So, my wife and I drove up to look at Minis today. We've never owned one, but I drive a Fiat Abarth and we love small cars so we were looking at the new models.

My wife first off thought they were "big" and was not sure about them due to size, but we first drove the Cooper automatic. (No manuals at all of any type at the dealer which should be a crime.) Even in sport mode she was unimpressed, we infact never tried anything but sport mode. We took it on a short test drive and knew quickly it was not enough power and not enough handling so we went back to try the S.

Got an orange S given to use to try and the sales manager told us to "drive it like we stole it" and have fun. Sweet. Sport mode check, engine start/stop off check, traction control off check. Let's go. I left and in one mile there is a roundabout and as I exited the roundabout I tried the auto/manual shifting and took off, to the posted speed limit of course. My wife was instantly sick, I hit a side street quickly so she could open the door and puke on the side of the street. She never even left the seat, just leaned out and let go lol. She may be the first puking person from a new cooper? A little history made possibly.

She is totally used to my spirited driving, and she drives that way herself and I've literally never seen her get sick like that before. Maybe feel nauseous when reading a book or something, but never just puke within 2 miles of the dealership! She said the car felt too "floaty" and it only took that one run to make her loose her lunch. Been married over 15 years and I've never seen her puke from a car ride. We made our way back but after this run and test of the Cooper I don't think we'll be getting one. She said the handling was not nearly as good as the Abarth, and I'd have to agree. Whatever, it sure did not handle that same exact stretch of road nearly as well as the Abarth, and no wife puking out of the car either which is always a good thing.

Likes - Not much on the base cooper from a driving standpoint, but the Cooper S had good power and I liked the general layout and seating position a lot. Great options, and I really liked the Cooper S seats. People say they are uncomfortable, but I'm 6' 2" and over 250 and I fit very nicely in the seats. Sublime in fact I'd say, and my wife liked them too. Very nice interior, miles better than my Abarth needless to say. Auto was ok for an automatic, was a few odd shifts in the Cooper, but the S did well I thought and was quick enough to shift too.

Dislikes - Handling, I'd like to try one with the sport suspension and see how much it improves, but it was not nearly what I was expecting and hoping for. It soaked up the bumps better for sure, but I want sporty handling like the Abarth has and the ones I drove did not have it which really surprised me. Did not feel connected to the road if that makes sense. No noticeable exhaust note at all, I've heard of burbles and cracks from a Cooper, but the S had none of that. Quite quiet, but then again I'm used to the Abarth exhaust which is not. The sales manager came out and started my car and looked it over and he too loved the exhaust note, he went on and on liking my car, while still trying to get me in a S of course lol. I wanted that fun character in the S, but it did not feel that way, it's more grown up and tame compared to the Abarth. Faster on a track by far I'm sure, but I did not enjoy it like I was truly expecting to.

Overall I'm sad. I had a good time and enjoyed the dealership but really expected to be wowed by the car over my Fiat, and I was not. The wife puking was interesting though, I'm sure we'll never forget the test drives!


PS - My wife's friend had a 2007 cooper and she rode in it quite a bit, and drove it too and was never affected like this before either.

 

Words fail me......

 

maybe your wife is pregnant..?

 

Not planning to cancel my MCS order.

My wife rode w/ me when I test drove an MCS a couple weeks ago and didn't barf.

 

Thats pretty funny about your wife getting sick on the test drive hahaha. I thought the F56 had a much throatier exhaust note than the R56 from the videos I've seen of it. Nothing really compares to the exhaust on the abarth though. I was at work when one drove past one day and had to sit down before I embarrassed myself haha. Just means your not meant to get a Mini right now.

 

I must be an anomaly. I prefer the standard Cooper to the Abarth. I must be impressed by refinement I think and do not like the exhaust note of the Abarth. Most Mini salespeople are trained to not even consider the Fiat a competitor but I concede the Abarth has a reputation as a drivers car. Thanks for your input!

 

The pregnant thing was what the sales manager asked too lol, but that's a big no. I don't know what it was about it, but it sure worked well. The drive was so simple too, I turned right down a straight street and went close to a mile to a roundabout, took the first right out of the roundabout and stepped on it. Windows down, fresh air flowing and sunroof open on a perfect 72 degree day. Made it maybe 4 tenths of a mile before she was gagging and I had to quickly find a spot to pull over.

The looks from the people on the street as she was puking out the door was pretty funny. Could not laugh at the time of course, but it was amusing. She wished she had not had that nice Mexican lunch an hour or two before lol...

I ended up maybe driving maybe four mile total before getting back to the dealer. The employees were thrilled with her puking, tossed around the idea of hanging out barf bags for Cooper S test drives! They thought it was a pretty good testimonial actually, the sales manger fist bumped her when he heard about the puke, then she told him that was the hand she wiped her mouth with... Hahaha, we had fun. All in all pretty funny, but for now I think we're sticking with the Abarth.

We looked at a countryman as a possible replacement for our SUV while we were there but I think it will be a couple of years before we replace that so we'll check back then and see if the new engines have made their way over.

We've tested many a car, never ever had this reaction before. She was test driving a Subaru BRZ last week down the curviest road with no issues having never been in one of those. We have some truly curvy winding roads that we enjoy driving, this drive was a total of three turns even considering the right leaving the lot, and it was all over. Amazing.

When we were car shopping and I looked at the Abarth the salesperson started it and my wife said no way, way too loud. Then we drove it and she changed her mind, it just seems perfect. The crackles and backfires when shifting and getting on it are pure fun.

