So, while my MCS is in getting the JCW tuning kit installed, the dealership gave me a 2013 Mini Roadster as a loaner. I thought I'd take the opportunity to do a review of sorts for anyone that might be interested. I will do my best to be objective!

To start things off, it's a Mini, and everyone here loves Minis, so there is no need to delve in to the overall positives of the car as a Mini. Unfortunately, that means it will seem like I am focusing on negatives. I assure you this isn't the case; I'm just skipping most of the obvious positives. I like the car. :-)

The cars main feature compared to my car is the convertible. As I am not a convertible fan, this feature is lost on me. Convertibles, to me, have the problems of noise, wasted space, and loss of rigidity of the vehicle in general. In particular, this one comes with the problem of an enormous blindspot due to the way the canvas wraps around right behind the driver. Backing out of a spot between 2 trucks was interesting. I couldn't see on-coming cars until half the Mini was sticking out.

That aside, the power system was very nice, tucking away the roof very quickly, and the wind noise and buffeting were not bad at all. It also automatically rolls down the windows when the convertible stows; a Nice feature so you don't have more button actions to do.

The car is equipped with a convertible timer, which measures how much time you've driven with the top down. The purpose of this is, again, lost on me so maybe someone can explain.

The roadster layout vs. The normal convertible layout looks awesome! However, it comes with a drawback of much less interior room. My wife couldn't even throw her purse behind the seats (granted, that purse is huge!)

The trade off there is a MUCH larger boot, with a small pass through door into the passenger compartment. You do lose the hartop's feature of folding down the rear seats to use the whole rear area, but this is normal with most convertibles.

The car is not an s. No turbo. :-( I hadn't realized before just how nice the seats are in my S. After driving the non-S car, I would emphatically recommend an S over the non S to anyone, if for nothing else but the seats.

The car has an automatic. Another :-( for me, but for some a necessity. The trans is interesting. I've never seen an auto downshift with me while braking. It gives an experience a lot more like the manual, although it is a little jerky. I generally downshift a lot smoother than the auto box does.

The car handles differently than my 2010 MCS. It does not feel like it has the tendency to understeer that my car does. Now, i certainly have not spanked the car around at all, and i won't since it's a loaner, I only noticed this in normal driving. My perception might be off for a number of reasons, such as lack of turbo, lack of seat bolsters, or, it may exist due to different weight bias because of the convertible top.

All in all, I really do like the car! However, I wouldn't buy this particular one, for reasons that are important to me. I hope this didn't come off as a negative review!

 

A couple more thoughts. They have redesigned the radio button locations, and I like it. It is much less confusing having the 2 ***** next to each other, than with the volume **** down below.

They changed something in the interior accent lights from my 2010. On my way to work this morning I somehow got it stuck on a psychedelic rotation of colors. I'm guessing this is basically how the 60's looked, but I wasn't there to confirm. Fiddled with it for a while and I finally got it stopped on blue. The led's are much brighter than in my 2010....perhaps too bright for my taste.

They changed something in the tach soft displays. I wasn't able to take down the speed, and replace it with time and temp, as I usually display in my car. Don't know if this was operator error, or design change, but it didn't suit my taste in what I like displayed on my tach.

 

With regard to the seats, your S would have come with sport seats standard. They are an option on the non-S, so it's not necessary to get the S to get the better seats (and they ARE better!). The "psychedelic" mood lighting show happens when you hold the toggle for the mood lighting for a few seconds. It will cycle through all of the colors. Bumping it again stops the "show". The radio controls were updated for the 2011 MY, when the center stack and steering wheel trim was switched to black instead of silver. Definitely a better design than the "lone" volume **** down below. This is also around the time that they made the digital speedo a static display in the tach. It may also be this way on automatic cars. My 2012 R56 was a manual and allowed me to choose something other than speed for the display (although that is what I wanted there). My 2012 Countryman is an auto, and speed is always displayed. You are right about the fact that the auto mimics the feel of the manual in the way it downshifts (it also will hold a gear at lower speeds). This is true whether or not you are in sport mode.