Photo: SB-Medien
I still remember the first generation MINI Cooper S with a keen sense of excitement. But like many of the things from the early noughtees (the 2000s), it's not actually as cool as I think it is. The interior is crammed, the back seats are tokens and the 1.6-liter supercharged engine actually makes about 150 hp, not the claimed 160 or so.
Like me, the MINI has grown a lot in a decade, and I'm not talking about a belly like the automotive metaphor would dictate. What the car has really done is grown in order to become more practical, currently reaching just short of 3.9 meters, which is enough for a mini but still smaller than most of its rivals. While some see it as a dilution, I think it's fantastic that you can finally buy a MINI with the expectation of being able to do everything in it.
BMW's rumored goal is to make the hatch a class-leading vehicle and not just a fashion fad. This has already shown, but what I think people really want is this slightly larger 5-door version. No, it's not the Countryman, it's the regular hardtop model, only it gets two extra doors for easy access to the back and a slightly larger wheelbase. Just under 4 meters... that's the sweet spot of the small car market right now.
So revolutionary, right? Why it took MINI so long to make a regular supermini when this is in fact what they should have done from the start is beyond us. But looking at these latest spyshots, I see an almost faultless car. Yes, a MINI is quite expensive, but so is the Peugeot 208 and the Ford Fiesta. What neither of those cars can muster is BMW's finest technology and large, powerful 2-liter engines that are still relatively economical, this prototype being one of them, a 192 PS Cooper S.
Lower down the range, both the Cooper (136 hp, up from 122 hp) and Cooper D (116 hp) will use 1.5-liter three-cylinder engines. But the engine which every serious family buyer will want is the 1.2-liter turbo fitted to the One base mode. Yes, you heard right, a 1.2-liter, which actually has more power than the old 1.6, 102 hp available from 4,250rpm, as well as 180 Nm of torque.
BMW's rumored goal is to make the hatch a class-leading vehicle and not just a fashion fad. This has already shown, but what I think people really want is this slightly larger 5-door version. No, it's not the Countryman, it's the regular hardtop model, only it gets two extra doors for easy access to the back and a slightly larger wheelbase. Just under 4 meters... that's the sweet spot of the small car market right now.
So revolutionary, right? Why it took MINI so long to make a regular supermini when this is in fact what they should have done from the start is beyond us. But looking at these latest spyshots, I see an almost faultless car. Yes, a MINI is quite expensive, but so is the Peugeot 208 and the Ford Fiesta. What neither of those cars can muster is BMW's finest technology and large, powerful 2-liter engines that are still relatively economical, this prototype being one of them, a 192 PS Cooper S.
Lower down the range, both the Cooper (136 hp, up from 122 hp) and Cooper D (116 hp) will use 1.5-liter three-cylinder engines. But the engine which every serious family buyer will want is the 1.2-liter turbo fitted to the One base mode. Yes, you heard right, a 1.2-liter, which actually has more power than the old 1.6, 102 hp available from 4,250rpm, as well as 180 Nm of torque.
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