The refinement of the interior on the Mini was light years better than my Fiat, it was really, really nice IMO. I did not care for the infotainment system in the first Cooper, the S had the basic stock radio system and I liked operating it more. This from a professional IT person, but I usually like the basics there. I will look again in the future, but it will be a while and it will have the sport suspension too!

The Abarth is by no means perfect, but I also paid 19k even out the door with 23 miles on it and for that price it is darn hard to beat! For that price I'll forgive a cheap interior and just enjoy it for a while!

 

Damn. I've been curious about the Abarth for some time. Now I'll have to really check it out.

 

I would put money on you both liking the base F56 Cooper with manual, sport suspension, and non-runflat summer tires.

 

Agree you could build a better Cooper to your spec, but no way it would be 19k. That Abarth was a smoking deal.

 

I suspect Fiat may be selling fewer 500s and derivatives than they anticipated.

 

Lateral G forces....love it!

 

Looks like 'you-a-fication' is going the way of the rumble seat. At one time a guy would buy a base S, ditch the runflats and throw on a heavy rear sway bar and reactive struts and never look back (at the Fiats). Now everthing has a switch or push button creating expectations that sadly can't ever live up to the aftermarket hardware. And what about dealerships not having any manual gear boxes in stock. Aldus Huxley lives.

 

I would suspect the Mexican lunch........

 

exactly what my wife and I were thinking. A little food poisoning? Its happened to me after a "nice" MEXICAN LUNCH.
Chuck

 

My gf had a fiat 500 pop as a loaner car once, had the coolest exhaust sound I've ever heard in a 4 banger. I can only imagine how awesome the Amarth sounds.

 

Indeed. Did you and your wife have the same Mexican lunch items?

It seems silly to think that the car was related to this at all. Either way, glad that she is OK and no worse for the wear.

 

We in fact did have the same thing for for lunch, same thing to drink and everything. Chicken chimichanga and rice, nothing special, and it's a place we eat at often so we do trust it, but how knows. We'd eaten a couple of hours before, and we driven 70 miles more to the dealership afterwards. It could be food related, but we both felt perfectly fine and she was great up until 5 minutes in the S. We drove the Cooper for maybe 15 minutes before the S also, with both of us driving it. She had no other effects before or after, and it was definitely related to the specific launch of the car as we were talking and laughing 10 seconds before. She lost some of lunch, but I don't think it was a total purge, not that I got out walked around and checked though....

Either way, it was good times.

There are some truly smoking deals on Abarths right now for sure, people are getting 5k plus off sticker. They made too many it appears, and several people have paid less than me. They seem to have backed down 2014 production, but there are plenty of 2013 deals out there, or there was at least. Got my free track day coming up, you get one with an Abarth purchase and I'm looking forward to it!

 

My first thought as well!!

 

Honest to God this is the first review I've ever seen where someone thought the Abarth was more fun to drive. I'm not mad, that's amazing!

 

I remember Fiats from the 70s and they were VERY trouble-prone. As much as the MINI's reliability record is far from stellar, I would think that a Fiat may prove to be very unreliable down the road. Myself, I would never buy one, but that's just me.

 

Lol, good, I am sure not here to make anyone mad, and I'm no raging fanboy of any brand, I just enjoy driving and was sharing my thoughts! I could be on full on crazy pills lol, who knows.

Looking at the numbers a bit few minutes ago, my Abarth is 270lbs lighter than what I drove, and the wheelbase on the mini is 7 inches longer and two inches wider in track. I did not really think those would add up to that big a difference but it was in my testing anyway. The Abarth is more nimble feeling in the city driving I was testing it in. I can tell in the Abarth the front wheels are much closer to the driver as inputs to steering are much quicker, you are more over the wheels vs them being farther out in front of you.

I guarantee that for long road trips I'd prefer the Mini as that longer wheelbase and wider track will soak up bumps and tame the overall ride down some. It would also get better mileage, and it actually has a freaking sixth gear! That really drive me nuts on my Abarth, it needs a sixth gear badly. 70mph is turning 3k, so when doing 80 or more on a freeway it's really getting up there and hurting mileage a ton I'm sure. I like the mini fine, but it does feel bigger by a lot when driving it, and for my driving which is 95% two lane country roads, two lane highways and city driving the Abarth is great.

We drove a normal Fiat 500 Sport and were unimpressed, tried the Abarth later on and changed our mind. So far reliability has been dead nuts perfect, other than oil changes it's not had a single issue. I was very concerned about that when purchasing but it has been flawless. There are owners out there with issues to be sure, but overall the reliability has been pretty good it seems so far. I took a gamble, but it has paid off for me at this point.

Never fear, I still like Mini and I'm sure I could get it where I want, sport suspension at 30% stiffer would go a long way I'm sure. I'll stay here and be reading I'm sure as I love the look and the new S engine was very nice to be sure!

 

True, but the 70s were a long time ago. I know they were awful and famous for it, but I figure 40 years later they are still around so something had to have improved!

There are plenty of owners well over 50-70000 miles with no major issues, and that's in just a couple of years so pretty hard driving compared to my 10k a year average. I leased to make sure I can dump it if needed as I was that concerned!

 

Based on that statement alone, I question whether you even drove the new S.

I have a modified top braced, X braced under body JCW Suspension fully urethaned out R53 and with the new MINI's active steering and suspension and the new S handled as good as my R53 in every respect with out the added noises or harsh ride.

Personally I can't get passed that domed roof line of the FIAT 500 making it look like a Cone Heads Family Truckster.

 

Every time I see a 500 it reminds me of....