Category: Mini

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JCW MINI IS HOTTER THAN EVER

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Aussie Sir Jack Brabham and Pommie father and son Charles and John Cooper were major players in top level car racing for many years during the 1950s and ‘60s, with Brabham winning the F1 world championship in 1959 and 1960 driving Cooper cars. Sadly, none of them are with us anymore, but John’s son Mike Cooper is still involved in the road-going Minis that bear John Cooper’s name. The JCW – John Cooper Works – Minis have been the high-performance versions of the Mini range for many years and hold… Read more

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NEW-FOUND WELCOME AT THE DOOR FOR MINI LOVERS

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Not to labour the point too much, but many original Mini owners, their families and friends, while not exactly in their dotage, can be physically challenged getting into the back of a three-door hatchback. At the other end of the scale, young families with kids to accommodate in the rear seats face an awkward lift, especially with a squirming toddler or two. It makes sense, then, to ease both burdens by adding a couple of back doors. This Mini has done that with its latest hatchback, without subtracting from the… