Video: 2014 Mini Hardtop

Looking at the redesigned third generation mini Cooper looks very similar to the car that proceeded it. But if you look closely, there's plenty of changes. That's a big deal. This is a mini. They don't change that often. Let's take a closer look. Look closely at the headlights and you'll see some pretty dramatic changes here. These are led kind of horseshoe shaped daytime running lights. They surround the regular lights, the mini Cooper, the new hard top loses a little bit of its wheels to the corner. Look, you can see the nose is pushed a little bit farther forward here on this mini Cooper S hard top at the auto show floor. Overall length is up about four and a half inches width is up about two inches overall height down less than half an inch. Mini says, still mini fans should note that the Cooper and Cooper S are still small compact cars. A Ford focus hatchback by example is more than a foot and a half longer bumper to bumper. The steering column includes gauges that stay on the columns. So they go up and down with the wheel. As you adjust it, they include your tachometer and your speedometer. There's a center display screen now, that ranges all the way up to 8.8 inches. That's optional, bigger than the 6.5 inch display. In last year's hard top fans of last year's power window toggle switches that were among these center stack of controls here. Will be disappointed to know they've been relocated here to conventional spots along the door. If you were really annoyed by that. Well, now they're along the door. The lower seat cushions Mini says are up about an inch in overall length. So that should help with driver comfort here a little bit, still not a ton of room to adjust the seats back. I'm six feet tall. That's maybe an inch ahead of where the seats go all the way back, where I would sit to drive. So if you're much farther over six feet tall, that could be an issue. I mean, these whimsical dashboard styling carries over, but a lot of more solid feeling controls here then in the last mini Cooper, where the controls often felt like they were going to fall off in your hand. If the auto show cars are any indication, these seem to have higher quality to them. Things like dual zone, climate control are here now. Last year's Cooper had only single zone climate control options continuing to include a navigation system, things like Harman Kardon audio. The Cooper has a 1.5 liter turbocharged three cylinder engine. Now good for 134 horsepower. While the Cooper S gets a turbo four cylinder, a two-liter engine good for 189 horsepower. Either one gets power to the front wheels through a six speed manual or a six speed automatic transmission. And Mini says the Cooper hits 60 miles an hour in the low seven second range. The Cooper S does it in the mid sixes, a driver selectable mini driving mode affects accelerator sensitivity, power steering assist the transmission behavior with the optional automatic, even the stiffness of the optional adaptive suspension. That is a very premium option for a car in this class, but that's what Mini wants to do. Move the new Cooper and Cooper S hard top up the scale. We'll see how it does. Once those cars go on sale in spring 2014, (car engine noises)