Finding you don't always have to sacrifice substance for style, the Mini Cooper convertible ticks all the bxes for MICHAEL McALEER, Motoring Editor
THIS IS not a car so much as a fashion statement; a white Mini with a chocolate roof and similar coloured leather interior with white piping surrounds. It should really be sold with a set of matching luggage and a pair of shoes.
It was not just the fact it’s a car for the fashion conscious: for the first time this year, we’ve spent a week in an ’09 car that was welcomed by the public with a smile rather than a sneer. For that alone it received a warm welcome in our house.
We have to admit to initial qualms about driving around in a white Mini with the roof down in the middle of a recession. If nothing else, one would expect people are less averse in times of strife to treating your lovely new convertible like a mobile target for their rubbish. In fact the opposite could not be more true: even the most hardened cynic seems to have a soft spot for a soft-top Mini.
What we have here then, is the epitome of grand design. It’s a modern take on a symbol of early affordable motoring that now comes at a premium price but retains its classless looks. It’s not just the price that’s counter-intuitive to the reality of the modern Mini. This small car is, in fact, anything but.
Park a modern Mini behind one of the old iteration and you really appreciate the enormity of the new car. It’s a monster compared to the little metal boxes people used to hurtle around in. Take into account that the modern car comes with a host of safety features and protective airbags and you start to wonder how any of us ever survived in the old versions.
The other surprising feature of the modern Mini is just how popular the brand is. You notice them in traffic but it’s only when you join the owner’s club – even for a brief sojourn as in our case – and start to pay attention that you notice what a popular niche player this is.
In the streets surrounding our house we spotted five that we’d barely noticed before. Yet when you join the clique, you feel it your duty to notice. For a company that makes one model that stretches into two derivatives, the reach is pretty significant, even on this little island of ours. As a feat of marketing it’s truly astounding. As a small car it’s funky and fun, if not quite that astounding.
For a start, in some strange quirk of physics, the new car doesn’t feel all that more spacious than the older model. Of course the figures don’t lie, but it’s the perception that counts. In the case of this test car, it partly came down to the sports seats. These are figure hugging features that are more comfortable and cushioned than the regular fare but take up too much room in a car of this size.
The upside to open-top motoring in the recent sunshine is pretty self-evident. Even when the April wind starts to bite, you still can’t persuade yourself to put up the hood. The fact it pops down in 15 seconds and back again in roughly the same time means you can persuade yourself that it really is akin to pulling up and down the hood of your jacket.
The downside of having a cloth roof, however, is there is a fair degree of road noise that seeps into the cabin with the roof up. It’s not as airtight as we might have hoped for in such a modern convertible.
Where it is quite small is in the boot: just 125 litres and a rather tight opening means golfers will have to sit next to their clubs while shopping trips will be more about the quality than the quantity of the purchases.
In terms of ride and handling, the 1.6-litre engine offers all the pep you will need in the Cooper version, so unless you like wrestling for control over the mechanics of the steering wheel, it will suffice on Irish roads over the S version.
Even then, it has a rather giddy demeanour, particularly on the poorer surfaces. The front wheels flit over bumps and the rather firm suspension means it’s not a particularly entertaining drive on the back roads as it can feel rather skittish. On one particular bend, we were through the apex and hit the accelerator down as the open road beckoned. However, what we hadn’t spotted was a badly laid strip of tar on the road. This small blemish was enough to leave us floating in the air for a minute and caught us out. It was only a minor wake-up to keep our eyes on the road but it’s that eagerness that you need to be aware of.
The engineers have worked their magic in terms of emissions on this new car. Despite its premium allure and fantastic upmarket appeal, it’s one of the few cars in this class where you pay discount tax rates. Coming in with 137g/km, it costs just €156 to tax each year, which is proper city car standards. This is having your cake and eating it.
Another boon for this convertible is supposedly the back row of seats, something that its rivals don’t bother to even attempt to offer.
That said, the large front sports seats fitted as an option by many potential buyers will make leg room in the back pretty laughable and even this diminutive hack left little or no legroom behind him. Commercial images show rear passengers sitting comfortably but we would have our doubts about the level of comfort on a long journey.
On the upside, the engineering fit and finish of the Cooper convertible feels better than we first encountered on early iterations of the regular car. Everything from the switchgear to the door handles are well screwed in place and that can be important for a car that will suffer the vagaries of Ireland’s road network. If the budget cuts of recent months are anything to go by then the pothole could well be making its return as a major bugbear in Irish motoring life.
Little niggling issues we had with the car include the location of reverse gear so close to first. The fact you don’t have to either press down or pull up on the gearstick – as with other cars where reverse is next to first – means you occasionally engage reverse by mistake.
Aside from this, it’s hard to fault the rag-top Mini Cooper. It’s engine is so lively you can’t but like to drive it, while the steering response is so precise you feel a real sense of control.
Get it on the right roads and you’ll have a smile from ear to ear, and in that regard, it’s an example of how motoring is so much more than simple engineering: the end product, a mix of metal, plastic, rubber and leather, is so much more than the sum of its parts.
The problem in some instances is that so is the price.
This test car was not overly loaded with what we would consider an exorbitant array of optional extras, but the final price tag on our car came to a whopping €36,000. That’s the price of some premium saloons.
However, if you are careful with the extras – and skip the sports seats – this car can be priced competitively and then it starts to really show its worth.
For a start, it’s an icon that people love. In terms of used values, few cars hold their price as well, even in these chastened times.
Instead of some silly gadget like the openometer, opt for the optional service contract that covers all servicing costs for the initial years of ownership. It means the car will be properly looked after and that will pay off when you go to resell it.
What’s more, along with holding its value well, there really is nothing to compare to it in terms of status and certainly not as a fashion accessory.
Factfile: Mini Cooper convertible
Engine: 1,598cc four-cylinder petrol engine putting out 120bhp with 160Nm of torque. 0-100km/h: 9.8 secs
Specification: Standard on all models: four airbags; ABS; corner brake control; dynamic stability control; traction control; hill start assist; roll-over protection system; tyre pressure monitoring system; black hood as standard; 15" alloys on Cooper; 16" on Cooper S; park distance control. Extras for Cooper include: Hot Chocolate hood (€1,607.34); 17" alloys (€1,565.22); wind deflector (€221.10); First aid kit triangle (€56.15); Sports Seats (€263.21); Openometer (€143.89); PEPPER Pack (€898.42)
Bootspace: 125l : 125l
L/100km (mpg):urban: 7.4 (38.2); extra-urban: 4.7 (60.1); combined: 5.7 (49.6)
CO2 emissions: 137 g/km
Tax: VRT – 16 per cent; annual motor tax – €156
Price: From €28,100 to €38,187