BMW MINI at 20
R50: An icon reborn
It’s not often you see a 20-year-old car that looks like it rolled out of the showroom yesterday. But the 2001 MINI is one of those cars. Looking at its smiling face, big eyes, and pert bottom, it’s hard not to run your hand gently along its bonnet and pat its roof – this really is design at its best – curvaceous and striking, and most definitely a Mini.
Jump in, get comfortable and marvel at the view ahead. The dashboard is dominated by a central speedo and pod dials, while the car’s functions are controlled by a row of chromed toggle switches, like the original. The windscreen is deep, the curvaceous bonnet a joy to look over and the chunky steering wheel small enough to nudge you into believing that this is going to be a fun car to drive. Don’t look behind you, though – the rear window is shallow and the back seat for kids only.
Tanya Field’s Cooper is one of the pre-launch OBL-registered MINIs that are already pretty collectable. There are one or two differences that MINI aficionados will spot between an OBL and a regular model, most notably the MINI-embossed pedals and ridged seat bases, which this one doesn’t have – no doubt because early MINI seats are incredibly fragile and most have been replaced. But it’s fresh and looks as it did when it appeared on the cover of
Autocar magazine back in 2001. Fire it up, and the Chrysler Tritec engine sounds willing, eagerly responding to a playful blip of the throttle. Snick it into gear and off it leaps with its engine making surprisingly A-series-like noises – quieter and more synthesised, but definitely there. It’s not slow, either, pulling its best over 4500rpm, with a 0-60mph time of 9.3 seconds and a maximum speed of 125mph.
And yet numbers alone can’t convey the sheer joy that the R50 MINI gives you in the bends. The steering is pinsharp and full of feel, turning the car eagerly into corners just like… well, just like a Mini, really. It’s flat in the bends, poised and most definitely built for B-roads. Unlike the original Mini, this one’s brakes are remarkably solid with great pedal feel and have the stopping power of a nightclub bouncer. We’ve already discussed Frank Stephenson’s great job of re-evoking the Mini in its design, but the Rover chassis engineers did an even better job of setting up this car’s dynamics to transport you back to the 1960s – in a good way.
Faults? Well, the boot and rear seat are a joke and would never have got past Issigonis’ beady eye, and the build quality is more Rover than BMW-solid, but to be honest, you’ll love them for their ability to deliver infectious fun.
Early R50 MINIs feel special and alive, and every inch a modern classic that you can enjoy on your favourite B-road blast at sensible speeds. Isn’t that what we said about the original Mini Cooper back in the 1960s?