We've just been driving a Diesel MINI through France. Hertz in France have MINIs on their "fun" collection, where you get to specify exactly the make and model of car you want. Though they were no explicit about what sort of MINI it was. On the web site they just call it a "Cooper", but they have a picture of a Cooper-S. When we got to Paris, we discovered it was actually a Cooper-D.

First this is a MINI, so its very familiar. There are a few odities like there was no sport button (a €150 option), no driver's side window sunshade, and no power outlet in the boot. There was also no height adjuster on the passenger seat (a €60 option), but there was on the driver's seat, and no hidden compartment. It did have Nav, but we really didn't like it so we relied more on the TomTom Ap on the iPhone. I'm assuming the Nav is the same as US models, its user interface leaves a lot to be desired.

I'd guess it had the standard French suspension, I don't know how this compares to the US. Driving it felt a lot like our first MINI, an R50 on 15" wheels. It had the standard Conti tires which are very grippy.

I've seen the specs on MINI diesels and always imagined it'd be like driving a Cooper-S if you didn't rev it over 4500rpm. The torque is listed as 200 ft-lb (at 2250) about as much as a Cooper-S, but the power is listed as 112 (at 4000) slightly less than a Cooper. That was indeed much how it felt. There was a lot of low end grunt, it pulled strongly from about 1600 rpm upwards and didn't like to go above 4500 rpm. The redline was marked at 5000 rpm, but it felt like it hit a limiter at 4500.

You could mash the throttle at 1600 rpm and after a little turbo lag, it would actually pull quite strongly from that low down. The gearing is a bit longer than the US Cooper/Cooper-S gearing. In 6th we'd be cruizing at 85mph and the tach was still only showing about 2700 rpm. Cruising was consequently quite relaxed, though there was a thrum from the engine, much like a Cooper-S. The gearing seemed a little weird, the jump from 2 to 3 was too much. It could be buzzing unhappily along at 3000 in 2, but when you changed up it was below the power band.

The engine was noisy. If the windows were open it sounded like it was suffering the Cooper-S death rattle, all the time. With the windows closed I didn't notice it too much, but from outide it really sounded aweful.

Fuel economy was about 50% better than we manage to get out of our Gas MINIs. Over a thousand miles of driving, we averaged 40.2 mpg (US gallon). The best tankfull was 43.6, that was some driving around back roads and some an 85mph cruise on the Autoroute. The diesel we brough in France averaged $7.20/US Gallon.

I didn't notice any smoke from the back end, but then I wasn't often behind it. I noticed there were a lot of other diesels (not MINIs) around, they were usually smokey.

 

Excellent review

Having driven all over UK and then all the way to Berlin in a Ford Mondeo TDCi (diesel of course), all I can say is, Mini would sell a lot of cars here in the US if they brought their oil burners.

Right now, VW is pretty much solely enjoying the $20s/low $30s segment of the diesel market here