Top Gear UK presenter Richard Hammond featured the Mini Cooper S MkII in his “Hammond’s Icons” series in the September ’11 issue of Top Gear Magazine. Like any self-respecting Englishman, the Hamster loves the plucky little Mini which like Hammond himself, is impressive well beyond its stature.
But does it work? Yes. Gloriously. With a smile-inducing whine from the transmission, that 75bhp is enough to give a chunky, determined pull straight from the off. If anything, it feels slightly pugnacious; this is a car with ‘small man syndrome’ – and if there’s one thing about which I know anything, it’s that.
Here at MotoringFile, we’ve held one consistent point of view when it comes to manual transmissions in MINIs: they’re a must. Sure, some people need an auto, but they’re sacrificing a lot of the car’s character in our opinion. Trouble is, a lot of people, especially here in America, don’t know how to drive a stick. So MINI USA and it’s agency BSSP, in typical cheeky fashion, are encouraging people to go manual. continued →
An oldie but a goodie, for those of you into classic Minis, here’s one we couldn’t pass up posting about – even if it’s just for the great pics. And of course it’s for sale (via our friends at Bring a Trailer). For just $13,000 all this could ge yours:
Unlike so many questionable Minis out there, this 1960 Morris Mini is a genuine car with a British Heritage Certificate showing its original DoB in June of 1960. It was given a bare-shell repair and repaint approximately 5 years ago in Old English White with a black top, a classic color combo. A 1275 cc engine and disk brakes bring it closer to Cooper S performance, and the overall interior and exterior presentation is very clean and period correct.
So classic Mini owners out there – let’s here from you. Tell us about your cars and your experiences.
Sure we all followed along with the factory electic cars. There was that one company that was also selling electric MINIs through Sam’s Club a while back. Now, CravenSpeed has gotten into the game and they just did their first test drive of their electric R53.
The donor MINI is a 2002 R53. Great testbed for such a conversion. Be sure to click back to read all about their progress.
Anyone have any interest in doing something like this to your MINI? $25k seems pretty reasonable for this kind of conversion to us. What say you?
We’re getting to be bigger and bigger fans of the chaps over at Winding Road. While we’ve written about the topic for years, it’s great to finally see another outlet pick-up the story.
We recently featured their rather good comparison between the new Fiat 500 Sport and the MINI Cooper. They’re back, and this time with an in-depth look at what might happen if you pitted a factory Cooper S JCW against a regular Cooper S with aggressive aftermarket tuning. What kind of performance could the aftermarket provide, and for how much less than the $6,100 JCW premium? continued →
1st Gen MINI R50: One & MC Hatch R52: All 1st Gen MINI Convt. R53: MCS Hatch 2nd Gen MINI R55: Clubman R56: Hatch R57: Convertible R58: Coupe R59: Roadster R60: MINI Crossover R61: MINI Crossover Coupe 3rd Gen MINI F55: Clubman F56: Hatch F57: Convertible F60: MINI Crossover F62: Traveller
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Sections: Best of the Web, In the Press Sep 9th, 2011 2 Comments 
