EVO prueba el nuevo MINI Cooper S

2014 Mini Cooper S review
Rating:


The third-generation BMW Mini is bigger, faster and lighter - but can it match the character of its predecessors?
By Mike Duff
February 2014

What is it?

The all-new, third-generation BMW-built Mini, sampled here in range-topping Cooper S form. Don’t be fooled by the familiar looks, the new car sits on an all-new platform and is both bigger and lighter than its predecessors. All versions are turbocharged, and while more basic versions now use a 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine, the full-on Cooper S has an equally fresh 2-litre four-cylinder turbo engine, producing 189bhp and 206 lb-ft of torque. We drove a car fitted with the optional six-speed automatic gearbox, meaning an unoptioned price of £20,150. The car will be going on sale in the UK in the late spring.

Technical highlights?

You only need to look at the new Mini to know that it’s (slightly) different – it looks chubbier than either of its predecessors, and has gained some serious front overhang. The upshot is that it’s also become more usable than the last hatch, with a noticeable improvement in rear seat space and a boot that’s either slightly larger, or no longer so comically small, depending on your point of view. The Cooper S sits on 16-inch wheels as standard, but our test car rode on the optional 17s.

Mechanically, the new Mini breaks little new ground, sticking closely to the recipe established by its predecessor – for innovation in the range look to the three-cylinder engine of the lesser models. Suspension is still by struts at the front and a proper multi-link at the rear instead of the far simpler beam axles fitted to rivals. Everything has been firmed up, with the links front and rear using more high-strength steel, and there’s also slightly more suspension travel than before. Switchable active dampers have become an option for the first time, and although the Cooper S does without a limited-slip differential, it does try to replicate locking by using the ABS system when the front struggles for traction.

The new engine is basically a transverse version of the 2-litre turbo unit that we’ve already seen in the BMW 1-, 3- and 5-series, although in a relatively relaxed state of tune that shows there’s plenty of headroom for the more powerful Minis that will inevitably follow. It’s a modular powerplant that shares its cylinder capacity and bore centres with the new 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine of the Cooper, and also BMW’s 3-litre six-cylinder powerplants.

As you’d expect, the new Mini is considerably greener than its predecessor – the Cooper S’s CO2 emissions have fallen to just 125 g/km with the optional autobox. It’s also cleverer, with Mini making great play of the number of BMW active safety systems that can be fitted to the car, and a high level of interactivity including various apps and even – sigh - the ability to integrate with social media.

How does it drive?

Pretty much as you’d expect – a slightly faster, slightly grippier version of the last Mini. We drove the Cooper S in Puerto Rico, which turned out not to be the Caribbean driving paradise that we’d been hoping for. On the plus side, the island’s tight, bumpy roads gave a good impression of how the car will cope when asked to deal with the UK.

First impressions are that it feels very firm. The car we drove didn’t have the optional active dampers, but it was riding on upgraded 17-inch wheels (although without run-flat tyres) and these transmitted all of the road’s many imperfections straight to the cabin. At lower speeds it’s bordering on being uncomfortable, but travelling more quickly actually improves matters with the chassis gaining some pliancy, and demonstrating impressive body control.

The rest of the driving experience is very familiar. The new car’s electric power steering system is quicker to react than the old one’s, and there’s a noticeable increase in front-end grip, but the keen responses stay the same, as does the nicely-poised balance between the grip offered by the front and rear ends. Find a wide corner and turn the stability control off and the Mini can still be persuaded to tighten its line aggressively on a lifted throttle. It’s not as hard-edged as some of its hot hatch rivals, and ultimately the lack of a proper limited-slip diff at the front limits traction. But it’s certainly a very strong base for the John Cooper Works and Works GP versions that will follow to build on.

The new engine is a winner, too, markedly better than the old Cooper S’s 1.6-litre turbo. The bigger engine has both more linear responses and deeper lungs. The breadth of the range at which peak torque is available (from 1250 rpm to 4750 rpm) gives a good indication of the engine’s flexibility and everyday drivability. But the good news is that this doesn’t turn the Cooper S into some quasi-diesel – it still enjoys being revved hard and, in its selectable ‘Sport’ mode, it even puts a few pops and crackles into the exhaust note on over-run.

Avoid the automatic gearbox, though. It’s slow to respond to manual over-rides and defaults to changing up as soon as possible in ‘Drive’, or trying to buzz the engine if switched to ‘Sport’. The manual box is definitely the one to have.

How does it compare?

Extremely well, whatever you compare it to. The manual-gearbox Cooper S costs £18,650 – a £465 increase on the old car, but considerably cheaper than either the Renault Clio R.S. or Peugeot 208 GTI. The Ford Fiesta ST is cheaper, but has less power in standard form, and is unlikely to be able to match the Mini’s appeal to the fashionistas.

Of course, being a BMW product, it’s possible to spec the new Mini to bizarre heights. Tick too many options and you can get the price north of £30K.

But don’t fall into the trap of thinking the new Mini’s inevitable sales success means it’s not a proper drivers’ car, because it is.

Anything else I should know?

The quality of interior trim has been improved markedly over the outgoing ‘R56’ Mini, and the new car’s cabin ergonomics are far better – the speedometer now sits behind the steering wheel in all versions, and the electric window switches are on the doors rather than the centre console. It’s not perfect, though – the point-and-click controller for the interactive systems is positioned so it’s almost impossible for the driver to use with the handbrake on.

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/291730/2014_mini_cooper_s_review.html

 

De primeras los faros "triste" que le habían puesto no me llamaban pero sin duda tiene algo que me gusta.

Buenos motores un producto bien vendido con un carácter compacto pero diferente a la competencia, asequible en precio....

Tiene buenos ingredientes

 

Como bien dicen, lleva el 2.0 turbo 'destuneado', vamos, que seguro que es agradecido a los chispazos.

¡Me gusta!

 

A mí el que me gusta es el R53, con su compresor (aunque gaste) y su estética interior y exterior.
Algunas veces el diablo me tienta ....:ROFLMAO:

 

Delantera???





No, Gracias!

 

Car and Driver: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-mini-cooper-cooper-s-hardtop-first-drive-review

Tmbién lo ponen muy bien.

2014 Mini Cooper / Cooper S Hardtop
Growing—and maturing—in the right ways.

• February 2014
• BY AARON ROBINSON

Age and maturity usually go hand in hand, though not always in divorce court. The Mini Cooper and Cooper S hit their third generation as slightly larger and somewhat less fitfully childish fashion accessories. The Mini as a whole has more comforts, more features, more inches here and there, and more presence and security on the road, even the chuck-holed goat paths of tropical Puerto Rico where Mini decided to launch the car.

Why does the Mini grow when smallness is so directly evoked by the brand name? Some of the credi—or blame, depending on your perspective—goes to the new front-drive UKL platform that the new Mini will share with a full phylum of vehicles coming from Mini, BMW, and maybe even Rolls-Royce (no, not really). The Cooper and Cooper S are the smallest of the UKL derivatives, we’re told, so its size increase is something of a compromise made unavoidable by the future Minis and BMWs that will use the architecture.



Not that the new Mini has gotten grotesquely larger. Its extra 1.1 inches in wheelbase and 4.5 inches and 1.7 inches in overall length and width still make it shorter than the current Honda Fit, if slightly wider. With the styling, Mini sticks to its heritage as if glued by J-B Weld, and even those who profess to know cars will have trouble picking out the new model. Basically, the styling is laid further back, the nose and wind-blown ellipses for headlights cooling off the in-your-face pug-nose look of the previous car. The mullet-fish eyes of the new, LED-ringed headlights and the enlarged, fully ovoid grille strongly evoke the Mini Rocketman concept of a few years ago. This is the German design team’s idea of an incremental modernization without a serious tampering of the Mini look. Where it goes from here is anybody’s guess. Retooling a Mini may be the worst job in car design, right up there with redesigning the Porsche 911.

New Hearts

The technical highlights of Mini 3.0 include two new engines that are part of a modular family of BMW-designed and assembled inline mills that range from the 1.5-liter turbo three-cylinder in the base Cooper to the 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder in the Cooper S. (A 3.0-liter inline-six will be spun off for BMW’s use soon). If the displacement increments seem to have a cadence, it’s because the various cast-aluminum engines are just stackings of a standardized 500-cc cylinder and combustion chamber. All feature the same 82-mm bore and 94.6-mm stroke, plasma-sprayed cylinder liners, direct injection, and Valvetronic throttle-less airflow control.

We were most keen to drive the base Cooper with its new, 134-hp three-holer. With a base price of $20,745, Mini’s starting point increases just $250 over the 2013 model. However, U.S.-spec cars are expected to have a curb weight gain of 60 to 90 pounds, to around 2700 pounds, thanks in part to a pair of new knee airbags, some strengthening of the C-pillar for crash standards, and extra foam in the front bumper. So this small engine, with its 162 lb-ft of torque, has its work cut out.



Embraced by a six-speed manual (a conventional planetary-gear six-speed auto is also available), our little sample car needed a lot of throttle to keep it going up the grades into Puerto Rico’s highlands. The gearing is deep in first but rapidly stretches out for fuel economy, so if you go for third at the wrong moment, the engine seems to fall out the bottom and roll back down the hill. Even on the flat, acceleration is never what you’d call thrilling, although the engine with its single-scroll turbo never sounds bad or labored. Mini claims a 0-to-60-mph time of 7.3 seconds, a figure we greatly look forward to attempting to verify.

If you don’t mind the lack of scoot, or the lack of clutch feel on the manual, which can make the three-cylinder easy to stall at low speeds, you will get frugal operation. Mini is stating a preliminary EPA rating of 30 mpg city/42 highway. If you’re a hard driver, expect its economy to be worse as you work over the engine. In fact, you may do better on gas mileage with the $24,395 Cooper S, as its 2.0-liter, 189-hp four gives it preliminary ratings of 28/40, very close to those of the base engine. A bigger engine working less hard can often achieve better economy than a smaller engine winding its lungs out

More Mature, But Still Fun

The basic suspension configuration of struts up front and multi-links in back remains the same, although Mini has done some work to address one of the big complaints about the previous car: road noise. Redesigning the strut hats in front means less impact shock and road thrum makes it into the body. In back, stiffer links are intended to reduce suspension flex and thus sharpen the steering response. Overall, the new UKL structure is rock rigid and vibration free, which bodes well for the front-wheel-drive BMW models that will soon be using it.

At 14.2:1, the steering ratio remains unchanged and still has the hyperkinetic alertness for which Mini is famous, although its not quite the twitchy hunting dog the original new Mini was. Maturity means being able to stay within freeway lanes without having to put in continuous corrections, but the Mini still veers toward an apex with more enthusiasm than most new cars.



All the suspension work is evident in both the Cooper and Cooper S as the cars bounced over Puerto Rico’s mottled pavement. A sharp bang was heard when the wheels fell into deep holes, especially on the S with its 16-inch wheels and 55-series tires, but making cell-phone calls will definitely be easier in the new, quieter Mini. The S gets a $500 optional shock absorber that in Sport mode (which is advertised on the center screen as giving the car “maximum go-kart feel”) takes suspension stiffness closer to the John Cooper Works setting. (And, yes, a JCW version of this car is coming.) In Mid mode it relaxes some, and becomes softest in the eco-minded Green mode, but the S’s ride never settles down completely.

The upgraded materials of the new interior, including more soft-touch panels on the dash and doors, takes the tactical feel up a notch while dimming down the blinding design glare of the old car. It’s the same feeling you get when somebody turns down a stereo just enough to make you realize your ears were hurting.

The giant center speedo is gone, the gauges moved over to the steering column and backed up by an optional head-up display that has a small screen motor out of the dash top on startup. Where the speedo used to be is a multicolor TFT screen—in a circle, natch—of 6.0 or 8.8 inches, depending on the trim level. The old control joystick between the seats is gone because customers thought it was insubstantial. In its place is a large circular knob that twists, slides, and pushes to control the screen-based functions, including the newly available suite of driver-assistance systems.



The screen itself is ringed by jukebox-like strip of LED lights that glow various shades of red, green, and yellow depending on the car’s driving mode or what button you’re pushing. Refugees from the 1980s will recall Doctor Theopolis, the talking dinner plate from the old Buck Rogers TV show. Instead of a start button, there’s a toggle switch just below Dr. Theo that glows red when you push it.

Slightly larger, better upholstered, a bit more secure, and a bit less fitful on the road, the Mini is growing up. Luckily, it’s not growing that much more expensive as well. The base Cooper with its miniature engine has “first car” written all over it, while the Cooper S retains the feeling of upscale spunk we associate with Mini

 

Me molan mucho los mini,y el nuevo modelo con el 2.0 más aún.
El jcw puede ser la caña como tenga un incremento de cvs con respecto a su predecesor.Y a este 2.0 240cv más que fácil.Otra cosa es que lo hagan.

 

Me gusta y mucho!!!