Retro cars polarise opinion. Whether it's the New Beetle, the PT Cruiser or the Mini, most people have made up their minds before they even open the door to sit inside. Looking at these pics of the Cooper S, you're sure to be thinking one of a few things: "Gawd, I just love how it looks!" will be common; plenty of people said that to us in the week we had the car. Or perhaps on the other hand you're muttering that Alec Issigonis must be spinning in his grave, with that brilliant designer's practical, breakthrough car now having been re-invented as an expensive fashion accessory. So strong is the visual impact of the new Mini, relatively few of you will actually wonder how it drives.
But we're here to tell you that it drives better than you'd ever guess...
The first thing to get into your head is that this is a complex and sophisticated car with a very high technology level. It may cost $47,260 in as-tested form, but there are few cars under near double the dollars that have this level of equipment. Huh? Well try the following list: high intensity discharge headlights, six airbags, electronic throttle, stability control, tyre pressure monitoring, ABS, a trip computer and twin sunroofs. Hmmm. Oh yeah, and we forgot the intercooled supercharged engine too, didn't we?
In a way it's a bit like the New Beetle - you get the feeling that the engineers didn't want this car to be dismissed as just an interesting shape, but instead made damn sure that under the skin there's a very good car indeed. (In fact, on a personal level, almost everything I disliked about driving the Cooper S could be sheeted home to its retro styling trade-offs - I'd just love a modern hatchback body draped over those mechanicals. A BMW 2-series anyone?)
Inside the cabin you look down at a good-sized steering wheel - complete with buttons on the front for cruise and more buttons on the back for audio control - and then stare in consternation at a ridiculous speedo that's perched on the steering column. It's ridiculous not for its silver highlights (they're repeated everywhere around the cabin) but for the fact that all the increments from about 80 - 160 km/h are obscured by the rim of the wheel.
Your eyes wander further - and they need to go much further - to see a huge tacho (aping the original Mini's speedo) placed in the middle of the dash. Below that is a generic-looking CD-radio, and below that normal HVAC controls. Um, but then another step down and there's about 10 identical toggle switches.... Hmmm. Fake "machined alloy" silver plastic abounds within the cabin, while oddments spaces are strictly limited. You certainly feel that you're in something different - you won't ever mistake this dash for a Honda - but deciding whether it's different for the sake of conforming to a retro styling ideal or whether it's different to be effective takes, oh, about 2 seconds. Retro, here we come.
In fact, to be devastatingly candid, while we're comfortable with the exterior styling looking backwards, to make a severe safety trade-off by doing the same inside we have serious reservations about. Safety? Well when you can't see a quarter of the speedo, when turning on the foglights requires participating in a virtual lucky dip of switch selection and when viewing the tacho means taking your eyes a long way from the road, yes safety definitely comes in to it.
But let's take the driving experience. The seats are unfortunately hard and rather uncomfortable, and with a very firm ride on offer you can't wait for bad road surfaces to be behind you. In fact, while even bumpy good roads are coped with without problems, on Australia's typical secondary road cart tracks - complete with broken and patched bitumen and potholes - the Cooper S can be a literal pain in the back.
But then you select first gear in the slighty notchy six-speed, let out the clutch and put your foot down. Ahhhhhhhh. The 120kW (at 6000 rpm) 1.6-litre supercharged engine is just superb. Running an iron block, SOHC alloy head and four valves per cylinder, the pistons, con rods and valves have been strengthened for the forced induction action. The 0.8 Bar boost is provided by a Roots blower driven directly from the crank by a poly v-belt, while the drop in comp ratio (10.6:1 down to 8.6:1) and the use of active knock sensing allows the engine to run on fuel octanes from 91 to 98. The air/air intercooler is mounted on top of the intake manifold and is fed atmosphere through a rubber-sealed bonnet scoop.
But the specs really don't give a great idea of the engine's brilliance. This is a vastly superior engine to the supercharged 2.3-litre four used by Mercedes, and in fact had us really pondering if we know of a more driveable four cylinder. By 1800 rpm the engine's just hauling, and it stays linear and progressive right through to 5000 rpm. That's when it starts to go even harder... The fun stops at just under 7000 rpm, but with this much torque on hand, you just change gear and let it do it all over again. The spec sheet shows the numbers: 80 per cent of the engine's peak 210Nm is available from 2000 - 6500 rpm.
