Official Pics: New Mini Roadster

Like a Mini, only squashed and without a roof

By Riggers / Monday, 31 October 2011 / Loading comments

These pics of the new Mini Roadster are the first official shots to come out of BMW-Mini's HQ. The Roadster will reach UK roads just in time for spring next year, and will take on the likes of the Mazda MX-5 and soon-to-be-seen Citroën DS3 cabriolet. It will cost from £18,015 for the base Cooper model, and you don't have to wear quite as silly a hat as the chap in the photos when driving it (we hope).

As with its near-identical sister car, the new Mini Coupe, the Roadster is largely based on the curtrent Mini Cabriolet, but is 3mm shorter, 47mm narrower and 25mm lower than Mini's existing soft-top. It is also a two-seat-only affair, with the space behind the seats given over to extra luggage space.

As you might expect, the Mini Roadster's interior is broadly the same as the coupe's (and therefore every other Mini), as is the range of 1.6-litre petrol engines and 141bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel (though it's no doubt the 208bhp Cooper Works that you'll be most interested in).

A six-speed manual is standard on all models, while an optional six-speed automatic is also available on all models apart from the John Cooper Works. The fabric hood, meanwhile, is manually operated in order to save weight.

Talking of saving weight, Mini is keen on pushing the handling of the Roadster, suggesting that its lightweight hood provides it with a lower centre of gravity than other models.

The steel body structure adopts the same stiffening measures as the Coupe, including a substantial brace at the rear.

With a weight distribution biased towards the front, the new open-top, Mini reckons, also gets better traction than other Mini models (we won't talk about the implications that has for understeer, then...)