First, thanks to Mini of Knoxville for making a lot of cars available, and even offering food and rescue bulldogs! They did a great job with the event.

A bit of background - I ordered an '06 S to my specs and have driven it 127k miles since. It's a manual with limited slip diff, sports suspension, non-runflats most of the time, and great sounds of supercharger whine and exhaust with LOTS of pop and burble, even with the standard exhaust (which is why the '05 and '06 are awesome). My only complaint is that the ride is getting a bit punishing as I get older and the roads get worse. Hey Congress, pass better transportation bills!

I thought I'd do my review through the senses, focusing mostly on the driving experience. Most of this is accurate for both the Cooper and S, until we get the audio and tactile parts!

Note that eco mode felt terrible, so this is an all sport mode review. I wouldn't flip to eco unless I was about to run out of gas! Who wants a super soft gas pedal and an engine cutting out at every light? The engnie restart was so so, noticeable but not too annoying. Also, both cars were manuals.

Visual
Yes, the car is too long, but who notices when you're inside? In my opinion, the nose is bad, the black bar across the grill is bad, the lower lip and fake hood scoop of the S are bad, the stamped steel arches are bad. Oh well, it is what it is for now.

As for the inside, the tachometer is nearly completely illegible in bright daylight and even the speedo is small. I was REALLY disappointed in the tach. I guess the good thing is the engines run out of pep before red line so you shift anyway.

Pretty much everything else was reasonably laid out and legible. I am disappointed that Mini has spent so much time focusing on fluff like the light circle and Connected, and not the gauges. I bet someone could make a gauge pod that plugs into the same port and make a lot of sales!

Aural
Here's one big difference between the Cooper, the S, and my R53. My car is loud in both good and bad ways. It has tons of good supercharger whine and pop and burble straight from the factory, but also has a bit of wind and tire noise. The Cooper 3 cylinder has a really sweet sound to it. I felt like I was in a mini Porsche. The S just didn't do much for me - it was a fairly deep note but lacked any character. I could have been driving a GTI, Focus, or anything else that has 4 cylinders and a turbo. Both exhausts were too quiet, and neither car had noticeable pop or burble! So disappointing! I revved it at lights and on downshifts, and nothing. I actually think the regular Cooper with a louder exhaust would sound awesome. Both cars were much quieter overall which was a nice change, but they need to feed more exhaust and turbo noise in, hopefully the real deal and not through the stereo!

Wind noise and road noise were well controlled as others have noticed. So yeah, it's a better sounding highway cruiser, but less of a rally car ripper.


Tactile
The steering wheel is the best electric motor rack I've experienced. It was quick, well weighted, and had good road feel. The rest of the switchgear felt ok, but not as solid as the R53. I spent zero time messing with stereo/connected features.

The standard leatherette seats are a nice balance of cushion and firmness, felt like real leather, and I prefer the sport seats because I'm skinny. The thigh bolster did nothing for me though. Absolutely zero complaints here and a major upgrade over R53 seats. The seats felt just like a BMW sport seat from my friend's 2013 128. Driving position, lowered all the way, was much lower than the Fiesta ST I test drove a few weeks ago.

The clutch and shifter are light but not vague. I thought before the drive that I'd hate them both, but they're ok. Felt much less mechanical, and very much like a recent BMW stick. There is none of the weird double weight feeling in the clutch (is there an official term for it?) that I felt when I drove an R56, nor the heavy weight of an R53.

The rev match feature was excellent and unobtrusive. If I hit the gas, it took that into account and still matched revs. So basically, it was unnoticeable for a heel-toe driver, except you feel even more accomplished. I wouldn't even bother to turn it off.

The butt dyno enjoyed both cars. The Cooper felt surprisingly great with lots of usable torque and didn't feel down on horsepower at all. The S was also good, but really didn't have so much over the Cooper that I felt like it was two different cars as it has in past years. Sure, on a track I'll take an S, but for average driving, the Cooper has plenty of oomph.

The suspension of the Cooper was a little soft, but not bad. It actually did really well soaking up the bumps and taking a plant in the corners. The S felt marginally stiffer but not crazy hard like my R53. Really, there wasn't much to choose between them. Unfortunately there were no sport suspension or DDC cars to test as I wanted to check both of those out.


Smell
There was no new car smell! Oh well. The fish and chips on offer smelled pretty good though!

Taste
Ok, I didn't lick the cars, so no judgement here!


Final Verdict
So all in all, the winner for me was.. the Cooper! Better sound, good enough driving dynamics, and cheaper! It just felt like it had more character than the S, mostly because of the 3 cylinder engine. What's not to love, especially since it can be had with the sports package for the sport seats?

Will I buy one? Maybe. I would definitely buy one before a Fiesta ST or FR-S/BRZ. I'm interested, as usual, to see how the reliability is for the first few victims, whoops I mean customers, of a new BMW product.

