Picked up this 2017 Mini Cooper yesterday. More pics to come. Here it is with 850 km worth of bugs splattered everywhere. Picked it up in Montreal and took it home through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
We did this on a bit of a whim. It's replacing her 2007 Cooper S which we've had a lot of issues with. It needs some work and I was reluctant to put even more money into it. I was doing research for a friend when I discovered that you could lease a 2018 Mazda 3 at 0% which meant a loaded GT would be a reasonable price. So we
test drove one. It was a nice car but neither of us loved it. I started thinking that for the same price we might be able to get into a new Cooper so I started looking into that.
For the 2017 model mini.ca was showing lease rates of 0.9%-1.5% and the residual was decent as well. So I checked every Mini dealer's inventory from Windsor east to find the best combination of six-speed manual, options, and colour. My wife preferred black to everything else so we settled on a nicely equipped one at Mini Mont-Royal. Did the whole deal over email. The rate of 0.9% that was showing on mini.ca turned out to be a glitch but the dealer was able to honour it (they had to kick $500 back to BMW Financial Services). I didn't get a huge discount but was able to get the payment down by about $33 which I consider to be pretty good.
The car is midnight black metallic over black leatherette. It has the following options:
- Essentials Package ($1300): Panoramic sunroof, heated seats, front and rear fog lights. Literally essential in my opinion.
- Loaded Package ($1200): Sport seats, auto climate control, Comfort Access, auto dimming mirror, rain sensor, auto headlights. Also a must even if just for the sport seats
- Wired Navigation Package ($1000): Includes a larger screen and nav
- 16" black "Victory Spoke" wheels ($200): My wife wanted these, I think they look good too
- electric front window defroster ($190): I was indifferent on this but it could be useful
- roof rails ($250): Thankfully they are subtle. We have no use for them
- Anthracite roofline ($250): I like the look of a dark headliner, it was one of our complaints about the Mazda3
- Park Distance Control ($500): Really not necessary on a car this size. Oh well.
- White turn signals ($100): Actually really like the look of these, worth the $100 IMO.
- metallic paint ($590): Of course there is only one colour that isn't extra cost
In total with freight and fees the MSRP was a bit over $30k. Not exactly cheap and if we were ordering the car we could have ditched some of the smaller items but I don't think it's unreasonable.
I still think that the R56 (second gen) Mini is the best looking of the new Minis but I think the F56 looks great, too. The front overhang is a touch long and awkward but other than that the proportions are nice. While I prefer real colours (there was a nice orange one in Moncton), my wife really likes black and I do agree that the all-black look without the contrasting roof and with black wheels and tint looks pretty sharp. I'm not thrilled about the chrome grille surround (you can actually spec a "style package" that adds more chrome to the front end) but chrome is a bit of a Mini thing with the door handles and the strip that runs around the base of the windows and the headlight rings so it might look awkward to black it out. Something to think about.
Getting behind the wheel, I'm always impressed with how much room there is for such a small car. Getting into my GTI this morning I definitely noticed more width but other than that I didn't notice any real difference. The sport seats are awesome and are a must-have in my books. With this generation Mini has turned down the quirkiness of the interior with a proper speedo in front of the driver rather than in the centre. There are some minor ergonomic issues though. The headlight switch is by your knee and actually is angled towards the floor which makes it tough to see. But with auto headlights that's not a big deal. The infotainment controller is a bit awkward as well since it is mounted low in front of the armrest. So if the armrest is in a high position it can be awkward to use. On the other hand, if the armrest is low, then the e-brake hits it. These are minor quibbles though.
The infotainment is quite nice. There's a 6.5" display standard with an 8.8" nav system optional, same as BMW. This is basically iDrive rebranded and reskinned and that's a good thing IMO. The system is very responsive - much better than the system in my GTI. The widescreen allows a split screen mode so you can see nav on one side and music info on the other, for example. It's very configurable. The touch controller allows you to spell letters for searching which actually works very well. I still need to play around with it to figure out all the functionality but overall it's a great system.
On to driving it... First of all, I'm super impressed with this little engine. It's not as fast as our old S but it's definitely quick and is not lacking in acceleration. 134 horsepower isn't a lot but combined with 162 lb/ft of torque and 2750 pounds it's more than adequate. The clutch is light and the gearbox is good too - maybe not quite as good as the GTI's but I can't complain. Cruising on I95 last night at 150 was effortless, and passing cars on twisty back roads wasn't an issue either.
One thing the car would greatly benefit from is a proper set of tires. Performance tires are a $50 option which to me is a no-brainer but very few are ordered that way. You can also opt for 17" wheels. The handling is good but the limits are relatively low, at least in the context of the GTI. No issues going fast but then you turn and you realize that the suspension is relatively soft and the tires lack grip. For the purpose of this car that's fine though. If it were my daily driver I wouldn't be okay with it but for my wife it will be fine. She likes good handling cars but she doesn't attack corners the way I do. The upside of this is that the ride is very smooth and compliant, and the car is very quiet. Definitely not a bad thing.
All in all, it's a fun little car with a nice premium feel. I think my wife is really going to enjoy it.
