So off the bat, I didn't test this vehicle for nearly as long as I wanted or needed in order to form a complete opinion. But I also didn't have any strong initial reaction as some may have had (good or bad). And for context, my current car is a 2002 Lexus IS300 5 speed manual. My experience with a Mini was limited to my ten day vacation in New Zealand in 2011, where i rented an R56(?) Justa and drove all over the southern island. As a side note, the roads down there are absolutely perfect and i've never been in a more for enjoyable enviornment for carefree driving.

On to the review. Sorry, no pictures, but it was an all black/black rims Mini Cooper S loaded with everything but either of the suspension options. It looked great to me, although I still wasn't sure about the busy front end. Seating was nice and snug. I'm 5'11 190 and I felt they fit perfect. Didn't know what interior option was selected, though. The arm rest, which I thought might be an issue, was fine. For comparison, the armrest in my IS300 is flat, wide and lower and only goes up and down, but in the down position it is perfectly height aligned with the stick shift. In the Cooper S, I had to tilt the arm rest down a bit to have a similar feel so it wasn't as natural for me. But i could easily get used to it. Also, I didn't play with the height adjustment on the seat, so it could be even better. The angle of the armrest can interfere with the emergency brake, but it's just a minor annoyance. It never interfered with shifting for me.

Regarding the engine performance, I felt the engine was strong, it pulled very well when I asked it to. I did mainly highway driving with several on ramps/offramps. I was kind of shocked with how quickly it reached redline, though. Several times I was caught off guard, thinking I was just motoring along (albeit aggressively) before I looked down and realized I was at or nearing redline. Most likely I was just getting used to how the engine behaves. The sound of the engine, though, could have been better in my opinion. The overall experience of just hitting the throttle in gear didn't excite me as much as I thought it would.

The clutch was shockingly light. The Mini I drove in NZ might have been the same, but going straight from the IS300 it felt very strange. I felt like I wanted to put a bit of weight on the clutch even when I wasn't engaging it, but it was so light I couldn't really do that. Some really like this, and I'm also sure this is just one of those things you adapt to in a day or two. The gear shifter was light and maybe i would prefer it to be more positive and "notchy", but I could be wrong. I barely remember. The steering feel was very good to me. I don't have much experience with electric steering except for a Mercedes I rented that was positively terrible. Coming from the much older IS300 I thought by design there would be some road feel that would be lost during the test drive, but I felt great (in sport mode). It felt perfectly weighted and natural to me. The throttle blip worked great, but I honestly didn't get to test it all that much.

The handling and overall balance felt great to me, but it being the standard suspension, I wanted to get some definitive feeling on whether I would prefer to go with the more aggressive sport suspension. I still don't know. In my limited time driving I never felt like I needed more. The car felt composed at all speeds. It never felt overwhelmed.

Electronic bits were okay, though I didn't have much time to focus on them. The HUD could have been good, but I didn't give it a chance. I got annoyed by it and just turned it off. The lights in the center dash were more of a distraction than anything. The HK stereo felt really strong listening to just radio, but I didn't feel the BOSE in my IS300 was that inferior to it, though not nearly as powerful. Love the sunroof. Vision all around was excelllent in my opinion. Rearview mirrors are indeed huge. What else?

So to sum it all up, I probably need to test drive it again. But first I am going to test drive a standard Mini Cooper and see how that goes. Lastly, I have to say that whatever memories I had of driving a R56, this new Cooper S didn't do much to remind me of them. Maybe my memory is just terrible. Goodbye.

 

Interested to see what your impressions are on the Justa vs. the S.

I had the same complaints about the S, though. Light clutch and quick to reach redline.