Out with the Old, in with the New, MINI content...

Brought home this '14 MINI Cooper hardtop today. Turned in our '11 MINI Cooper hardtop for it.

Premium, Sport, and cold weather package, w/ pano sunroof. 6 speed manual. Turbo 3 cyl that feels a lot like the earlier S models. No nav or sat radio. Nice thing is it doesn't have run flats, so it handles good but rides even better.

Power... The new Mini has it. Even the base Cooper hardtop feels like it has much more power than the numbers suggest. The base Cooper feels a lot like the last R53 S I drove. You can feel the boost come on, at fairly low rpms, and it pulls in all gears (unlike the previous 6 speed non-S). Smooth power delivery, too. All in all, I'm impressed for the base car. And if it delivers the fuel mileage numbers, it'll be even more impressive. The 6 speed manual is great, with short, just-notchy-enough throws, and great clutch action. Barks the tires into second and third gear, too, as my wife demonstrated on the drive home...

Handling... it's a MINI. GO kart like handling is in its DNA. But it's more sophisticated now. It won't beat you up to deliver that handling. Ride is much improved. Got to take it on some twisty backroads at speed and it's stellar.

Quality... Initial quality is definitely up. My '11 is worlds better than the '09 and older MINIs, but the new one is up from that one. Fit and finish is great, and everything feels solid.

Style... It's still a MINI, but yeah, you can tell it's bigger all around. The style is still MINI, but little things are kind of awkward. The taillights are too big. Luckily, you cant see them from the driver's seat. The side markers are a little cheap looking wrapping around the side scuttles like they do. The interior style still says MINI, but it's much better. The ones with Nav are high tech looking. The ones without (like I drove) are lacking a little bit for style, but function great. The seats are supurb.

The Harmon Kardon sound system in this one was much like the HK system in our current MINI, great sound.

Sorry for the potatophone pics...

Old one:

new one ready to go:

happy wife, happy life!

Wow, that looks like its a lot longer - did they change it for '14?

the nose is about 3 inches longer, and the whole car is bigger by a litle bit. More space inside, though it's still a small car. But the nose is done the way it is for pedestrian impact regs, IIRC.

In reply to ProDarwin:

Yes. All new platform (F56) and new engine line.

The car does look better in person than it does in pictures, which often exaggerate the front overhang, which is now rivaling Audi.

yeah, when they are parked next to each other, they really aren't that different in proportion, just a tad bigger. By themselves, people often don't know what's different in person. The camera also has a bit of fisheye effect to it, as you can see by the cars in the background being distorted slightly. LIke I said, potatophone pics.

Very nice, I like that electric blue color. I see they finally moved the speedometer in front of you.

Very nice. My '09 looked very similar, blue w/white roof.

Be very interested to hear how the quality holds up. The concerns over the quality of the S models was part of the reason I sold mine. Otherwise, I liked it.

I'm hoping the quality is the same or better than the yellow one. Other than a CEL the first day we had it for a loose oil cap from the PDI, and a recall for the water pump or water temp sender done a year and a half ago, it's been flawless, with no problems and not even any squeaks or rattles. The updated interior for the '10-11 model year made a lot of difference in perceived quality, and the non-S versions have always been a little better anyhow. Hopefully the turbo 3 cyl is a solid unit. We'll see... ;)

Chris_V wrote: The updated interior for the '10-11 model year made a lot of difference in perceived quality, and the non-S versions have always been a little better anyhow.

Exactly. I have to say I didn't have any major issues with the interior of the car, except for the location of the window switches. That was silly, if I had a coffee mug in the cupholder, I couldn't reach the switch. Beyond that, I actually didn't mind it at all. But from everything I heard, the non-S models were light years ahead of the S in reliability. Hope the S is brought up to the same standards.

Oh, and that's something else... the window switches have been moved to the doors.

Ok, first quality problems. On the outer door handle on the driver's side, there is a little chrome cover for the physical keyhole that basically hides it in the silhouette of the door handle form. It is supposed to be removable by the physical key in order to get to the physical lock in case the battery dies, etc. (it's keyless entry normally). That little chrome cover popped off in our hands when opening the door.

Second, the passenger side visor makeup mirror cover cracked and popped off when it was lifted up. The part isn't even available yet.

Luckily, our MINI rep was in a meeting with the BMW representatives from Germany when we called it in, and came out to our house just now take pictures of the broken parts, to hand over to the German reps. They are taking care of the problems and helping out with the re-engineering of the parts, according to the reps. We'll get the car fixed under warranty, and they offered us a bunch of accessories for the car for our trouble (like a roof graphic, door sill plates, and come other little things).

It's amazing the service we get from the local MINI dealer. Having someone come to our house to take pics for the reps instead of having us bring the car in...