The Mini has been my driving tuition car since the 1st of September and has now covered just under 12,000 miles. It replaced my 55 plate Fabia vRS. Thought I would give a bit of a long term review / update on how it is going.

I bought the Mini hoping that it would save me fuel money and for the most part, it has been pretty much as expected. Fuel economy seems to hover around the 55mpg area for general teaching. On the busiest and coldest of days with lots of manoeuvres and traffic, it will dip to 53mpg, on a day with cruising around doing a lot of A road and open road work it can average 57mpg. Compared to the Fabia this represents around 22% improvement on fuel, but given that on those manoeuvre / traffic days where the Fabia would really drink it, the difference is even greater. Comparing fuel use over the same period last year, I should save around 340 gallons a year, or around £1600 per year. This difference should cover the extra cost of the car over the time I own it. Only place the fuel consumption moves away from these averages is on long journeys. Driving to maximise economy and staying strictly within speed limits, I have seen 71mpg on a journey out to Norwich, the Fabia would have made around 53mpg on the same journey. On the other hand a late night strop over 200 miles at a bit of a pace dropped the economy to 43mpg average, here he Fabia would have managed 49mpg or so. Generally, longer journeys seem to average out to 64mpg. All figures as measured brimming the tank, the trip is about 1.5mpg optimistic.

As a customer draw, the car is working really well. I have had more people stop me and ask for a business card in 3 months than in all the time I had the Fabia. Also seem to retain more customers.

So driving it? Well obviously, compared to the mapped Fabia, it feels very slow. The engine was pretty useless above 3000rpm, but as the miles have piled on the engine has loosened up and now revs out pretty well for a diesel. You do not get the big midrange shove of the PD engines, but you do get a better rev band. I would guess that taking weight into account, the car accelerates similarly to a stock Fabia vRS. Engine noise is “lighter” than the Fabia, with more high frequency noise, less low frequency. On the motorway, the Fabia was a bit quieter under the bonnet, but had more tyre noise to make up for that, so about the same.

Comfort is acceptable. The seats are not quite as good as the vRS seats in the Fabia, but it is still a car you can go a long way in without discomfort. I have done many 12 hour days with no issues and a few 450 mile round trips too.

Handling and ride are set for a firm but never harsh compromise. The one thing I always felt wrong with the Fabia vRS was how it could feel both too soft and too harsh at the same time. It always felt like the damping was too weak for the springs. The Mini is a demonstration of how to do it right. The car is on 195/55 R16 Runfltats (Goodyear Excellence) and the ride is firm but it seems to soak up ruts and ridges that would catch the Fabia out. There is some degree of wheel patter on really broken surfaces that can let the car move across the surface, but this is no worse than many other cars. The combination of very direct steering, short wheelbase, good weight distribution and a sporting geometry add up to a very nimble and agile car. Steering has really good turn in, understeer is only available if you intentionally induce it. Otherwise the front end dives for the apex as hard as you want it to. There is so much front end grip that it is always possible to unstick the rear end to set up exactly the angle of slip you want. The car can be held in a lovely drift through bends with no drama. Transitions are handled in one crisp and perfectly damped motion, the car just settles where you want it, rebound damping is absolutely spot on. Mid corner bumps are shrugged off easily. Wet weather shows a very high level of grip from the Goodyears. They are excellent in dry, damp and wet conditions, the only proviso being they do not have much void area so do not cope as well as something like Toyo T1R in deeper standing water at speed. The car is fitted with dynamic stability control (DSC). This is a pretty good system that is triggered by rate of rotation rather than angle. You can get very sideways if you build it up gently, but try snapping the car into oversteer and the system cuts the slide pretty brutally, snapping the car back to where the steering is pointing. Switch it off and the car does as expected given the short wheelbase. Tricky, but malleable. The only fly in the handling ointment is steering feel. The weighting seems to be giving you good feedback, weight going up with corner force, but this is “false” information, it feels like there is lots of grip even when it is plain from the slide you are in that there is not. I presume this is the electro-hydraulic systems only way of generating feedback, but it does feel a bit artificial sometimes. Still, having said that, you get more idea of what is happening up front than the Fabia ever provided. Pedals are perfectly positioned and weighted.

