MINI Cooper S Coupe

Finally, the fabled MINI Cooper Coupe made it’s way to Arizona after a brief stop in Sin City and a complete tour of California. Both of the dealers in the greater Phoenix area had it for display for a single day. Today it was at MINI of Tempe so I decided to check it out.

First and foremost, this car looks way better in person that any photo that I have seen. In person this MINI completely makes sense. The backwards-baseball cap roofline totally works. The spoilers make sense too. And the boot is amazingly large!

About the spoilers. Yes, there is an ‘s’ there because there are 2 of them. One of them is roof mounted and appears to be more than a spoiler. More like an air-flow channel that forces air down the rear window to be dealt with by the main spoiler mounted on the boot. After hearing Gabe talk about driving this car and how the spoiler works a a few shows back, I get it.

The interior is definitely different. It is odd to sit in a MINI without having any space behind you. Dare I say, I thought it felt a little cramped. Also, if you one of the taller folks out there (taller than 6’5"), good luck getting into this MINI. And if you are nearer to 6′, you will want to crank the seat to it’s lowest position or wear a helmet because you will hit your head on the roof.

I did find it odd that, in the midst of a big push toward manual transmissions, the car that MINI USA decided to show-off was equiped with an automatic transmission. Doesn’t matter if this is being driven or not, I just think it’s a little inconsistent with the message they are trying to convey.

Lots of "what do you think"s and "would you own one"s went around the group today. General consensus is that this is a pretty hot MINI, and everyone was pretty excited about it. Now, if it were only available in a color other than black, silver, silver, silver or green.

I liked it. Not sure I would own one since I do need a little more space most of the time than this MINI provides. But, for a second car, budget allowing, I would have this MINI in my driveway for sure!

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5 Comments

  1. I think this car is just awesome. I can’t wait to get the JCW that I have on order. My car is on the ship to California and should be setting sail anytime now. I’m just itching to take delivery of this car. It should turn a lot of heads.

  2. “In person this MINI completely makes sense.”

    Really, really good to read that. I’m still on the fence regarding the production Coupe (the blue concept I really like, however, as it somehow seems much more aggressive). Can’t wait to see it.

    @Pat, you are so right about it being a head-turner. Guessing you’ll be pretty busy answering questions about it :-)

  3. The more I think about this MINI the more I’m excited by it. In Cooper trim, I would have this as my daily driver without question!

    1. Congrats Tony! April is perfect too for MTTS, if you want to check out a whole bunch of other MINIs crossing the US.

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