Putting the mmm... Back into Mini

By Stuart Johnston

The last time I drove a Mini Cooper S I have to admit to being underwhelmed. Mini had seen fit to offer a Cooper S with a seven-speed fluid-drive (conventional) automatic gearbox. And coupled with the then-new  two-litre turbo motor introduced a couple of years ago, the experience was pretty un-moving. The two-litre  motor only revs to 6 000 rpm, and the gearbox was “soft”. Both of these engineering changes were very much out of kilter with what I always thought was Mini’s strongest point – it’s immediacy; its driver-involvement.

True, you could get a six-speed manual version, but this wasn’t on offer to journos at the launch I attended back then.

New DCT gearbox a treat

Two years or so on and I was hoping Mini had made some changes apart from cosmetics. And those changes are here! The Mini Cooper S three-door hatch and the five-door Cooper we tried this week with the MY2019 styling updates, were also fitted with the new DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) seven-speed gearbox. The DCT gearbox option costs R21 000, and for an extra R3 300 you can get it with paddle-shift operation. Standard transmission for the Cooper S is the six-speed manual, which we would probably like most of all (but there weren’t any of these on offer to us on the launch drive).

Urgency is back

So DCT it was. And straight away, that feeling of urgency was back! True, the two-litre turbo motor in the Cooper S still only revved to 6 000, but the responses from the manual meshing of the cogs in the automatic-clutch gearbox made a huge difference. You still drive the DCT as if it’s an automatic, but the responses to throttle are much more immediate. And if you use the paddle shifts (as fitted to our launch car) the responses are instantaneous!

A 6,7-second 0-100 km/h time with DCT

The car goes some too. While power hasn’t increased from the 141 kW it was before, it is good for a 6,7-second 0-100 km/h time and a top speed of 233 km/h.

If I am not mistaken, Mini has also worked on the in-car engine audio a bit too. The sound is far more rorty, especially when you activate the “Sport”  switch on the console, which still takes the form of a classic British sports car-type toggle switch.

Union Jacks abound

Talking of “British”, some of the most obvious changes to this new MY 2019 car (but available for sale right now) are that there are Union Jack flag motives very much in evidence. You’ll see these on the design of the new LED tail lights, and also on the passenger-side panel on the dashboard. It’s all nice and subtly done, and very in keeping with the “fun-first” ethos hat has made Mini such a huge success since it was introduced way back in 2002 or so, in BMW-built form.

The nose section has been changed with a new interpretation of the traditional Mini round headlights which feature a “full-circle” LED daytime driving mode, rather than a half moon as in the previous cars. The new Piano Black features on the grille are in fact optional, and initially lead me to believe that the front end was in fact more comprehensively re-styled. The Piano Black finish gives a smart new look to the Mini in Cooper S guise, but in fact it is only available to order.

Another minor change has been the adaption of the new Mini badge, with a metallic finish, on the bonne.

The Cooper S model we drove was fitted with sports seats that are extremely firm – at first sampling they are a bit too firm – but once you have (manually) adjusted them to your body-type, you find they are supportive in all the right places. The ride is firm too, as you’d expect from a Mini, but it avoids being jarring.

The Range

Mini recently revised its range to delete the less popular roadster and coupé versions. It is now available in five different models. These are: The Three Door Hatch, the Five Door Hatch, the Convertible, the Clubman, and the Countryman.

Within this model range there are Mini One, Cooper and Cooper S derivatives, as well as the performance-orientated John Cooper Works (JCW) offering.

A big change to the entry-level Mini One model is that capacity of the three-cylinder engine has now been increased to 1,5 litres, from the previous 1,2-litre capacity. This increases the torque by 10 Nm to 1990 Nm, while  the power of the new Mini One model is pegged at 75 kW.

The Cooper models offer 100 kW

This basic 1,5-litre three-cylinder engine is used in the Cooper models in three-door and  five-door form, but tuned to give 100 kW and 220 Nm.

Whilst the launch structure in Cape Town this week only enabled us to sample two models (the Cooper S three-door and Cooper five-door) because of car-change logistics, the complete Mini range has received these updates.

The Mini JCW still makes use of a conventional auto ‘box

The notable exception in terms of the gearbox update we enjoyed so much is, strangely, the John Cooper Works model, which continues to be offered with an eight-speed traditional automatic, and not the new seven-speed DCT . If ever a model deserved the immediacy of the new gearbox, it is the JCW version. BMW South Africa were awaiting a comprehensive answer from Germany on why this decision was made, at the time this article was prepared for AutoTrader.  But BMW SA did confirm that one of the reasons for this anomaly was that the DCT was not suitable for the John Cooper Works car, due to the increased levels of torque in the JCW.

Interior

 Inside, there are new upholstery trims and  various updates to the Connected Media module, located in a big round dial in the centre of the dashboard Connected Navigation turns the Mini navigation into a highly networked information centre.

Pricing

Prices for the new MY2019 Mini range start at R302 200 for the Mini One hatch and top out at R511 600 for the John Cooper Works Mini automatic.

The Cooper S hatch three-door which we drove on the launch costs R452 600 (DCT with paddle shifts fitted, and excluding options). The 100 kW Cooper five-door costs R401 400 in automatic form.