Video: 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop
By Cars.com Editors
February 25, 2014
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About the video
How did Mini make the 2014 Cooper Hardtop substantially larger, quicker, nimbler, more spacious and just all-around cooler – all while achieving a remarkable boost in fuel economy but not price?
Transcript
(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Dave Thomas with Cars.com, and this is a new redesigned 2014 MINI Cooper Hardtop, and what's a big story about this new MINI? Well, it's big.
This MINI is 4 1/2 inches longer than the previous generation, it's still not a huge car of course. It's bigger than the Fiat 500, smaller than Nissan's Juke, and just a few inches shorter than the current MINI Clubman. Not only is the MINI longer, it's also wider, slightly taller, and has a big cargo area, it's also has two all new engines. I recently drove with the base Cooper and the Cooper S you see here, and both engines are phenomenal. The base Cooper actually has a turbocharged 3-cylinder, and it puts out 134 horsepower. I tested it with a standard manual transmission, which was pretty good for around town driving, enthusiasts might not like it. A 6-speed automatic is optional on both cars. The Cooper S has a turbocharged 4-cylinder good for 189 horsepower, that's obviously a lot more fun to drive, but guess what? It's not overly firm like previous MINIs. So if you live in a town with a lot of potholes like Chicago, don't worry about the ride so much. Why did MINI get new engines? Because of fuel economy, and while the numbers aren't final yet, the company estimates that the base Cooper will get 42 miles per gallon highway with the automatic, and the Cooper S with a lot extra power, 40 miles per gallon highway. A bigger MINI outside, means bigger MINI inside, and where you really feel it is this width between the driver and the passenger, as well as the headroom, really spacious in here, more headroom than that Fiat 500 or the Nissan Juke. While previous MINIs had some quirkiness inside, this MINI is fixed. One of my biggest complaints, they moved the window switches from the center to the doors, like every other car, and they went a little step above, they put the start/stop button in the center, and it's not really a button, it is this amazingly cool toggle switch. What else did MINI move? They moved the giant gauge from the center to above the steering wheel, again, like every other car on the road, but they left the idea of the giant circle where it was. Now, what's there is the entertainment system with the base model like this, or the navigation screen, which is an 8.8 inch wide screen. Just like BMW's iDrive, it's gorgeous. But what's really cool for the MINI is this ring of LED lights that actually changes with whatever you're controlling. So if I turn up the volume of the stereo, and the ring will go around. Even cooler, when you're driving, it emulates a tachometer, white over here, red line over here, and when you rev, it lights all the way up. You think getting bigger would mean the MINI is less fun to drive, but you'd be wrong. This is still one of the best handling cars you can get for the money, and the steering, even in the regular Cooper, is spectacular. Many buyers have had to make some sacrifices getting a fun little car, one of those big sacrifices has been the small cargo area. Get a bigger MINI, bigger cargo area. It's now 8.7 cubic feet with the seats up, and what's really cool, you can lift up the floor here, it has a little cargo well underneath, works a lot like a minivan. You can then fold it flat again, and ratchet it up another level, so it lays flush with the seats when you fold them flat, and get this, cargo room when you fold them flat, out does a Fiat 500 and the Nissan Juke, which is bigger outside. MINI took what was once a fun yet quirky little car, made it bigger, made it more practical, more fuel efficient, and they didn't raise the price that much either, how'd they do that? (car engine revving)
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