I'm upgrading from the cooper to the S with delivery in September. Yesterday I took the S for a test drive and boy did I feel let down. I live in an area with small bumpy lanes where the cooper is so at home with it's direct mm accurate steering but I found the S to be a liability with it's dead about centre steering, all the direct precision has gone. Anybody else find this? Is there an after market solution? Also I found the already dodgy brakes of the cooper to be overwhelmed on the S. Any aftermarket brake kits?

 

Quite the contrary, I found the S to steer and handle bumps surprisingly well during a 45-minute test drive. I live in the West Chicago suburbs, renown for uneven, pothole-strewn roads. Then again, I'm comparing the ride to that of my daily driver, a 1987 Mazda B2000 pick'em up truck with 160,000 miles on the original factory shocks.

Actually, my other car (the one my wife lets me drive on occasion) is a 1999 Toyota Camry, and it seems to handle the bumps about the same as the Cooper S -- not bone-jarring, but you know the road is beneath you. At first, though, the Camry seemed stiff in comparison to the car it replaced--a 1995 Dodge Intrepid.

Perhaps my perception during the test drive was clouded by the excitement of driving a Cooper S.

 

Hey Ted,

Did the dealer tell you when to expect to see S's for sale? I heard from Naperville...that they would be getting a few soon that had not been pre-sold.

 

The S does carry a bit more weight than the standard Cooper. I wouldn't expect the two to handle the same.

After test driving the S I did note that the steering was a little heavier then the Cooper... but I was more interested in the power and engine on that drive and neglected to really give the steering a work out.

 

After owning a new MINI Cooper and taking a S out on about 5 test drives, I really don't see a difference. If there is one, it is ever-so-slight.