Not only is this a fast car, it's also one which makes the driveability of some of its competitors look sick. In fact, as it happens, we had along with the Mini at times a current Impreza WRX and an Integra Type R. For its ability to respond well at any revs and yet still develop the same sort of on-road performance as these other two performance icons, we preferred the Cooper S engine! Certainly on the road it was never embarrassed in the slightest ...
In addition to the huge 41 per cent lift in power output over the atmospheric engine, the blower makes its presence felt by a subtle whine. It's not an intrusive shriek that can be found in some supercharged cars - a bit like in a turbo car, there's just enough noise to put a smile on your face. Unfortunately the same can't be said at the other end of the car - the exhaust is unfortunately boomy. In fact, when working the engine hard at low revs - this one's a natural to occasionally drive around taking it easily at two grand in fifth and sixth - the exhaust boom makes it sound like the engine's unhappy. But it isn't. Outside the car the exhaust snarl is seductive and fun - but inside the note changes from rasp to resonance.
With performance that sees 150 km/h coming up on normal passing manoeuvres and the real grunt to run 0-100's in low eights (the factory claim is 7.4 seconds), we were already blown away by the Cooper S's acceleration - especially given its incredible accessibility. But then our respect for the driveline was taken to another plane when we started watching the trip computer's fuel economy. While driving the car hard can result in figures in the low 12's (litres/100km), driven gently in city traffic this performance car can turn in mid sixes! In a normal urban commute - with just an occasional flourish - you could realistically expect mid-sevens. That's one of the best performance/economy compromises that we have ever seen from an unmodified modern car.
In addition to the wonderfully flat torque curve backed by real grunt, the Cooper S enormously impressed us with its optional DSC - dynamic stability control. Not only is it one of the few cars available in this price range that boasts this impressive safety feature, in the Cooper S it's been programmed to still allow a lot of fun. You simply don't realise how much throttle control it's doing until you switch it off... Flick the switch - yep, it's one of that line of identical toggles - and put your boot into it and you'll be literally smoking the front wheels everywhere. Turn it back on and all is again stable - and quick. We had top Targa Tassie placegetter Craig Dean drive the car and he thought the stability control mightily impressive - even more interesting coming from a race driver when the breed are known for immediately switching off any traction aids...
The suspension uses front MacPherson struts and a rear multi-link design, the latter very similar to the current BMW 3-series. Both the springing and damping are stiff, and the electro-hydraulic assisted steering is very direct, with just 2.5 turns lock to lock. (Incidentally, the steering is not purely electric assist - instead with this system an electric motor drives the power steering pump; it can sometimes be heard whining down when the car is switched off.) Together with the grip afforded by the (optional) 205/45 Pirellis on seventeen inch alloys and intelligent stability control, in general the Cooper S simply goes where it is pointed. Stay on the power in a hairpin and the car will wash into understeer (63 per cent of the car's mass is on the front wheels), but the stability control will then brake the inner rear wheel and pull the car back into line. The handling is very reassuring - the very wide track and long wheelbase making the car feel poised and competent.
Despite the torque output of the supercharged engine, the steering is superbly behaved: torque steer is effectively non-existent. This is achieved through the use of an additional driveshaft bearing bolted to the block, resulting in equal-length front driveshafts. Another impressive attribute of the steering is that despite its directness, it is never a nervous system. A freeway cruise is a doddle: this is one sporty car that you could quite easily drive interstate.
But get away from the driving experience and the story changes. Rear seat legroom is non-existent - and we can't even exclaim over the load space when the seat backs are folded. In the Mini this results in a small, hard to access cargo area which is stepped in floor height. Talking of the floor, lift it and you won't find a spare wheel - just the battery sits there. The Cooper S is fitted with 'run-flat' tyres - the only car that we're aware of that completely abandons the notion of (even a space-saver) spare wheel. That body shape trade-off again... Of course the styling is the very reason that many people will buy the car - a Catch 22 situation.
But for a maximum of two people, the Cooper S is a practical, fast and economical performance car with enormous character and a very high technical specification that translates to real and accessible on-road brilliance.
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Why you would:
- Fantastic engine
- Outstanding fuel economy/performance compromise
- Excellent handling
- High measure of passive and active safety
- Continually attracts delighted attention
Why you wouldn't:
- Optional (and very good) equipment quickly lifts price
- Poor room in rear seat and load area
- Ride can be borderline on bad roads
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The Cooper S was supplied for this test by BMW Australia.
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