Discussion
Just popped down to the Mini dealer to book the wifes car in for it's recall and they had a new Roadster parked outside.
It was in a bit of a dull dark grey colour, but aside from that I though it looked great!
The wife would love one, but as one with a spec she'd like comes to £28k I think she will have to wait a while for a 2 or 3 year old example.
Anyone driven one yet? Or got one ordered?
It was in a bit of a dull dark grey colour, but aside from that I though it looked great!
The wife would love one, but as one with a spec she'd like comes to £28k I think she will have to wait a while for a 2 or 3 year old example.
Anyone driven one yet? Or got one ordered?
Drove one a couple of weeks ago, very pleasant drive in the sunshine with the roof down.
The colour and trim was common across all dealership launch vehicles - metallic grey sport-pack Cooper S with toffee lounge interior and manual hood. Only variation was auto or manual box. My local dealer had the auto box variant, which I like as it makes crawling in traffic, so common an occurrence 'down south', much less effort and was reasonably responsive for the short stretches of open road. Also, at the risk of raising the arbiters of transmission, the Roadster is one of the few MINIs that an auto box suits being more of a 'laid back cruise by the river' car than the others. Of course, by this reasoning, the Coup would be the very antithesis of an auto box.
The initial trickle through town highlighted the good visibility (I'm 5'8" so have no problem with the lower roof-line) and the open top feeling of being part of the surroundings. The exhaust note is quite apparent so you can hear the auto-box changing and there's a resonance at just under 30mph. The dash layout is similar to other MINIs so previous owners will find the controls fall readily to hand; the only additions are a chrome hood release at shoulder level between the seats and (on models with the semi-auto roof) an extra switch in the rear-view mirror switches.
The road opened out into a dual carriageway and some overtaking showed that the Roadster was responsive and more than capable of comfortable outer lane cruising with almost no buffeting and little road noise. Over the shoulder visibility is excellent with the hood down as it folds flush with the bootlid, and the pop-up spoiler makes little difference to the rearwards view.
After a couple of miles we turned up a twisty hill that includes a particularly corrugated section on a fast bend that I'd selected to show up any scuttle shake, but apart from a slight shimmer (heard more than felt) it took that in its stride and the auto kicked-down on demand. There are flappy paddles (an option on the Cooper, standard on the S), but the software seems pretty well sorted as these weren't needed. If you do decide to exercise your fingers, the action is positive and gear selection is quicker than I can manage on a manual. It reverts to full auto after about ten seconds.
The handling on the bends was better than my R56 Cooper hatch on 15"s; hardly unexpected given the sport-pack's 17" alloys. What did surprise me was the lack of tramlining that I'd noticed when testing hatches in 2008 (and why I'd optioned 15" wheels). Or maybe I've just got more used to the MINI experience.
Back through town and over some speed-bumps continued to show that the MINI is well screwed together and an attractive proposition. There were a couple of loose stretches of what looked to be black PVC tape covering the join between the bodywork and hood-well, plus the usual plastic seems under the doorpull (a tiny flaw that nags every time). The manual hood is heavy to operate, I would say almost impossible from within the car particularly with the wind deflector in place. Salesman found that both door windows must be dropped a few inches first, or the channels made it impossible to bring the front of the hood close enough to the top of the screen for the latches to hook. Even than it took quite some effort to lock the hood closed; as you'll need to do this even with the semi-auto roof make sure that you can close the roof before buying.
It mystifies me as to why the release cars all had the manual hood given what it would add to the experience on that all important first contact and is non-optional on UK spec cars. Did they run out of engineering time and so not manage to get the production line ready in time for the launch? This delay and the awkwardness of the manual operation does make paranoid-me question the reliability of the roof mechanism.
As far as purchase economics go, the initial outlay is eye-watering and any model can easily swallow 6K options particularly as the Roadster triggers that premium feeling. Running costs would not be much more than a hatch and would compare well with a similarly optioned MX5 or costed Boxster/SLK200. Extra costs? A cap to keep the sunshine out of my old eyes, probably a Jackie Stewart flat-cap as I find the Coup's a little large. Cooper S Auto, old school pepper white with wood and chrome interior, cloth seats; option paralysis on wheels as I desperately want steel with chrome hubcaps...
