Part of my morning routine is driving the kids to school. More than two years after my Chili Red Cooper S came to live with us, my oldest is still stoked about any chance to ride in it, including this particular morning. Standing at the door he asked, "Can we take Red?"
"No." I reply. "Green?*" he asks.
"No." I reply. He looks stumped.
My daughter pushes past both of us, sees the Sparkling Silver Cooper (a color also known as beige), gasps in delight, and immediately exclaims, "Can we call it 'Emily?'"
The name isn't the only thing that delights my daughter during the 5-minute ride. She loves the way the two colored spotlights in the headliner change between red, purple, and blue. In general this turns out to be the most impressive new feature from the 2007 redesign.
From my perspective, I felt as though MINI was trying to turn me into an 18-year-old girl. All the buttons and gauges got really big. The speedometer—already a distinct feature because of its size—has swollen way too much. The computer showing temperature, speed, and gas consumption has more than doubled in size. The buttons felt softer, rounder, and brighter because of the light gray plastic. Toggle switches that used to all hang out together are now spread throughout the cabin. Like domestic autos, the buttons now have names on them. These changes, I'm sure, are welcome by an increasingly female clientele, but I feel a lot of the unadorned enthusiast roots have been cut.
In an effort to make everything digital, MINI has swapped the usefulness of two gauges: instantaneous fuel economy and remaining fuel. The instantaneous fuel economy is a digital-to-a-tenth display of what your gas mileage is right now. And now! And now! It updates two or three times a second like a flashing light that serves to annoy more than inform.
The fuel gauge is set up like most are: a gas pump icon surrounded by a circle of tick marks. In the '08 MINI the tick marks are little candy corn-shaped lights that animate when the car starts. But they're not terribly informative. When I picked up the car, all the lights were lit—indicating a full tank. I drove 44.5 miles at 34.5 mpg (the mileage computer is indeed accurate) then topped off the tank by adding 4.5 gallons. So the tank was at 2/3 but showing only one candy corn low. I expect this of my analog gauge, but I don't understand the point of creating a digital gauge that isn't accurate.
To sum up, the car is fantastic. It's a MINI. It handles like a go-kart, has a decently matched engine (although the S makes the power curve enjoyable), and is really comfortable. The amenities are nice, the paddle shifting works, and Sport Mode really is sporty. Everything that carried over from the original 2002 design is great. It could just do with a little less cute.
*Green refers to my wife's Honda Pilot. Although it was supposed to be black, the salesperson pulled a last minute bait-and-switch on my wife, who took the bait. Even though the color is a dark, dark green, I've made it clear that it isn't black. This is a reminder for next time.
3 comments:
So has this drive affected your next-car-thoughts?
Tough to say. I think I'm still a couple years away from next-car decisions, however, I typically pick my next car a year in advance.
I have yet to actually spend time in a Clubman S. But as for another Cooper S, I don't think it's in the cards. I don't dislike the car at all, but I don't think it is an improvement over my core, supercharged '06. After my S wears out I wonder if I'd see a replacement as an also-ran.
Make sure you put the Kate and Andy dialog over on the kids' page. Nice piece of writing, btw.
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