the more potent petrol fuelled mills with 122, 184 or 211 horsepower. The 211 of the John Cooper Works edition (JCW) is a particularly happy solution. Although the car is slightly heavier than the normal Mini due to the installation of Roadster stiffening fittings the rigid carosserie and the low centre of gravity more than make up for this.
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- In 6.4 seconds the speedometer needle reaches a hundred and when overtaking it takes only five seconds to go from 80 to 120 kilometres an hour.
Hot to trot
The boosted four-pot of the JCW deliver torque of 260 Nm to the driveshaft, with Overboost as much as 280 Nm in short bursts. The turbo motor delivers its maximum only at high revs but given the sound then produced this will be an added pleasure for the driver. Cruising at just three thousand RPM is actually a bit annoying since it is accompanied by a sonorous droning. There are minus points to be attributed for the slightly rough six-speed transmission which does not have the precision of BMW gear-boxes. Otherwise, however, top marks… In 6.4 seconds the speedometer needle reaches a hundred and when overtaking it takes only five seconds to go from 80 to 120 kilometres an hour. The Coupé takes the corners with aplomb, with the electronic differential lock distributing the power between the front wheels effectively. The electro-mechanical Servo steering is almost completely free of drive performance influence. The Coupé is set up for a tight ride although this has consequences for comfort when the JCW super-stiff springing has to deal with bumpy roads.
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- The cockpit is largely similar to that of other normal Mini models.
Colour me cool
The cockpit is largely similar to that of other normal Mini models. The extra wide doors have two plastic trim arches in the body colour and the dashboard, too, has been given these splashes of colour. There are bulges in the roof to give increased headroom. The Coupé is just a two-seater, but if one is honest so is the Mini One. Behind the seats there is stowage room for jackets and bags and there is a flap opening onto the boot from inside the car. The boot itself is quite low and slightly spoiled by a raised floor section but there is nevertheless room for 280 litres of load, 20 more than in the Mini Clubman. The standard equipment of the Coupé includes air conditioning, parking sensors at the back, CD radio and start-stop automation. The Cooper S Coupé with 184 horsepower is priced from 25,300 Euros, the diesel-powered Cooper SD Coupé with 143 horsepower has a tag of 26,300 Euros. This version has an averaged fuel consumption of 4.3 litres per hundred kilometres driven and is the most economical of all. The top version, the John Cooper Works, will cost 31,150 Euros. This comes with electronic differential locking, fog lights, aerodynamics kit comprising special skirt elements, a sports exhaust system and various decorative touches both on the bodywork and inside the auto.
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- The top version, the John Cooper Works, will cost 31,150 Euros. This comes with electronic differential locking, fog lights, aerodynamics kit comprising special skirt elements, a sports exhaust system and various decorative touches both on the bodywork and inside the auto.
Quirky, yes!
The ‘helmet’ shape of the roof, even when given stripes and spoilers, will never be to everyone’s taste. Mini head of design, Anders Warming, swears that this gives an absolutely unmistakable silhouette. “We took our inspiration from the sixties,” says the Dane and has in mind the limited edition cars like the Mini Marcos or the Broadspeed GT Mini Coupé. In 2012 there will be a roadster version. This will be, according to Mini boss Kay Segler “even more outrageous than the Coupé”. The next Mini will be the Paceman, a kind of miniaturized BMW X6. And if the designers are looking for further inspiration from the past… well, there was even a pickup version of the original Mini.
The basic Cooper Coupé with 122 horsepower goes on sale at 21,200 Euros. Although the look of the little car with its slightly Teutonic ‘helmet’ is unique there are other chic three-door rival models to be considered. The 120 horsepower Citroen DS3 costs 17,700 Euros, the VW Scirocco 1.4 TSI (122 horsepower) can be had for 22,500 Euros, the Peugeot RCZ (156 horsepower) for 27,650 Eurosand the Hyundai Veloster (140 horsepower) for 21,600 Euros.
