Mini Convertible review

Mini’s knocking its cabins out of the park right now, so long as you fall on the ‘love’ side of its Marmite circular touchscreen. Its OLED display is lush in all light conditions and while smartphone integration is a little odd – it’s no surprise that Apple CarPlay doesn’t slot neatly into a circle – everything else looks and feels great to operate.

The upper half of its 9.5in display shows speed and other vehicle-related info; this can also be extended full-screen. At the bottom sits a little menu bar that houses the controls for climate, audio, navigation or phone, with a home button in the middle. Double tap that and you’re off into the wider menu and an ever-evolving App universe.

Driver and passenger temperature controls are on the lower left and right portion of the screen, while beneath is the ‘toggle bar’ that houses a start/stop ‘key’, the gear selector, park button, and volume control for the audio. It all works well, rich in the idiosyncratic character that Minis have dripped with for a quarter of a century. And still with some semblance of pragmatism; a fixed button brings up the ADAS features and allows you to easily extinguish the lane assist and speed limit warnings.

The dashboard is covered in a sustainable textile, which looks cool, feels fantastic and absorbs heat. It also distracts the eye from the less tactile, harder-wearing plastics elsewhere which betray the Mini’s low (ish) price tag. But thank the lord it’s still here, right?

What about the open-top stuff?

The roof folds in under 20 seconds in either direction and at speeds below 19mph – but that’s slower than you might think and unless you spend most of your time crawling through Welsh villages or Central London, you’ll be better off pulling over and operating the large, fabric hood at a standstill. Much less distracting that way.

You can keep a track of your roof-down time via an on-screen timer – like a step counter for sun tans – while another app tracks the weather to warn you of impending downpours. You can also use your smartphone as a digital key.

The rear seats are for small folk only – especially if the roof is likely to be up for any section of the journey – while boot space is a meagre 160 litres or 215 roof-up. Don't overpack if the weather's going to be good...