The larger engine and extra weight make the Mini a bit thirstier in the city where it achieves an EPA-rated 9.4 L/100 km instead of 9.0. But the added grunt give it the edge over the 2013 on the highway where 6.2 L/100 km improves over 6.7.
The result of the changes is that there is no change in the EPA’s combined rating of 8.1 L/100 km. I personally saw an improvement as I ended the week at 7.9 L/100 km versus 8.5 in the previous model.
    2014 Mini Cooper S instruments, main screen, touchpad dial, centre stack. Click image to enlarge |
But honestly, who on Earth cares? The Cooper S, while efficient, is not a fuel miser’s car. The Cooper S, while larger than the previous, is not a practical city car for hipsters. The Cooper S is not for a thinker, Ricky Bobby, the Cooper S is for a driver.
   2014 Mini Cooper S seating and trunk. Click image to enlarge |
If you like fuel economy, you can slide the little button under the gear lever to the right, and the screen will put up a funky graphic that says “let’s MINImalize!”. The light-bar tachometer that surrounds the screen also glows green. Want to go faster? Well, slide the button to the left, and the tach glows red, and the Mini says “Let’s motor hard!” with a go-kart and rocket superimposed over a picture of the Mini. Some people might think that’s a goofy gimmick and has no value whatsoever. Those people aren’t much fun to speak to at dinner parties.
If you have the $2,100 Loaded Package, which comes with Dynamic Damper Control, sport mode firms up the suspension as well as improving throttle response and power delivery. The drive is noticeably stiffer and the engine raspier. Sadly, the ever-present overrun exhaust burble that delighted me so much last year has been muted in this edition. It is there if you really try hard to induce it now, but the push for better power delivery and fuel economy has resulted in less excess fuel for the exhaust pipe to play with.
The interior has at once matured, and simultaneously become more juvenile. For example, the speedo has now moved to a permanent new home behind the steering wheel. That’s more sensible and mature.
Where the quirky mid-dash speedo used to be there is now a large circular housing for the 8.8-inch infotainment screen. On the outside of that screen, a segmented light-bar is a digital tachometer. The lights climb around the edge of the circle as engine revs rise. That’s pretty cool but a bit juvenile.
The motorcycle-style instrument cluster moves up and down and in-and out with the tilt/telescopic steering column and is comprised of a light-bar fuel gauge, analogue speedometer and tachometer, plus a small TFT screen with an extremely crisp readout. That readout shows the current gear plus a suggested one if you’re not in the most efficient gear as well as the normal trip computer information.
The analog tach has two readings at zero, Ready and Off. Why? The 2014 model now has automatic engine shutoff at idle. It’s a very crisp system that turns off the engine completely imperceptibly and re-ignites it with barely a quiver. My wife adored it – as she did with every single other aspect of the Mini.
In 2013 my passengers couldn’t find the power window buttons, they were squashed into all the other toggles in the centre stack. For 2014 they move to a far more sensible location on the doors. This frees up space on the centre stack, making the toggles less crowded and more usable. The effect is a tipping of the scales from “quirky but annoying” to “quirky and fun”. My aforementioned wife said of the previous car that she could “learn to live with” the interior – this one there is no such compromise needed. Even the miniature joystick of old is gone, replaced by BMW’s large touchpad rotary dial. It’s positioning is a little cramped, but its operation is top-shelf BMW and vastly improves the user experience of the Cooper S’s infotainment system.
But none of this is the best part of Mini’s revision.
