New Mini Offers Less Nostalgia, More Technology

EL DORADO, Puerto Rico – BMW’s Mini Cooper Hardtop took the U.S. by storm in 2002, surprising almost everyone that SUV-loving America would embrace a tiny, premium-priced B-car.

Twelve years later, the U.S. now is Mini’s single largest market and BMW is faced with a new challenge: How to hang onto a large base of loyalists while expanding the brand’s appeal to more mainstream buyers.

The third-generation 2-door hardtop coming to dealerships this spring should handle the task with ease. Despite protests from Mini aficionados who fear the design is drifting too far from its roots, the new hardtop likely will become the best-selling BMW-designed Mini ever.

That’s because it finally is big enough to accommodate larger drivers and the interior and powertrains are all-new and much improved. The nose and overhangs are quite a bit longer, but to all but the rabid cognoscenti, it still looks like a Mini.   

The car now is based on BMW’s high-volume UKL 1 front-wheel-drive platform, and it is stretched in every direction. It’s almost 4-ins. (3.9 mm) longer, 1.7 ins. (44 mm) wider and 0.3 ins. (7 mm) higher than its predecessor. The wheelbase also has been extended 1.1 ins. (28 mm), and the track width has been enlarged by more than 1 inch.

That may not sound like much, but to a Mini enthusiast, the new car feels huge compared with BMW’s two earlier versions. Even so, if the car feels too big to a Mini fan, it just may be adequately sized for the average American.

And even though the car is substantially larger, we find the numerous chassis, suspension and front-axle changes engineers have employed still give the car the agile turn-in response and precise steering that is Mini’s single most endearing characteristic: go kart-like handling.

It also is available with dynamic damper control, which allows the driver to dial in comfort or a more direct sporty response to road surfaces.

Puerto Rico currently is in financial distress and its roads are not well maintained, so we were able to test the comfort function extensively on its bumpy highways and side roads. This feature will be a welcome relief to even Mini diehards who find the hardtop’s traditionally stiff ride overly harsh on long trips and rough pavement.

Traditionalists also may gripe that the new interior lacks charming retro styling cues that harken back to the original Mini Cooper and Morris Mini-Minor of the 1960s.

To that we say good riddance.

Technology, Not Nostalgia Overriding Theme Inside

The interior is vastly better. Materials are upgraded, the annoying thimble-like joystick control for the human-machine interface has been replaced with a meaty rotating dial. Most importantly, the pointless, space-wasting, pie-plate sized speedometer dial in the center stack that dominated the second-generation’s interior has been replaced by a sensible HMI console with a big graphic display.

In place of the retro homage to a bygone era, the speedometer and tachometer have been transformed into two gorgeously detailed analog gauges that are positioned in front of the driver, where they should be.

And, thanks to the new platform’s greater length and longer wheelbase, the back seats are more functional and there is 30% more rear cargo space, an improvement often suggested by current owners.

Overall, the interior design is more fluid and harmonious. The air vents are blended into the interior lines, and the formerly rock-hard instrument panel cover now is low-gloss, soft-touch and pleasantly squishy.

Technology, rather than nostalgia, has become the overarching theme inside, including the first head-up display available in the segment. The availability of LED headlights also is a first for the segment.

Advanced connectivity features abound, as well as the latest passive- and active- safety systems, including smart cruise control and automatic emergency braking. A self-parking feature is available too. But if you need electronic help parking a Mini, you should turn in your driver’s license.  

Despite all the modern elements, there still are plenty of stylistic nods to Mini’s heritage, including lots of toggle switches scattered about on the console and headliner. However, window switches have been moved from toggles on the center console to the door handles, where everyone but a Mini owner expects them to be.

Perhaps the best news is under the hood.

Mini always has offered interesting engines. The original '02 Mini Cooper was powered by a 1.6L engine built in Brazil by Tritec Motors, a BMW/Chrysler joint venture that has been dissolved.

The supercharged version of this engine in the first-generation Cooper S makes a delightful jet-engine-like whine under hard throttle but has heart-breaking fuel efficiency in the real world plus a history of reliability problems. Our mint-condition ’05 Cooper S has averaged a mediocre 26.7 mpg (8.8 L/100 km) over the past nine years.

The '06 model year brought a new all-aluminum 1.6L “Prince” I-4, jointly developed with PSA Peugeot Citroen and featuring BMW's Valvetronic variable-valve-lift technology.

The S version of that model is turbocharged instead of supercharged and delivered excellent fuel economy and throttle response in WardsAuto testing, but its design still was compromised to accommodate PSA’s cost requirements.

The new platform gets two all-new BMW-designed engines and transmissions and both feature all-aluminum construction, turbocharging, direct injection, variable camshaft control on the intake and exhaust side and Valvetronic VVT.

What’s more, BMW says both engines are the first high-volume powerplants to feature a plasma-coating process that eliminates traditional iron cylinder sleeves. This advancement chops weight, improves thermodynamics and allows for more compact dimensions. 

The base Hardtop model is powered by a 1.5L 3-cyl. BMW engine that makes 134 hp and the sportier Cooper S is powered by a 2.0L 4-cyl. that makes 189 hp.

For the first time ever, the base engine gives its big brother a run for its money in the fun-to-drive department. It has a strong, lusty exhaust note, and a balance shaft smooths the inherent roughness associated with only three cylinders.

The engine is a bit hesitant at launch but then spools up quickly with maximum torque of 162 lb.-ft. (220 Nm) kicking in at just 1,250 rpm, delivering 60 mph (97 km/h) in just 7.3 seconds with the 6-speed automatic transmission, which is faster than the manual 6-speed.

The 4-cyl. is not as sonorous as its smaller sibling, but it definitely is stronger, with 207 lb.-ft. (281 Nm) at 1,250 rpm. Plus 0-60 mph is almost one second faster. Claimed top speed is 146 mph (235 km/h) compared with 130 mph (209 km/h) for the 3-cyl.

Fuel consumption is estimated to be 30/42 mpg (7.8-5.6 L/100 km) city/highway for the I-3 automatic and 28/40 mpg (8.4-5.9 L/100 km) for the I-4 AT. Manual transmission versions are slightly less. We fiddled with the trip computer too many times and botched our real-world calculations, but both numbers seem on-target.

We still love the classic, simple lines of our first-generation Mini with its low hood and incredibly short overhangs that are truer to the essence of Mini than the new design, but pedestrian-impact and other safety requirements make those classic proportions impossible today.

And after struggling to fit even a modestly sized carry-on bag into the rear cargo area of our ’05 model and shoehorning ourselves behind the wheel into what now seems a bland and less comfortable interior, we’re convinced nostalgia is overrated.

The new Mini is a far more substantial, well-crafted and technologically advanced vehicle than its predecessors. With pricing for the Cooper starting at $19,950 and the Cooper S at $23,600 (not including $795 destination charge), it’s still a lot of car for the money.

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'14 Mini Hardtop Specifications