I’m 500 miles into my 2015 Mini Cooper hardtop Justa (non-S), and I can confidently say I love it.

A little back story, I live in LA and my last (and only) car was a 2013 Ford Focus Titanium hatchback. It was fun enough to drive, though it never felt that special. I wanted something a little more unique, a little more sporty, and a tad more luxurious…and maybe smaller to make parking even easier. When my lease ended, I thought this was my chance to finally get the Mini I always wanted.

When I went to the dealer, I immediately asked to test the F56 S model. Although, I don’t particularly like the nose of the new car, I figured I want the bigger engine. The sales dude suggested I also test the new non-s model. He thought I’d be surprised at how quick it was, and boy he was right. After testing both models I realized that for the kind of driving I do in LA, the Justa is way more than enough for me.

You have to realize that 90% of driving in LA takes place somewhere between 0 and 45 miles an hour. Sometimes you get super lucky and get to go 55. In these kinds of conditions the Justa seems scorchingly fast. When test driving it, I realized the Justa can easily pass anyone I want and nimbly duck in and out of traffic. I just couldn’t do anything with the power of the S. Although the differences aren’t night and day like they used to be, the S has power that would be useless to me here. If I lived in the suburbs things might be different, but who knows. Honestly, I took the Justa up to Mulholland Drive, a famously twisty and narrow canyon road in LA, and it was thrilling. This thing pulls hard.

The upside of my Mini model realization was that I could get a car that was not only less expensive, but that to me looks much much better than the F56 S. The way they laid out the new brushed metal grill is super slick looking. Not like the busy jumble that is the front of the S…it has its charms, but I have not grown to love it. That being said I do like the rump of the S. Anyhow, with the money I saved, I was able to get all the options I wanted.

So I have ended up with an automatic 2015 black Mini Copper Justa. With the Wired pack, and Sport pack, 16” black Victory spoke wheels, LED headlights (a fantastic upgrade), and black bonnet stripes. The white edges of the stripes and the different texture, really make them pop in an interesting way off the black paint. I also got things like the upgraded stereo and the front and rear parking sensors to help me with all the crazy tight parking around LA. I also got the Dark Cotton Wood dash which looks amazing to me.

What I didn’t get was the sunroof. At 6’ 6” and 250 pounds, I can fit in Minis with sunroofs, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of headroom, and without the SR, I more than do. Also, speaking of my size, I’ve noticed that the 2015 sport seats have a bit more room than the 2014 seats did. I am very very comfortable in them. Honestly I can’t believe how much space I have in the car.

Now all the glowing aside, I do have some issues. Obviously no one is coming close to sitting behind me, but I knew that going in. My bigger problem is with the iDrive system. Compared to my previous Ford myTouch system, the iDrive seems dumb, slow and needlessly complicated. It does everything I want, but it could be so much easier. I don’t mean to say it’s horrible, but it could be better. A couple examples are when using voice command to make a call, it’s slow and it makes you reconfirm who you are calling. When you are using the NAV you can choose to have a split screen of the map and turn by turn directions, but when the nav is done you have to manually turn off the split screen if you want the radio to use the whole screen. Why can’t each individual function have it’s own layout stored? One other thing, the automatic AC is really like semi-auto. You have to choose your own fan speed. It doesn’t adjust the speed itself, just the temp of the air. Weird, I have not experienced this before.

Alright, this has gone on way to long. Let me just sum up by saying I love my new 2015 Justa. It looks cool, it’s plenty fast, and it’s fun to throw around (stays very flat in tight corners). Yes the tech could be better, but it’s still very usable. If you are thinking of getting a new Mini, be sure to test drive both S and non-S models, you might be surprised.

 

Oh posting pictures, why must you be so hard?

 

Welcome to the club! Another fellow SoCal resident... I'm also in the Los Angeles area and love being a MINI owner here. For images, the simplest way to post images here is to get an imgur account (free). Upload your images, and then post the URL.

PM me if you need any help.

Also you're SOOO right: most of my driving is less than 55MPH. I haven't driven on Mulholland yet. I've done a lot of the Canyon Runs around Malibu, though... you should try Decker Canyon Road at some point!

 

You need to copy and paste the "Direct link" between image tags

 

Thanks for the help! Here is the front view of my car...which I'm calling Bilbo.

 

Sweet looking car! Good to see another black one in the mix...

You're right, the Black on Black stripes are really something special!

Here's Toaster:

 

Welcome...I have a "15 justa and you echo my thoughts about the difference between the justa and the S. I think it is much more useful with the 3 cylinder engine. Torque is so amazing. Yes, the Idrive is a bit difficult to master which I haven't yet but making progress. When you get away from the city, I think you will find the adaptive cruise control pretty amazing. Have fun.

 

Congrats on the Cooper! Just a tip for you if you have an iPhone long the the voice button on the steering wheel and you bypass the vehicle commands and you get Siri. I find it good for calls and music stored on my phone. Hope that helps!

 

Looking good! Congratulations!

Also, MiniLynsk, what a tip. I never knew that, haha.

 

MiniLynsk, just tried the whole Siri thing. So much better than the built in Mini system. Thanks for the tip!

 

Nice car. My MA told me the new Justa was similar to the prior MCS. He loves it. You'll be good without the sunroof. I thought I liked all the light in my 2007, my 2014 is nice and dark, much better with tint too. The MiniConnected is kind of a pain going through the menus, you'll get used to it.

 

What does Justa mean?

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

Glad I could share some info! Justa is a term people use for a non s cooper. It's justa cooper.

 

3-cylinder is a better term.

 

Phew, I thought people lost their minds and were talking about a Subaru

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

Great post! Ilikeben you are echoing my experiences....
And as for the term "justa" it's a bit like saying "justa Cayman" or "justa Boxster"!
This littlecar is headed for cult status with it's manners!
There ain't no justa about the new Cooper. It's a fabulous car for us predominantly city drivers. I've been talked into an S of another brand and I never used the extra horses or sub 6 second to 100km/hr or launch control. I like that my salesguy insisted I test drive the 3 cylinder!
I'm a huge fan and am converted!

 

It was a banner day in LA, I got to go 52 mph...for about 10 seconds. What was actually fun was the ease with which I dodged in and out of traffic. I actually still haven't even put the car in Sport Mode yet, as I'm trying to take it easy on the Mini for the first 1,000 miles or so. Still, even keeping the RPM's low, I really like the interesting rumble the 3-cylinder engine makes. I've never heard the like before. I kinda wish it was louder.