Test Drive: 2012 Mini Cooper S Roadster

2012 Mini Cooper S Roadster. Click image to enlarge

The inside of the Roadster is funky, unique, and luxurious; just like all Minis. The seats are comfortable and easy to adjust and the ‘Lounge Leather’ upgrade feels great and is worth the price. The interior is primarily high quality soft-touch materials, as it should be for the price. The lighting throughout the interior can be programmed to several different shades through the LED lights. My pick was cool blue but a whole spectrum of colours is available. The Roadster features Mini’s ubiquitous massive center mounted speedometer and a tachometer behind the steering wheel. Sticking off the side of the tachometer is a weird gauge called the Mini “Always Open Timer”. It times how long the top of the Mini is open in minutes as well as hours. A cool concept, yet it only goes to seven hours before resetting itself and I could not find a way to reset it manually. The car does have a separate digital timer for total time that the Mini’s roof has been open. For those curious, my test Roadster with 11,000 km on the odometer has had its roof open for 83 hours, 32 minutes and counting.

The convertible top on the Roadster is 100-percent manual, but easy enough to operate. It can be lowered or raised while sitting in the driver’s seat with one hand, assuming your arms are long enough. Those with shorter appendages will need to get out of the Mini to raise and lower the roof. Mounted high and centre between the rear seats is wind deflector that can be half lowered to aid in opening and closing the manual roof, but can never be fully removed. It obscures the already compromised rearward visibility at night; especially with the roof up.

The two-seat Mini Roadster is more practical than the four-seat Mini Convertible. Yes, you read that correctly. In the typical ‘Mini’ way of doing things, by removing 2 seats, Mini has somehow increased the livability of the new Roadster. You see, the secret is the conventional trunk. With the rear seats gone, the fold down roof need be only half the size of the roof on the Mini convertible. What this allows for is a real, proper trunk instead of the Mini Convertible’s pass-through hatch. Since the rear seats in the Mini Convertible are virtually useless anyway, no one is going to miss them. As a bonus, the top also folds neatly out of view, unlike the baby-carriage-like-roof that protrudes from the rear of the four-seat Mini drop-top.

Even with the top stowed out of view, the Roadster’s trunk still measures an impressive 240 L and features a large opening while being nearly square in shape. For reference, the Roadster’s chief competitor, the Mazda MX-5, has a paltry 150 L of cargo space. If that alone is not enough practicality, the Roadster also features a shelf behind the front seats that is handy and useful. So is the square pass-through into the trunk. In fact, with it open it is possible to retrieve items from the trunk while sitting in the car, once again requiring long, flexible arms.

Overall, the Mini is an enthusiast roadster just like its main competitor, the Mazda MX-5. However, they target two different types of enthusiast. Both cater to those who like open-air motoring in small, responsive lightweight vehicles that still feature a decent amount of amenities. However, the rear-wheel-drive Miata takes things a step further on the performance side with its 50/50 weight distribution, intuitive handling characteristics, and high-revving naturally aspirated engine. The Mini, on the other hand, caters to the enthusiast who is more into style and technology. The high pressure turbocharged engine, throwback toggle switches, kicking Harman Kardon stereo and unique gauge displays are more of interest to them than whether or not they can shave a few tenths off a lap time thanks to rear-wheel drive. This car may seem expensive at an as-tested price of $38,820, but actually undercuts the Roadster’s two main competitors; the Mazda MX-5 GT and Volkswagen Eos. However, all three cars should continue to thank their lucky stars that the far cheaper Genesis Coupe, Veloster Turbo or BRZ/FR-S twins have yet to drop their tops… ‘yet’ being the key word.

Pricing: 2012 Mini Cooper S Roadster
Base price: $32,900
Options: $1,250 (Premium Package), $1,290 (Entertainment Package), $990 (Sport Package), $490 (Metallic Paint), $1,900 (Lounge Leather)
A/C tax: $100
Freight: $1,595
Price as tested: $40,515

Specifications
Buyer’s Guide: 2012 Mini Roadster