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Here's an excerpt:
“The Mini is small, quick, and stylish, plus it proved practical to operate. Our Cooper S suffered a couple of minor quality problems, but these were repaired under warranty at no cost. In fact, the Mini was extremely low maintenance, with only two required, no-cost service stops, a tie for the fewest we've ever had with a long-termer. (By contrast, our long-term 1999 New Beetle GLS 1.8T [C/D, June 2001] drained us of $536 for service and $549 for repairs over 10 stops.)”
We had mixed opinions about whether the Mini's quick handling and nimble size offset its stiff ride, but we all agreed that for lookin' good and feelin' fine, it's tough to beat.
While in general it's a favorable review, I find much of their criticism to be a bit misguided. For instance:
“Which brings us to the sunroof. It's panoramic, for sure, but it has only a mesh “shade” that's not effective on a sunny day. Oddly enough, we could not find an aftermarket shade. …Mini really needs to offer an alternative opaque shade for the sunroof.”
Okay I can understand this argument if you live in Arizona… but Michigan? I spend enough time in Michigan to know that there is no more sun there than Illinois. To have an opinion like that you either really must hate the sun or have nothing else to complain about. Does he not realize how cool the “cabana” effect is?
Here's another from Car and Driver's resident grumpy old man John Philips:
I want so badly for this car to succeed, but it's gonna have to do it on looks alone. Why should this car be so torpid in traffic? The ride is awful. Just miserable. Why are the seats so uncomfortable? Why is it such a huge operation to get into the back seat?
Looks alone? Torpid? Not sure what car he's driving but he may need to learn a bit more about proper manual transmission techniques. If Phillips can't manage an MCS in traffic he might be downright dangerous in a Cooper like mine. And I can't imagine anyone calling me torpid in traffic. Wait I can't imagine anyone using a word like torpid…
You can read then entire article here.
