2012 Mini Cooper Convertible on 2040-cars

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2014 Mini Cooper

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone from Mini refer to 'go-kart-like handling,' I'd be retired, living on a beautiful piece of coastline somewhere in the Caribbean. Perhaps even on the shores of Puerto Rico, where Mini chose to launch its latest Cooper and Cooper S hatchbacks. As with so many frequently used phrases, though, there is indeed some truth to the cliché - while the Mini Cooper has never actually handled quite like a go kart, it has always had a certain directness in its movements, reacting to steering inputs with an immediacy and fervor unlike most any other automobile meant primarily for the street.
Combine those unique driving dynamics with a sense of fun that permeates the entire brand from pre-sales marketing to the actual sales process itself and you end up with a marketplace success. As an ex-Mini owner myself (a 2009 Cooper S Convertible), I can attest to the kinship felt between fellow Mini drivers who share in the knowledge that they are having more fun than the poor appliance-driving masses sharing the highways and byways of these United States. It's no surprise that the style-conscious US continues to be the marque's single largest market year after year.
This enviable brand perception hasn't been attained without its own fair share of flaws, however. Though the quirky design and massively customizable bits and pieces that have made up the Mini brand's interior philosophy since it was reborn in 2001 have proven somewhat endearing, the Cooper Hardtop's ergonomics have always been an unmitigated disaster. Plus, this is a very small car, with a rear seat that's practically uninhabitable by adult-size occupants. While that adjective seemingly goes hand-in-hand with the brand's name, the modern Cooper has never been as ingeniously packaged as its 1959 forbearer, which offered up as much interior space as possible through innovative engineering and minimalist design. Further, parent company BMW has positioned Mini as a premium brand, so the Cooper's diminutive size has never equated to low prices. And for being such a small car, the Cooper historically hasn't been well-known for its fuel efficiency.

David Brown Automotive remasters classic Mini at maxi price

Just days ago, we reported that the British small-scale maker of luxurious, Aston Martin inspired coupes, David Brown Automotive, was about to introduce a new, cheaper vehicle positioned under its exquisitely priced Speedback GT model. Since the Jaguar-based Speedback GT costs a significant $753,000, there's quite a bit of room underneath it to introduce a more modest means of transport, without cheapening out. Now, details of the car, dubbed "Project 2," have surfaced, and it's quite a surprise. What David Brown Automotive has come up with is a "remastered," rethought classic Mini. While the car looks just like a Mini at a passing glance, the body panels along with the chassis are new, and the car has been given a smoothening. All the body seams that were commonplace on the classic original have been rounded off, and the interior is a custom job complete with plentiful leather and Pioneer touchscreen. The new dashboard is a little closer to Japanese retro cars than either the classic Mini or the current, BMW-made equivalent. The drivetrain remains the trusted 1,275cc original along with a four-speed gearbox; both are reconditioned units instead of box-fresh ones, but they feature brand-new parts. There's 79 horsepower on offer, which is plenty of poke for a Mini. Each of the cars will take about 1,000 hours to make, by hand. The plan is to build 100-200 of these Mini re-creations per year, at David Brown's new facility in Silverstone, England. In two years, only 11 Speedbacks have been built, so the Mini should create a bit more buzz at the workshop. But the price? Starting from $62,000 at current rates, going all the way to $86,000 if you want one with all the trimmings. A lot for a Mini, but it's going to be special. Related Video:

The Mini John Cooper Works Rally is set for Dakar

In recent years, there have been convincing Minis tailored for rallying: Dakar wins were accumulated with gusto. Now there is a new version for 2017, named the Mini John Cooper Works Rally. Its debut will be the 2017 Dakar Rally running through Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. The new rally car has been built with experience gathered from rallying the earlier Mini All4 Racing, and it's based on the Countryman. Key areas reworked were the aerodynamics and the weight distribution to enable a lower center of gravity. As X-raid (Mini's motorsports partner) CEO Sven Quandt puts it: "The center of gravity has gone down substantially – we placed about 50 kilos [110 pounds] downwards by some 50 centimeters [19.7 inches] in the center of the car, which helps the handling and makes the car much more comfortable over all types of terrain, and aids the handling on a rally track with lots of corners." There is a new chassis frame, and the powertrain benefits from an updated engine mapping and thermal management. The interior has also been redone. Speaking of the powertrain, the Cooper Works Rally runs a 3.0-liter straight six from BMW's turbodiesel portfolio. In this guise, the TwinPower unit produces 340 horsepower at 3,250 rpm and a very respectable 590 lb ft of torque from 1,850 rpm. The retained ALL4 four-wheel-drive system has a six-speed SADEV sequential gearbox, together with lockable, oil-cooled Xtrac diffs with a central SADEV unit. The 2017 Dakar Rally runs from January 2-14. Related Video: