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★★★★☆

“IMHO the Mini Cooper S is the most fun I've had in a...”

written by GoldenJoystick on 08/01/2005

Good Points
Acceleration
Drivability
Looks

Bad Points
Noisy power steering at low speeds
Brakes are a bit funky on ice/snow (anyone else noticed this?)

General Comments
IMHO the Mini Cooper S is the most fun I've had in a hot hatch since the R5 Turbo.



Very solid build, brisk accleration from 0-90, u can almost get 50mph out of 1st gear if you ask it nicely!



I did a lot of research before buying this car and was confused at the varying perfomance stats from mags/websites claiming 0-60's from 7.8-6.9.

The mini drivers manual states 7.4 seconds & i'd have to say I agree when comparing it to other cars i've had the pleasure of racing - ibiza cupra 2.0T, focus st170, celica VVTi, sunny GTi, modded peugot 205 1.9 GTi - all fell victim to the wail of the supercharger!!



I've had my mini for over a year now and decided to take it down to the chaps at BBR in brackley (www.bbrgti.com) for an engine re-map. £350 was paid to take the mini from 163bhp to 181bhp. I had a grin-on all the way home! BBR claims it has knocked 0.5 of the 0-60 taking it down to 6.9. I intend to get the mini dyno tested to see if this is true.



The stock mini cooper s seems to lose a lot of its grunt from 90mph onwards but with the re-map it keeps on pulling up to 120mph! The increased throttle response is noticeable too, and the fact that you are constantly doing 5-10mph more than you thought you were will take some getting used to!



My mini's on 16s, many reviews have said that this set up affords the best handling so thats what I went for. The 17s look nice but if it makes the car slower & handle worse why bother? These cars are primarily about performance so go for the 16s, you wont be dissapointed when it comes to the crunch!



I'll be upgrading to the BBR Phase 1 conversion later this year & will let you peeps know how it goes. 220bhp & a claimed 0-60 of around 6 seconds. Bye bye clios ;)

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