My daily driver plain-vanilla Cooper is in the dealer today having a couple of issues attended to and the loaner is a Cooper S.

I can't say I had paid much interest in the Cooper S but having just driven it 50 or so miles on the motor way and twisty bits, it's an impressive car. Terrific handling and the power delivery is seamless - albeit there is torque steer. It would be 'interesting' really going for it out of a damp corner I suspect.

Used as 99.9% of the people would use the car, the torque it has makes for really relaxed quick driving.

Not for me, but I can now appreciate why they're so popular.

 

I like them but don't like the 'girlie image'.Shame really.

 

Is it the old belt-drive puffer or the new fart-driven one? Tip; if you can see past Big Ben in the dash, it's probably the original Mini.

I'm still not convinced by FWD turbos.

 

Once upon a time i owned the original Mini cooper but i don't see the point of those retro thingies

 

My father has an 07 cooper s works, lovely car but a lot of torque steer. Great fun but no top down

 

The Z-axle basically.

At least the fun to drive thing survived from the Issigonis Mini. (Just invented a new brand, I should invoice someone).

 

had a '52 Cooper S before the S2000. Horrible build quality and sounded like a milk float. Was not sad to say goodbye..

 

I thought the finish was a tad rough in parts, too.

Funny; quite a few owners seem to be very disappointed with them, yet the press is obsessed with them. Is that because they're BMWs?

 

i've never rated the MINI's.
never driven one, but just the entire car's styling, sit on, not sit IN seats, that huge ugly center dial and what seems very plasticy dash. i heard the handling is good though...

real BMW's i get
mini - nope. not a clue why it's so big.

 

Thing is, it isn't anymore. You need a stepladder to get into a Polo now.

I know Mini's footprint is the same as a Maestros (!), but if you had evolved the original design on a proper model cycle (it was an Anglia [or C segment] originally, but much smaller) it's not actually far wrong.

But again, The 500 is more in the true spirit of the size of its antecedent, I suppose.

Yes, if you park a Mini next to an E36, you see where the axles came from. But post-2000, all cars became suddenly, ridiculously large. It's all a bit "white rabbit" (Jefferson Airplane) to me.