The interior is a bit odd. Sort of Toys R Us, but it has grown on me. The less than intuitive minor switchgear learned, it all works well and the general ambience is pleasant. I even like the rather frivolous mood lighting. Set it at the orange end, it blends all of the centre console features together nicely at night. Set to the blue end, the various elements of the centre console seem to float. Rattles have been fewer than with the Fabia interior. There is an occasionally irritating rattle from behind the rev counter somewhere and a slight tizz from the door top trim on both sides sometimes, but otherwise it all seems nicely screwed together.

So far so good then. It is due its first service next week.

Chris

A good write up Chris. Seems like a quality product and those MPG figure are amazing to someone who drives a petrol vRS. Looking at when you posted, do you suffer from insomnia?

I am impressed with the little Cooper D's, and I'm glad its worked out for you.

Having fun keeping the wheels clean??

So whats the range on the tank then?? Comparable to the Fabia?

A nice write Chris, and it looks like the car will serve you better than you thought

A good write up Chris. Seems like a quality product and those MPG figure are amazing to someone who drives a petrol vRS. Looking at when you posted, do you suffer from insomnia?

Been working on a project lately ( http://briskoda.net/roadside-hotel/smug-mode-job-related/128662/ )and have been up to 2 or 3 in the morning working for the last few months. Got the company through on the 4th and 5th, but now don't feel tired until late. Always been a night crawler anyway.

I am impressed with the little Cooper D's, and I'm glad its worked out for you.

Having fun keeping the wheels clean??

So whats the range on the tank then?? Comparable to the Fabia?

Wheels are no problem since 2 coats of Collinite 476S were applied. Wipe clean.

Range wise, on average, I get exactly the same range as the Fabia gave me. On a long journey with a light right foot I can get a theoretical 540 - 580 miles from 38L.

Chris

Always enjoy your car reviews Chris. Even though the mini appeals to me in no way whatsoever it's still interesting to read how it compares to the Fab

What would a remap do? Is there much to be gained or not?

Good review!!

What would a remap do? Is there much to be gained or not?

General thinking is that you see reasonable gains, however, this thing is not engineered like a Fabia vRS, so I am not going to have it mapped. I believe around 220lb/ft and 145bhp are quoted. I also have a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) which wont help. Am keeping it standard apart from the Philips Xtreme vision headlight bulbs.

Speaking of the DPF, the inside of the tailpipe is still clean metal. Absolutely no soot whatsoever.

Chris

What would a remap do? Is there much to be gained or not?

Yes, we tune alot of these for the Mini2 forum members.

With the P-Torque software we are seeing approx 139bhp

Check out www.mini2.com and you can find a few P-Torque'd customer review on both the Cooper D and Cooper S turbo

Nice write-up again Chris

Good to hear it's proving fit for purpose

Steve

Yes, we tune alot of these for the Mini2 forum members.

With the P-Torque software we are seeing approx 139bhp

Check out www.mini2.com and you can find a few P-Torque'd customer review on both the Cooper D and Cooper S turbo

I had read about the Ptorque conversions, but it is still very early days to know what sort of issues may arise. With the Fabia, there was lots of info on how well the remapped cars were holding up long term (I put 122,000 miles on the Fabia in less than 3 years).

Other thing is the insurance. For instructors, they are really not keen on modded cars, even less so now.

I am leaving it stock. It will never be fast, but it is a grin in the twistys.

Chris

I had read about the Ptorque conversions, but it is still very early days to know what sort of issues may arise. With the Fabia, there was lots of info on how well the remapped cars were holding up long term (I put 122,000 miles on the Fabia in less than 3 years).

Other thing is the insurance. For instructors, they are really not keen on modded cars, even less so now.

I am leaving it stock. It will never be fast, but it is a grin in the twistys.

Chris

Hi Chris

They are great around corners

They will hold up fine we have carried out alot of tests, and have a partner company who has run a Cooper D for over 1 year now, and 51,000 miles

Enjoy chucking it about