Photo: Automedia
Rumored for over an year to show up at some point, the MINI Hardtop was spotted several times in a 5-door guise. The prototype was even caught completely camo free last year, on an airport strip, heading to some precluded place, probably.
This time we caught up with it on the Nurburgring, the place where every car comes to see exactly how well it handles. The Green Hell is being used by almost every serious manufacturer out there and for good reason. It’s not wearing that nickname for nothing...
Coming back to the spyshots at hand here, the two cars spotted are clearly Cooper S models. You can tell both by the front bumper (that houses two serious air intakes at the bottom) and the bonnet but also by that completely ‘inconspicuous’ S badge on the front grille.
The guys behind the wheel were seriously testing the cars and their new engines, to see how the chassis copes with the added weight from the 2 extra doors that were probably added for more practicality.
The problem is that while you do get more practicality, you also lose some of the car’s agility and sportiness at the same time. However, come to think about it, if you’re more of a practical man, you probably won’t do too much spirited driving anyway.
Under the bonnet, the same 2-liter 4-pot turbocharged petrol engine resides, making 192 HP and 280 Nm (300 Nm with overboost) of torque, mated to either a manual or automatic 6-speed gearbox.
Since this model is expected to be a bit heavier than the 3-door version and not just because of the added doors but also because of the bigger chassis, the performance numbers are also likely to go down a bit.
It’s hard to tell by how much but we’re expecting at least 0.2 or 0.3 seconds. That means this car will probably be doing 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in just over 7 seconds.
No word on the pricing just yet but do expect a decent premium over the 3-door alternative. $2,000 or even more would make sense, at least in the US. However, BMW is yet even to confirm the existence of this car, yet alone talk about pricing.
As for the release date, expect the new model to come out later this year. Our best guess would be somewhere in October, most likely at the Paris Motor Show.
Coming back to the spyshots at hand here, the two cars spotted are clearly Cooper S models. You can tell both by the front bumper (that houses two serious air intakes at the bottom) and the bonnet but also by that completely ‘inconspicuous’ S badge on the front grille.
The guys behind the wheel were seriously testing the cars and their new engines, to see how the chassis copes with the added weight from the 2 extra doors that were probably added for more practicality.
The problem is that while you do get more practicality, you also lose some of the car’s agility and sportiness at the same time. However, come to think about it, if you’re more of a practical man, you probably won’t do too much spirited driving anyway.
Under the bonnet, the same 2-liter 4-pot turbocharged petrol engine resides, making 192 HP and 280 Nm (300 Nm with overboost) of torque, mated to either a manual or automatic 6-speed gearbox.
Since this model is expected to be a bit heavier than the 3-door version and not just because of the added doors but also because of the bigger chassis, the performance numbers are also likely to go down a bit.
It’s hard to tell by how much but we’re expecting at least 0.2 or 0.3 seconds. That means this car will probably be doing 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in just over 7 seconds.
No word on the pricing just yet but do expect a decent premium over the 3-door alternative. $2,000 or even more would make sense, at least in the US. However, BMW is yet even to confirm the existence of this car, yet alone talk about pricing.
As for the release date, expect the new model to come out later this year. Our best guess would be somewhere in October, most likely at the Paris Motor Show.
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