Originally published in EVO:

December 2002

After all the good things we've written about the Cooper S, we just had to get one on our Fast Fleet. Barker described it as a slow burner when he first drove it, and he was right - the more time we spend in the hottest Mini's company the more we like it. So much so that it even eclipsed the iconic Impreza STi over three sodden days in our 'Power to the People' cover story back in issue 045. So it hits the spot as a driver's car. But does it further improve with extended exposure or does it lose its shine?

The biggest problem that the Cooper S faces concerns its image. For all its ground-covering ability it looks about as tough as the Noddy-mobile, and a number of you can't see past the Toy Town persona. With this in mind we thought we'd go for the most aggressive looking colour-scheme we could think of. Solid black with black roof - Metcalfe spec - was our choice. We also resisted expensive options like Sat Nav and climate control and put the money towards 17-inch alloys instead. Respect.

And then it rolled off the back of the BMW transporter - with a bloody white roof and mirrors! Suddenly our gangsta Mini looked more Vanilla Ice than badboy Dr Dre. Fortunately the optional glass roof breaks up the expanse of white, but the mirrors are too much. It's already booked in to Wollaston BMW in Northampton to get black mirrors fitted.

Those 17in alloys really look the part, though. We'd never driven a Cooper S on 17s, so they were a bit of a gamble, dynamically speaking. Ride comfort has never been a Mini strength and they do make town driving a distinctly bumpy experience. The wider footprint (205 as opposed to 195 with the 16s) brings with it a tad more steering weight, too. First impressions are that neither characteristic is a particularly good thing. Maybe the gains in outright body control, grip and responsiveness will justify the chunky alloys - we'll rack-up a few more miles before making a final judgement.

The Cooper S arrived with just 13 miles on the clock, so a period of running-in is required. The handbook recommends you don't exceed 4500rpm or 90mph for the first 1250 miles, but I've been a bit more conservative early on. With so few miles accumulated I'll stick to around 3500rpm initially, but with bursts of full-throttle, and I'll gradually up the revs as the miles pile on.

The unique and occasionally irritating whine from the supercharged motor isn't much of an issue at such low revs, and the engine feels more willing than I remember. There's plenty of torque and progress is pretty swift even under such frustrating circumstances. Morgan's Clio Cup blitzes it for throttle response and sheer grunt (it really is a league above the S in a straight-line fight) but from past experience we know the Mini is a stonking point-to-point weapon. Currently, despite their very different approaches, the Cup and Cooper S are our favourite hatches. Separating them is difficult, but six months or so of daily thrashing should be very revealing. Cup or Cooper S - what's your money on?

Words/Pictures: Jethro Bovingdon