2021 MINI range
We get behind the wheels of the three new MINI Coopers
James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Dean Martin, Jackie Icx are perhaps some of the most prolific race drivers of our time, but aside from that they were all Mini owners and swore by their Coopers. I’d say just those affiliations make it worth wanting a Mini Cooper, but a lot has changed since then, and now you don’t just buy a Mini you pick a personality. The new 2021 range of Mini Coopers includes the Mini John Cooper Works, the Convertible and the standard Mini Cooper S. Instead of your average car review, we decided to divvy up the Minis among us, each one picking the Cooper that best matched our personality and tell you what makes them so special. Unfortunately, while we tried to conduct our personality tests, Abhik drove away with the crew in the JCW and left me and Dhruv to pick between the convertible and the 3-Door. Long story short I ended up in the neon convertible on the back roads of the Aravallis.
Mini Cooper Convertible
I’ll be honest. If these two hadn’t decided to mess around I’d be in the JCW, that was the plan all along. It is the Mini I would’ve probably picked on my own. That said, once I was in the drop top, my annoyance quickly disappeared. For starters, the Mini Convertible has always been a cool car,
THE MINI CONVERTIBLE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A COOL CAR, BUT IN THIS 2021 NEON GREEN PAINT, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE RIOT!
but in this 2021 neon green paint, it is an absolute riot! Take a closer look and the flourishes continue, the seats, for instance, are tweed contrasted with black and the boot folds outwards a creates a little bench rated for up to 80kg which is pointless, but still so cool. Even the safety features are cool, with a proper rollover protection system that deploys two columns out of the body when it detects a roll to ensure that occupants are safe without the security of the roof. The roof mechanism itself works flawlessly even when you are rolling, it takes not even 12 seconds for the entire roof to be neatly packed into it’s storage tray. It is nothing short of a celebration on wheels, and that means when you are in the driver’s seat you can’t help but feel special.
Sure, it’s 10 kg heavier and it’s the slowest to a hundred of the three by a small margin, even though it has the same 2.0-litre twin power turbo motor in the same 192bhp state of tune as the 3-Door with the same 7-speed DCT gearbox. And truth be told, the missing structural integrity of the roof does make it slightly less agile, although this requires you to really push the envelope. But I’ll tell you right now that in this car none of that matters. You see, unlike the other two, the Mini Convertible is not about practicality or performance. Not that it lacks noticeably on either
front. The Convertible is all about how it makes you feel, and with the top down, listening to the symphony of the four-cylinder through the throaty exhaust, accompanied by a wild whistle of the turbo spooling up, the Mini convertible you tend to forget about things like 0-100 times, and how fast it can go around the ring, and instead just enjoy what is almost a perfect driving experience.
Mini Cooper 3-Door
In case the flamboyance of the Convertible and the go-fast demeanour of the JCW are lost on you, it’s the Cooper S 3-Door hatch that might appeal to your sensibilities. While it might be the most “basic” Mini on sale, it stays the truest to the ethos of the Mini brand of being fast, fun and practical. Not only is 192bhp of maximum power from its 2.0litre turbocharged petrol mill more than ample for a car this size, but the Cooper S hatch is also plenty quick reaching the 100kmph mark from a standstill in 6.7 seconds, which is, for reference, just 0.6 off the time taken by its souped-up sibling. The standard 3-Door Hatch may not be as sharp as the JCW, but it is still undeniably fun to drive and loves corners, but at the same time has a relatively softer, more forgiving suspension tune that better suits our generally terrible roads.
The sporty red highlights or the flashy neon green paintwork might be missing from the 3-Door, but this is still quite an uncommon sight on our roads so plenty of heads will turn to admire the retro-chic exterior no matter the neighbourhood. The redone front section that drops the chrome grille in favour of a sportier all-black fin
ish certainly helps its case. Besides, as cool as the Convertible with its Union Jack fabric roof might seem, the weather in most places in India is hardly what you’d call drop-top friendly and the lack of a folding roof mechanism also helps it retain a larger boot volume making it the more practical choice overall. Practical in relative terms of course since this is still an expensive three-door hatchback with barely any space for average-sized adults in the rear seat and a boot that can’t fit a space-saver spare even.
Don’t be fooled by that Rs 38 lakh (ex-showroom) sticker price either. Although essentials like the two-zone climate control, touchscreen display, parking sensors to name a few are offered as standard, a fair
WHILE IT MIGHT BE THE MOST “BASIC” MINI ON SALE, THE COOPER S STAYS THE TRUEST TO THE ETHOS OF THE MINI BRAND OF BEING FAST, FUN AND PRACTICAL
amount of kit our test car came with is part of a long list of options that can easily push the ex-showroom price beyond Rs 40 lakh. For instance, adding Apple CarPlay, a headup display and wireless charging alone will bump the price up by a lakh seventy-five. Want the sweet-sounding Harman Kardon audio setup? Well, that’s another Rs 1.25 lakh. The truth is, the Mini Cooper gained fame because of its no-nonsense approach to driving and its fast, fun and practical nature and, for us, nothing exemplifies this better than the Cooper S. It’s practical and relatively inexpensive and amongst the three, stays truest to what the Mini brand has stood for over the years.
Mini Cooper JCW
The JCW is understated in this all-black look with just the right amount of red in places for everyone else to know that it’s a special Mini. Special because this is the fastest, most powerful of the three. 231bhp, 320 Nm, 6.1 seconds for a 0-100kmph run and then there is the way the JCW puts down the power onto the road.
It’s lively and this trait is amplified with an electric steering that almost feels hydraulic. It has three driving modes and Sport being the sportiest of them, makes this JCW
feel properly like a go-kart. The suspension setup makes this car hug corners giving you loads of confidence to push and explore its beautiful handling capabilities but once roads finish and things need to get a little practical, that’s where things also start to get a little unpleasant.
You see Mini claims that the tuned suspension has been developed at the Nurburgring and while that would make for a quick lap time around a track, on the road, the
IT’S TRAIT LIVELY IS AMPLIFIED AND THIS WITH AN ELECTRIC STEERING THAT ALMOST FEELS HYDRAULIC. IT HAS THREE DRIVING MODES AND SPORT BEING THE SPORTIEST OF THEM, MAKES THIS JCW FEEL PROPERLY LIKE A GO- KART
ride is a bit jarring, even bordering uncomfortable at times. The steering does seem alive but if you’ve driven analogue cars long enough, the detached feel of an electronic steering becomes evident and you’ll also realise it as you move down the driving modes.
But look on the brighter side, 45 lakh gets you most things that are optional on the other two and of course tiny JCW bits exclusive to this car, like race seats. It’s pricey for sure but it’s such a hoot to drive.
In the end, having each spend more than a few days with our cars, the consensus was unanimous, Mini Coopers have definitely come a long way from the days of the British Motor Company. Back then the single car was in all a style statement, a practical hatch and a capable track and rally car, today each of these cars takes one of those core characteristics and doubles down on them, so you can choose the personality with which you align the most. In our case, despite things having not gone according to plan, we each ended up falling in love with our Mini flaws and all. If you are the sort of person that likes small fast cars and don’t really subscribe to the SUV bandwagon, then there is a Mini Cooper for you, all you have to do is figure out which one.