.jpg?p=120522_05:21)
.jpg?p=120522_05:22)
.jpg?p=120522_05:23)
.jpg?p=120522_05:24)
.jpg?p=111221_03:51)
Latest news
-
Classified ad of the week: Cooper S
This is what the fastest Mini looked like in the sixties…
Classified ad of the week: Mini Cooper S -
-
The fastest road-going Mini ever
TG reports back from the launch of the new John Cooper Works GP
Read all about it -
Suzuki Swift Sport vs. Mini Cooper
You don’t need prodigious power or mega money to have serious fun…
-
It's the Mini Countryman John Cooper Works
Mini’s chubby crossover gets four-wheel drive and 215bhp
Mini Countryman JCW revealed -
-
-
Mini reveals new Clubvan concept
Is this the most questionable run-out special... in the world?
Mini reveals new Clubvan concept -
Mini win the Dakar Rally
Mini has finally won a rally again! But it’s still not the WRC. Here are the highlights...
-
Hammond's icons: Mini Cooper S MkII
A car that changed the world and became an automotive icon in the process. Richard Hammond goes Mini
-
-
That car would go head-to-head with the Renault Wind and Abarth 500 rather than these cruiserweight coupes, a battle the Mini would come out of far better: we’ve always found the base-spec Mini ‘One’ hatch to be one of the most enjoyable, and the Coupe’s cut-and-paste cabin and vertiginous seating position wouldn’t be such an issue in a cheaper car. And let’s face it: spec the Mini tastefully, and it’d look veritably svelte next to the Wind. But in JCW form, the Coupe feels a leap too far for the humble Mini. Diverting though this car is, it doesn’t quite manage the hat trick.
-
-
Matching the RCZ on price almost pound-for-pound, the Coupe undercuts the equivalent TT by some three grand. But the Audi is simply in a different league. Pugnacious though it is, this top-spec Coupe is too obviously a descendent of the basest Mini hatch, a car less than half the price. Where the Peugeot and Audi hide their donor organs under original designs, the Mini doesn’t feel special, different enough to justify its premium price.
-
If you want a two-seater with Mini manners, and you can handle the whole helmet/baseball cap thing, you’ll love it. And, arguably it’s actually more practical than the hatch: no one has ever bought a three-door Mini for its usable rear seats, so why not give up any pretence of ever transporting more than a single passenger, and marvel in the luxury of being able to fit big pieces of fruit in the boot?
-
Maybe we’re being too harsh on the Coupe. On the right road, it’s a fighty, frenzied ball
of fun. If you’re up for a scrap, of these three coupes it’s the Mini that will smear the widest smile across your face, chuntering and hissing as it slews cheerily down a country lane. As with the JCW hatch, you fight the wheel like a Pikes Peak hero, glutei tensed, waiting for the nose to make its next bid for hedgerow. -
Though I’m sure the marketing men refer it to as a ‘core brand signature’ or some such nonsense, couldn’t Mini have ditched the giant central speedo for once? Not only does it serve no function as a speedometer unless you drive with your head tipped into the middle of the car, it also makes the cabin feel open and tall, rather than low and intimate.
-
Unlike the RCZ. Its pedals aren’t quite so perfectly placed as the TT’s, but the Peugeot still cocoons you in deep, leathery, coupe comfort. With its classy detailing and shiny bits, the RCZ pushes into sharp focus how unoriginal the Mini’s cabin really is. Yes, its windscreen angles more steeply towards your forehead, but beyond that it’s all too familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the regular three-door Mini.
-
Even with the seat ratcheted down to its very lowest point, you still sit on top of, rather than within, the Coupe, your ankles down below your knees, not out in front. It’s not terminally bad – the stock Mini has a decent driving position, and this is no worse – but as you slot comfily into the dark confines of the TT, cranking the seat lower and lower until your view through the windscreen is of nothing but sky and passing crows, you realise how much more hatch than coupe the Mini really is.
Search news
Advertisement
Advertisement
Open Car Bar