My March issue of Car and Driver arrived yesterday, within it a short comparison test between the new (but not New) Beetle Turbo and the MINI Cooper S Hatchback.

Who's surprised that the MINI was dynamically superior in all categories? Right, me neither, but it was good to see a full-scale instrumented road test of an N18'd MCS, in my recent research they've been a little hard to find.

Both were automatics, which made sense to me since 6MT Beetle Turbos have been in very short supply. I'd been cross shopping these before I ultimately decided on (and ordered) my MCS. Some on the VW forum are still waiting for August 2011 orders at this point, they've nothing comparable to the whole special ordering / tracking setup that MINI has instituted.

Their MCS test vehicle rocked, apparently: 14.6 1/4 mile, 6.0 0-60, 60-0 in 119 feet, .90g around the skidpad. It brought 181hp and 2725lbs as tested matched to the VW's 200hp and 3245 lbs. The VW tested 14.9, 6.4 0-60, 60-0 in 136ft, and .85g around the circle.

We test drove a Beetle Turbo last November, and had a blast with it on an extended test drive. They feel *huge* inside by comparison, of course they are dimensionally larger. The new design does get them looking more like a "real" vehicle (to my eyes), less of a caricature as I perceived the New Beetle to be.

Anyhow...good to have hard test data for a change, after all the "driving impressions" I'd seen for the 2011-2012 MINI.

 

Nice! Thanks for the heads-up on that, I will be sure to pick up a copy!
Jon

 

3245lbs for a beetle. Wow. That's as much as a 135i, without the power.

 

wow, didnt realize the Cooper S was that fast.

So they're pretty much faster than the GTi. Awesome to hear.

 

0-60 in 6...

If they can get a MCSa to go in 6 seconds, what would Car & Driver get on a manual factory JCW I wonder?

Edit: JCW Coupe 0-60 is 6.2 seconds for Motor Trend... hmmm something is off.

 

I really am starting to think that some of these "test" are just the manufacture numbers. Always surprises me how one tester and another tester can have the exact same numbers sometimes.

 

Back when I used to subscribe to MT, C&D, and R&T and they'd have the same press-fleet car tested that month, I'd wonder about that as well. Seemed like C&D could always get better numbers, and it was/is curious. The tester had a good/bad day? Altitude differences? Hmmm. So often anymore you just see re-hashed press releases posted as "reviews", versus some real human took a car to a test track/location and ran it through the regimen.

I've not seen hard numbers posted by MINI for several of the specs C&D posted in this article (e.g. skidpad, 60-0 braking) so glad to have those. The MINIUSA site claims 14.9 1/4, 6.8 0-60, and 139 top speed for the MCSa, so C&D had a very frisky one to test, apparently!

One further observation: C&D posted the 139 as "electronically limited", there's a discussion in another thread about there is / there isn't a top speed limiter in the electric nanny on these cars. I'll look forward to a track day sometime in the future where I can check this out on mine.

 

A neighboor of mine recently leased a new '12 VW Beetle (Non Turbo) car looks generally nice. I personally have never cared really about VW Beetles, old or new. VW took wayyy too long to update the car and the current "refresh" is likely to be how the car should have looked back in 2005.....If someone would hand me the keys to one of these new Beetles for free, I would drive. But nothing about it attracts me in the least. While VW attempted to make the car more "masculine" looking, it is still a chick/hairdresser's type of car.I wish WWUSA would have had the cojones and resolution to bring overhere their sensational new Scirocco. That car would drag me inside a VW dealership. But a Beetle? Nah!If I were forced to choose between a Beetle Turbo and a GTi, the GTi would be my pick hands down.

 

Mini rates the JCW Coupe as 0 - 60 in 6.1 sec. making it the fastest mini ever mass produced.

So I agree with you, either C&D messed up the numbers or they have different test tracks and different skill level of drivers that throw off the stats.

 

14.6s quarter mile sounds right. I took my '11 Base S to the strip right after break in. I only got 4 runs in on the stock crappy contiprocontacts (195/55 on 16x6) and all my launches felt off, but I still posted a best run of 14.7 at 96 mph. It was about 70 degrees out. Just ordered some 215 tires on some 14 lb wheels. I expect 14.5 or faster shouldn't be too tough.

As for the top speed, I have twice seen the digital speedo read 148 across a long bridge with an extremely shallow down grade... probably closer to 139 when you factor in the huge speedo error.

 

And BMW are sometimes conservative with HP and 0-60 times... so if JCW Coupe is BMW/MINI rated as 6.1, I wonder if C&D or R&T can get 5.x second times (while destroying the clutch mind you)?

Anyways the reality is that 0-60 is not really that important to me but certainly a 6.1 sec time for MCSa is impressive. My JCW feels quick but with my manual transmission skillz it doesn't seem likely I am getting a 0-60 mph of 5.x seconds. Maybe when I get my summer tires back on and use some accurate testing other than my butt

 

I hear you on matching road test times.

Our Z06 has 0-60 reports of 3.6 (C&D) and 3.9 (R&T) and those are hard to duplicate on some random daily drive. With only part of 4 seconds (or 6-7 in MINI's case) it doesn't take much to throw it off by a few tenths or more. Launch just right, shifts just right...etc. Factor in temp, road surface, tire condition, elevation, yada yada. "Your results may vary", indeed.

 

I have the March 2012 issue and can't find that comparo in there anywhere???

 

My bad, after all that, it's March 2012 Road and Track, page 40-41. With a small 1/2 page write-up on the JCW Coupe on page 38. Sorry for the misfire. Both came to the house together...both with ZL1 Camaros on the cover.

 

ok, that explains it... At least I know I'm not going blind now.