We finished the drive coming past the river, top down and admiring the promenaders in the sunshine. Economics verses dappled sunshine, tough choice.
The colour and trim was common across all dealership launch vehicles - metallic grey sport-pack Cooper S with toffee lounge interior and manual hood. Only variation was auto or manual box. My local dealer had the auto box variant, which I like as it makes crawling in traffic, so common an occurrence 'down south', much less effort and was reasonably responsive for the short stretches of open road. Also, at the risk of raising the arbiters of transmission, the Roadster is one of the few MINIs that an auto box suits being more of a 'laid back cruise by the river' car than the others. Of course, by this reasoning, the Coup would be the very antithesis of an auto box.
The initial trickle through town highlighted the good visibility (I'm 5'8" so have no problem with the lower roof-line) and the open top feeling of being part of the surroundings. The exhaust note is quite apparent so you can hear the auto-box changing and there's a resonance at just under 30mph. The dash layout is similar to other MINIs so previous owners will find the controls fall readily to hand; the only additions are a chrome hood release at shoulder level between the seats and (on models with the semi-auto roof) an extra switch in the rear-view mirror switches.
The road opened out into a dual carriageway and some overtaking showed that the Roadster was responsive and more than capable of comfortable outer lane cruising with almost no buffeting and little road noise. Over the shoulder visibility is excellent with the hood down as it folds flush with the bootlid, and the pop-up spoiler makes little difference to the rearwards view.
After a couple of miles we turned up a twisty hill that includes a particularly corrugated section on a fast bend that I'd selected to show up any scuttle shake, but apart from a slight shimmer (heard more than felt) it took that in its stride and the auto kicked-down on demand. There are flappy paddles (an option on the Cooper, standard on the S), but the software seems pretty well sorted as these weren't needed. If you do decide to exercise your fingers, the action is positive and gear selection is quicker than I can manage on a manual. It reverts to full auto after about ten seconds.
The handling on the bends was better than my R56 Cooper hatch on 15"s; hardly unexpected given the sport-pack's 17" alloys. What did surprise me was the lack of tramlining that I'd noticed when testing hatches in 2008 (and why I'd optioned 15" wheels). Or maybe I've just got more used to the MINI experience.
Back through town and over some speed-bumps continued to show that the MINI is well screwed together and an attractive proposition. There were a couple of loose stretches of what looked to be black PVC tape covering the join between the bodywork and hood-well, plus the usual plastic seems under the doorpull (a tiny flaw that nags every time). The manual hood is heavy to operate, I would say almost impossible from within the car particularly with the wind deflector in place. Salesman found that both door windows must be dropped a few inches first, or the channels made it impossible to bring the front of the hood close enough to the top of the screen for the latches to hook. Even than it took quite some effort to lock the hood closed; as you'll need to do this even with the semi-auto roof make sure that you can close the roof before buying.
It mystifies me as to why the release cars all had the manual hood given what it would add to the experience on that all important first contact and is non-optional on UK spec cars. Did they run out of engineering time and so not manage to get the production line ready in time for the launch? This delay and the awkwardness of the manual operation does make paranoid-me question the reliability of the roof mechanism.
As far as purchase economics go, the initial outlay is eye-watering and any model can easily swallow 6K options particularly as the Roadster triggers that premium feeling. Running costs would not be much more than a hatch and would compare well with a similarly optioned MX5 or costed Boxster/SLK200. Extra costs? A cap to keep the sunshine out of my old eyes, probably a Jackie Stewart flat-cap as I find the Coup's a little large. Cooper S Auto, old school pepper white with wood and chrome interior, cloth seats; option paralysis on wheels as I desperately want steel with chrome hubcaps...
We finished the drive coming past the river, top down and admiring the promenaders in the sunshine. Economics verses dappled sunshine, tough choice.
M@1975 said:
Still a god awful ugly car.
Completely disagree, but then looks are subjective.Nice little write up further up, thanks for sharing that.
I think what it comes down to is cost.
There was a lovely JCW Coupe in the showroom yesterday, specced pretty much as we would like one, but the £30k price tag is just a bit much when you look what you could have secondhand (and just a couple of years old!) for that money.
Really happy with her clubman S for now, but will watch with interest values of roadsters.
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