News & Reviews- Make: Mini

While Mini completely revamped the Cooper Hardtop last year and will bring a new five-door version plus a reworked six-door Clubman to market for 2015, the rest of the model lineup will remain mostly unchanged this year, and as far as I'm concerned that's not a bad thing. I love the more aggressive look and slimmer bodylines of Mini's outgoing generation, the sharply dressed Roadster being one of its most enticing examples.

I had opportunity to test a base 2014 Cooper Roadster not too long ago, and while I loved the way it looks, its impressive roominess in the cockpit and in the trunk, and of course the way it takes to the corners, the Cooper S Roadster satisfies my desire for more power without much drain on the pocketbook when it comes time to fill up.

Behind the Roadster's impishly menacing grille is a more potent version of Mini's 1.6-litre inline four-cylinder engine, using direct-injection and a twin-scroll turbocharger to raise its game from 121 horsepower to Read Full Story

Let me make one point very clear before I delve too deeply into this review: If you've always wanted to buy a Mini Clubman but have never gotten around to it, now's the time. The Clubman, as we know it, is no more after 2014, and the Cooper Clubman I recently drove is one of the last of its kind available anywhere. Don't get me wrong, the Clubman name will likely resurface soon, something we can feel confident about since Mini showed the Clubman Concept at last year's Geneva motor show, but in Mini's quest to pull in yet more buyers by "unquirkying" itself, the new Clubman will get four regular side doors instead of this outgoing model's three-door layout.

Yes, if you hadn't noticed, the current 2014 Mini Cooper Clubman has a second rear-hinged "club" door on its passenger side that opens up clamshell-like in the same fashion as some four-door pickup trucks and a small number of high-end luxury cars, such as the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Phantom. Before Mini came to market with its Read Full Story

Try to look this car up on the Mini.ca website and it will be glaringly absent, made all the more obvious by six other 2014 models available with special John Cooper Works upgrades. You can get a new 2014 JCW Clubman, Convertible, Coupe, Roadster, Paceman or Countryman, but the 2014 JCW Hardtop is nowhere to be seen. What's the problem? The fact is that Mini never made one. With the all-new Mini Hardtop having only arrived in base Cooper and mid-grade Cooper S trims for the 2014 model year, the JCW version, which is expected to be the most powerful production Mini ever made at somewhere around 230 horsepower, is still forthcoming.

The car you see here is a brand new 2013 John Cooper Works Hardtop that I drove only a couple of weeks ago. And what of the 2014 designation in the title of this review? Ah, yes that. I (ahem) "mistakenly" typed that in just out of habit. Oh alright… with 2015 model year Minis upon us I admit that I did it on purpose so that I could include this Read Full Story

How can you make a Mini Cooper Convertible better than it already is? That's easy, tag a bright shiny red "S" onto its nameplate.

For years the stylized S on the backside of any Mini model has signified a very worthwhile performance upgrade, not to mention other goodies to go along with its increased price point. The best part is the received reward is much greater than the money needed to move up from the base Cooper, which is why there are so many S-badged Minis zipping around town.

And they certainly zip quickly. Under the stubby little Mini hood is a direct-injected and twin-scroll turbocharged version of Mini's heady little 1.6-litre four-cylinder, complete with 60 more ponies than the base Cooper at 181 horsepower and 63 additional pound-feet of torque at 177, although on overboost the Cooper S gives its driver a 78 lb-ft advantage! Sure, there's more performance yet available in the John Cooper Works version, but that little 208-horsepower mind bomb requires Read Full Story

If you want to know what it's like to drive Mini's new Countryman crossover utility, contemplate this: Does your compact CUV have racing stripes?

Of course, racing stripes won't make a car go faster, but in today's market it takes a fair bit of gall to decal up your CUV's hood with classic Monte Carlo Rally-bred #177 livery if it won't go as well as it shows. As you might expect from Mini, the Countryman moves along quite nicely, especially in Cooper S ALL4 guise, as was the case for my very pretty True Blue Metallic tester.

Well, the colour was pretty; I wouldn't call the car pretty. It's more handsome, being that its big frowning grille looks a lot steelier than the brand's cute and playful car lineup. The bigger crossover's headlight clusters are larger and more ovoid than round, front spoiler deeper and more rugged looking, fenders a bit more muscular and made more attractive at their rearmost edge by a thick chrome engine vent/trim garnish slash, while at the very Read Full Story