MINI Cooper

The Mini Cooper in red. (via Mini Cooper website)

"You drove all the way here in that?!"

That's the response I got when I casually mentioned that my wife and I had driven from New York City to Nashville in a MINI Cooper sedan.

What's more, I had a great time all 1,800 miles or so of the roundtrip ride along freeways through hills and valleys cloaked in forests resplendent in their multi-hued autumnal finery.

But enough with the poetry.

The point is that the car performs. As the MINI Cooper ads used to invite, this vehicle makes you want to jump in and start motoring someplace.

("But didn't you feel nervous alongside the big rigs on the highways," asked my sister? Not really. I don't think a midsize sedan or even an SUV would perform any better in a big rig collision than the MINI Cooper, which happens to have 5-star safety ratings for rollovers and side crashes involving front seat passengers.)

So what makes the MINI Cooper worthy of consideration by Green drivers?

For starters, the EPA ranks the MINI as having the best MPG in its class of minicompact cars. My automatic sedan was rated for 25 mpg in the city and 34 in the highway. In hilly terrain with light traffic most of the way, I managed to attain low to mid-30s mpg for much of the journey.

Like the Smart car I reviewed recently, I think that MINI should also get some eco points purely on its small size. It seems logical that making a small car would require fewer raw materials than a large car and MINI has taken the concept a bit further with a minimalist philosophy that includes the use of lightweight and recyclable materials.

From a driving standpoint, the MINI is both comfortable and fun. The sport seats on my test vehicle ($250 extra) were nicely firm and supportive in all the right places. The suspension ate up most of the bumps in the road without so much as a hiccup. The MINI's low, wide stance gave the car stability and traction to spare. I didn't even feel nervous taking the curves at 70 mph in dense morning fog on the hills outside of Charleston, West Virginia.

The view other drivers will see when getting passed by the Mini. (via Mini Cooper website)

From a design standpoint, MINI had me from the moment my hand touched the old-fashioned metal door handle. The doors close with a satisfying thunk and there's something neat going on with the way that the windows automatically seal themselves a fraction tighter once the door is closed and you're ready to roll.

Basically, the MINI just has that premium car feel. There are nifty little touches such as color adjustable mood lights that pop on at night or in cloudy conditions on the roof in front of the rear-view mirror. And I liked the way that the circular gas gauge consisted of little petals arranged in circular formation. Heck, I even liked the way MINI dinged to remind me that the parking brake was on or that I needed to fasten my seatbelt. (You know you're in a fancy car when the ding sounds harmonious.)

Want more evidence that the MINI has little luxe touches? How about the Cold Weather package that included heated mirrors, heated seats and power-folding side mirrors for tight squeezes.

That being said, MINI isn't perfect. What are the drawbacks?

• Being low to the ground may be good for stability and handling, but it means that getting in and out of the car could be hassle for some people. Entering and exiting the Toyota Yaris, for example, was much more of a breeze.

• Acceleration was puzzling. Sometimes the MINI was responsive and agile. Other times - especially on long uphill stretches - I struggled to maintain speed without flooring the accelerator and sending the engine racing. This racing engine issue - which once sent the tachometer soaring toward the red zone - even appeared a couple of times while I was testing the MINI's cruise control, prompting me to turn off the cruise function and rely on manual controls.
  
  

  

  A speedometer so big that the driver behind you may be able to read it. (via Mini Cooper website)

• Sometimes the MINI's design just felt too cute or clever by half. The saucer-sized spedometer in the center of the car never won me over. I would have preferred a smaller and simpler spedometer behind the steering wheel. Even after a week behind the wheel, I sometimes still reached down to roll down the window and forgot that the controls were on the central panel. I would have preferred that the car automatically lock its doors when reaching a certain speed (i.e. 5 mph) as many cars do rather than requiring me to remember to lock the doors manually (again from the central console). I constantly ended up changing the station when I wanted to change the volume on the radio. These are all small quibbles, but it just felt like the designers could have made the car's internal systems - audio, climate, windows - much easier to control. Oh and while the low roofline may make the car aerodynamic and add to its curb appeal, it also makes it a little tough to see stoplights if you're the first car in line without leaning forward and craning your neck upward.

• The MINI is really comfortable for the driver and front-seat passenger, but I tried sitting in the back seat once and I'm convinced that the only passengers who can comfortably use that rear seat would be infants, pets or people who have no legs. I wasn't able to take a photo showing the paucity of rear-seat leg room, but take my word that there were only a few inches between the back of the drivers seat (in my driving position) and the front of the rear-seat cushion. Anyone forced to sit there for long would be at serious risk of deep-vein thrombosis and or claustrophobic breakdown. Now with the back seats folded down, the MINI has quite a decent amount of cargo space, but advertising the car as providing realistic transportation for four adults just seems misleading to me. I almost wish that MINI had just made this a two-seater with a large cargo bay, but I suppose it is nice for parents with young children to have the option of securing car-seated toddlers in the back.

Even though MINI has been in the States since 2002, I guess it's still somewhat of a phenomenon outside big urban areas. From the time I left the greater NYC area, I only noticed one other Mini on my side of the highway until I had practically reached Nashville, at which point a MINI Cooper S (the sportier version) passed me. As he went by, the driver gave a jaunty wave - just the sort of cheery camaraderie one might expect from one MINI driver to another.

Parking, as expected, is a snap in the MINI.

U-turns are a breeze.

After a couple of thousand miles and fighting my way through the gauntlet at the Holland Tunnel back into NYC, I was ready to give up the key to my MINI, but just a couple days later I found myself wishing I could be back behind the wheel. To me, that's a strong endorsement of the MINI's appeal.

Where to buy:

MINI is superbly customizable, although take note that snazzy options like checkered-flag side mirrors can end up costing a bundle if you go crazy with the bells and whistles.That said, you can build the MINI of your dreams online and then send that package to a dealer.

Or just go to a dealer directly and see what they've got in stock.

Note that all that MINI cuteness doesn't come cheap. My MINI Cooper sedan started at $18,550, but with the cold weather package (heated seats, heated mirrors, etc.), automatic transmission and a handful of other options plus destination charge, the total came to $22,800.

Other versions of the MINI have steeper (sometimes much steeper) base prices. The sportier MINI Cooper S starts at $22,300. The MINI Cooper convertible begins has a base price over $24,000. The top-of-the-line MINI John Cooper Works models begin at $28,800.

To put that in perspective, a 5-door automatic transmission Toyota Yaris starts at a shade over $12,000 and you can probably pick one up nicely equipped for less than $17,000.

The MINI has more of a premium feel and is more fun to drive, but on the other hand the Yaris offers better mpg and the actual ability to hold four (or even five) adult humans in relative comfort.

Bottom line -- If you want a fun car with good performance, good comfort, good looks and relatively Green specs - and you never need to transport more than two adults - the MINI could be your perfect fit.

PS - MINI is apparently in the process of field-testing an electric version MINI called (appropriately) the MINI-E, but there's no word yet on when (or if) the electric version will reach dealerships.

Disclosure - MINI loaned me a MINI Cooper sedan to test drive for this review. Unfortunately, I had to give it back when the test was complete.