Photo: Car and Driver
The newest member of the MINI family is the Paceman. Built as a 3-door version of the Countryman (a huge success on the market, despite all the non-believers), the new car wants to charm us and testing it can tell you if you should buy it or not.
And test it is what the guys from Car and Driver did. They had a Cooper S ALL4 model at their disposal, with the all-common 1.6-liter turbocharged engine under the bonnet and an automatic 6-speed gearbox too.
Since it's wearing the ALL4 logo on the doors, you probably should know that it has MINIs brand new all-wheel-drive transmission on-board. The 184 HP engine develops 177 lb-ft of torque and is more than capable of handling the car's 3,331 lbs (1,465 kg) weight.
The ride quality has a bit to suffer since the cars has an 'S' on the tailgate but that's only understandable as it is supposed to be a vehicle with a sportier feel. And it is. To some degree, the Paceman lives up to the MINI status and go-kart feel but not all the way.
For that you should get the FWD version and not the ALL4 one. Furthermore, a manual gearbox would be recommended. As a matter of fact, for the perfect MINI experience, you should go for the Hardtop.
However, the Paceman is better in other aspects. The rear seats can accommodate 2 adults easily and it has that brand new shelf as a central console that could come in pretty handy at times.
Other stuff will impress you inside the new Paceman but we'll let you find out about them in the Car and Driver article (we don't want to spoil your fun!).
Since it's wearing the ALL4 logo on the doors, you probably should know that it has MINIs brand new all-wheel-drive transmission on-board. The 184 HP engine develops 177 lb-ft of torque and is more than capable of handling the car's 3,331 lbs (1,465 kg) weight.
The ride quality has a bit to suffer since the cars has an 'S' on the tailgate but that's only understandable as it is supposed to be a vehicle with a sportier feel. And it is. To some degree, the Paceman lives up to the MINI status and go-kart feel but not all the way.
For that you should get the FWD version and not the ALL4 one. Furthermore, a manual gearbox would be recommended. As a matter of fact, for the perfect MINI experience, you should go for the Hardtop.
However, the Paceman is better in other aspects. The rear seats can accommodate 2 adults easily and it has that brand new shelf as a central console that could come in pretty handy at times.
Other stuff will impress you inside the new Paceman but we'll let you find out about them in the Car and Driver article (we don't want to spoil your fun!).
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