My son's 2012 Cooper S is at the dealer for an extended warranty high pressure fuel pump and water pump replacement. They gave me a 2018 Cooper 4 door as a replacement, thought I do a quick compare of a 2012 to a 2018.
So, it's red and while I'm a die hard MINI fan, I just don't like the proportions of the 4-door model. It just looks too tacked on to me, more of an afterthought than a design.
But, the red paint and black rims look good. Open the door to find this:
Excellent!! Maybe it will be a fun drive. Then I looked inside and saw:
OK, OK, autotragic's are commonplace now and you'd imagine they wouldn't give out standards for liability of burned clutches, I can overlook it.
First of all, the guy had to show me how to start it. Yes, how to start it. There's a start toggle, but you have to hit it twice. One to turn the car on, once to start it. That makes sense, but I'm glad he showed me because I would probably have been confused. I get the seat, mirrors and wheel adjusted. Took about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to change the radio station. I work with computers all day and am my no means techno-stupid, but there were too many menus and buttons on the radio that did one thing and a wheel/joystick between the seats that did another for it to make sense.
Driving the car, the first thing I noticed is how "enclosed" I feel. Before you say, "Duh, it's a MINI", remember I had just dropped off a 2012 two door. I think the combination of thicker doors and a dash that really seems to encroach into the cabin just made the car feel much more cramped inside. Our 2012 feels much more roomy inside than this thing does.
Car drives fine, but is really slow. I start to realize (and I'll confirm when I drop it off) that the JCW package is really just the appearance stuff. JCW on the door sills, 17" rims (which feel like they're made of stone), steering wheel and I think the body kit. At least I hope that's the case, because it would be embarrassing if it includes an engine upgrade, too. If it does, I can't imagine how slow a regular one would be. Sure, it's a Cooper, not an S (and I've had two R50's Coopers), but it was just sluggish.
The car is nice and quiet and relatively comfortable. Seats are a little hard, but maybe because it was new. Seems to handle well and quick turn in, but you can feel the extra length because it's not quite a tossable and seems to swing a bit around the turns. A/C works great.
Things I like:
- Plenty of room in the car. Although that was never really a problem in the 2 door, the extra four means you can have passengers in the back.
- Car feels solid, like it was cut from one piece.
- Turning input and feedback is still very MINI. You can just feel the extra length (and maybe weight). Not horrible, but not quite as spirited.
- Although not sport seats, they still have enough side support and grip of the fabric to encourage driving.
Things I don't like:
- I'd drop the 17" rims. They're just too harsh
- It has a heads up display. I assume there is a way to turn it off and change what it displays (just MPH right now), but I just find it annoying
- There's way too many menus/buttons/distractions. Sure, having the manual on the display is a neat idea, but it just makes it overly busy.
- Start/stop mode. I actually pulled over and pulled up the manual to figure out how to turn the darn thing off. It was way to slow to re-engage and get going. After less than two miles, it was bugging the snot out of me (thank you, MINI, for giving me the option of turning it off and it remembering that it's off when I get back in, though!)
- Even with start/stop turned off, there a hesitation pulling away from a stop.
- Car just felt cramped.
- No joy when hitting the go pedal. Maybe it's the CVT, maybe it's the weight of the 4-door, maybe I'm just a spoiled brat, but this thing feels slow.....
I think the thing that surprised me the most is that I'll turn it back in wondering if I'd ever buy a new one. Again, I'm a MINI fan and had thought about buying a new one within the year, but after driving this, I'm not as convinced. I'm sure most of the stuff they've added is to make the normal consumer happy, but I am not very impressed with the car. Never thought I'd say that about one.....
NinjaPostScript: I popped the hood (you have to pull the lever twice?) to see what was under it and the car warned me to be careful because the engine was hot...... I laughed about that.
-Rob
