MINI Cooper S Review | ICE and How it Looks
Published: 21st November 2007
MINI Cooper S Convertible
In Car Entertainment and Satellite Navigation
Radio BOOST - radio / single slot CD player with 6 speakers, four in the front doors and two in the rear. The overall sound quality was good but with the roof down it couldn't cope with the competition of the elements.
How It Looks - Exterior
The MINI hatchback is undoubtedly cute, and the cute factor has been retained with the Convertible. All the classic design cues remain in place; there is no doubt that this is an evolution of the classic MINI.
Statistically, only two in every 100,000 MINIs built could be exactly the same. This figure is reached MINI tell us based on the variety of interiors, exteriors and options that can be specified on a MINI.
The MINI Convertible is available in twelve different exterior colours, depending on the model specified. Since its launch, the most popular paint finishes with MINI Convertible owners have been Cool Blue, Chilli Red and Astro Black.
MINI have literally cut the roof off from the windscreen to the back of the car. With the hood up, the roof nearly follows the same lines as the Hatchback, the central B pillar has been removed, at the rear of the car where the C Pillar would be, the hood mimics the lines of the Hatchback, but in order to keep the rigidity of the soft top the pseudo pillar is quite thick, which does hamper rear vision.
Our test car was equipped with 17" Web Spoke alloy wheels which are a £820 option (16" alloy wheels are standard on the MINI Cooper S Convertible.
How It Looks - Interior
According to MINI's press literature 'the interior design has transplanted the simple and straightforward look of the original into the 21st Century' and what a superb job they have done.
The interior styling of the MINI Cooper is as you would expect of a BMW product both functional and uncluttered - with a dash of fun.
If the central location of the speedometer bothers you, you can specify - the Cockpit Chrono Pack which is priced at £120 and positions the speedo next to the rev counter in the conventional dead ahead position.
All the instruments are framed in silver and the MINI Cooper dashboard trim matches the exterior colour. A circular theme prevails throughout the cabin with circular instruments, air vents, speakers in the doors, interior door handles and MINI logo on the steering wheel. Chrome also features heavily contrasting perfectly with the silver trim.
Our test car was equipped with the anthracite interior trim (a no cost option) and complemented the exterior colour of our test car.
Rivals
- In our opinion unrivalled
