Features

After that, you're in familiar territory. Both cars rack through the gears with bouncy efficiency, the new Mini feeling so strong right the way to the 7,500rpm redline that the old engine starts to feel a bit grumpy by comparison.

In fact, the new car feels like it has a good 20bhp over the old because it's sweeter to rev and is capable of a short-term 'overboost' when you really stand on the throttle, bumping the 177lb ft of torque on offer to 192lb ft. It makes a big difference on a tight and twisty road.

Luckily, the noise of the new car changes when you're on the move. You lose the 'charger whine from the old car, but that allows you to listen more keenly to the woofling of the exhaust and the pops and grumbles that it produces on the overrun. The old car's engine feels just as characterful as it ever did, and produces great results (as well as the same pops and bangs), but again, it just feels half a generation behind in terms of technology and driveability.

The other big news is that even though the new version of the Mini has been simplified to make it cheaper to build (witness the demise of the complicated clamshell front end in favour of a more conventional bonnet), the suspension isn't where they skimped.

The new Mini rides and handles superbly, soaking up both small and long amplitude bumps and lumps like a car with twice the wheelbase, even with the sports suspension fitted to our test car. The engineers have lengthened the suspension travel to help mitigate the harsh excesses of the run-flat tyres, and, by God, it's worked.

The new Mini rides, turns in and holds a line better than the old car despite heaving about on larger 17-inch wheels than the original Cooper S, which was riding on 16s and a narrower 195-section (versus 205) tyre. There's a confidence to the way the car moves over any surface that means you can take liberties without ever getting into trouble.

Mid-corner bumps don't faze it, and you can squeal around a hairpin with the same confidence as a long 80mph sweeper. The old car moves around more, sways a little more from the rear when you lift. Personally I liked the old car's more cheeky handling balance, but there's no doubt that the new version is the more accomplished, mature performer of the two.

The feeling is borne out by an interior that clunks and thunks more convincingly too. Where the old Mini's silver-finished plastic stalks felt brittle, the new car's ones are soft-touch with a BMW's damped tactility.

The dinner plate centre speedo and heater controls in the shape of the Mini emblem are a bit Liberace, but the car now feels better assembled all round, and the higher shoulders (the seat mounting point remains as low as the previous car) mean that you feel like you sit lower, with more metal around you, adding to the feeling of solidity.

It's a weird one, this. The Mini, bastion of funk and cheek, has grown up a bit. The new car is 30 per cent better in nearly every respect. It's better balanced, has more mature handling, and the quality is better. But it's lost a little of the pugnacious attitude that made it feel so young and vibrant in the first place.

It might not look much different, but the Mini has evolved into a car that maintains its place as the number one motor in the sector. But there's a part of me that drives the old Cooper S and thinks that a little bit of the old-school attitude has been sacrificed on the altar of empirical improvement.


Read Mini Cooper/One Car Review

Mini One / Cooper road tests
Mini Cooper D - May 10, 2007
Mini Cooper - January 11, 2007
Mini Cooper S With JC Works GP Kit - August 1, 2006
Mini Cooper S Auto - May 4, 2005
Mini Cooper S Works 2005 - December 10, 2004