Hope y'all enjoyed, and I'll try to answer any questions anyone has.

 

Thanks for the write up!

I order a Justa myself, and didn't even test drive the S. I had so much fun driving the base model, and its a huge step up in power from the little economy car I drive today I figured it was more than enough for me. Glad to hear that even someone coming from an older S model found it as satisfying to drive.

 

GWMan. Great write up.
Interesting that you comment on the sound of the Cooper S being too quiet. Just bought a JCW exhaust for my R56 and it took almost 2 weeks before it started to sound like anything. I guess I'm thinking the S will become louder in time. Like most new performance cars....then again I'm getting a JCW exhaust for mu F56!

 

Terrific review - and in absolute agreement with your conclusion (of course making your assessment even more terrific lol). The 3 cylinder is a sweet little torquey unit that won me over - I have the DCC on order and an aftermarket exhaust planned when the time comes. I predict a cultish following of the Justa!

 

Nice review, and pretty good points all around. There are those who will buy and love the Cooper, and those (like me) who will buy and love the 'S'. Either way you have your F-56, you're a winner IMO.

 

Thank ypu for your honest appraisal. I also have a 2006 S convertible manual with 108,000 miles. I love it every time I get into it. Love the pops and gurgles as you do. Unfortunately the engine is showing wear and tear and I'm looknig for a new toy. My dealership didn't have any manuals available when they launched. I did drive an automatic S which was ok but I had a feeling that I could get the standard Cooper stick and enjoy it. You just confirmed it. Thanks for the update. I'm driving the standard manual on Wednesday and I think I'm going to like it.

 

Richreef, cool, I'm interested to hear what you think about the Cooper with a manual.

GregoryK, I'm sure it will sound better with a JCW exhaust! But I was hoping for more from the factory. I remember my test drive of the '06, and downshifting had lots of pops and burbles and sold me on the car. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face after that! Also, I hope there might be some aftermarket exhausts and go fast parts for the 3 cylinder.

CobraBob, let us know if your exhaust gets louder or changes character over time. That might sway my opinion!

 

Hmm, I actually didn't drive the base Cooper when I took the new S out as it wasn't even a consideration for me. I too, didn't hear much drama while tossing the new Cooper S around but I chalked that up to improved ride quality and a quieter cabin. I have watched dozens of review videos that showcase the growl, pop, and burble of the car so I felt like a lowering of the windows could offer me that when I want it. I suppose if you were to swap out a Coopers exhaust to get more drama, not sure why you couldn't do the same with the S if thats what you really wanted?

To me, when I configure both vehicles with all the bells and whistles I find there is not much of a difference in cost between the two and paying 30k plus for a base cooper just feels ridiculous. Part of that probably has to do more with my preexisting feelings about the base compared to the S, but even if I were to confirm that the base Cooper was almost as good as the S, I would still go with the S because of the minimal cost increase and I feel there are gobs more potential with the S long term.

I have been shopping for a new vehicle for a while, and almost pulled the trigger on a 235i (deal fell apart at the last minute). What struck me the most was the comparison between the 228 and the Cooper S. Driving the 228, I felt the car was incredibly well put together but just left me numb to any sort of emotion from the driving experience. Acceleration is much better than the S, but it did not feel it. The interior was quality but void of any character. The ride was refined, but no more so than the Cooper S. The options list in the Cooper was better as well. After experiencing both those vehicles, getting a loaded S for the cost of a base 228i was an absolute no brainer.

 

Angrybears, I've never driven a 228, but when I read your comments I couldn't help but imagine that the '14 Cooper S interior is a happy mix of quality AND character. I really love mine!

 

I did lower the windows and there was not much sound then either, which also surprised me based on the videos. Maybe it'll open up and Bob can tell us all about it! Yes, I could add an exhaust to the S, but the 3 cylinder just sounds VERY different from the 4.

I'm not much of a bells and whistles guy, and I agree that a 30k Cooper is not a very good idea. Mine configured for 24. I'll have to go and do the S again and see what I end up with.

And yes, driving a recent BMW is very different from how it used to be. There is just about no drama there any more. I think you have to step up to a 235 to really feel like the BMW was much stronger than a Mini. It'll be interesting to see what happens if/when BMW introduces their small car based on the same platform.

 

I priced out an S with the exact same options as the base model I have ordered. Base Model Ordered: $28,295 MSRP, S with the same: $31,295 MSRP. Exactly $3K different. So I've got one of those near 30K Coopers that doesn't make sense coming =P (I paid under MSRP though)

But I still prefer it, I like the exterior of the base model much better, and the added power isn't worth 3K more to me. So the S would be added cost for something I don't want for a look and feel I don't prefer. A lot of personal preference there, and saving 10% is saving 10%.

 

Yeah, the exteriors are different enough that I can see picking one over the other without regard to price. I'm sure you'll enjoy what you get!

 

GWMAN, good write up.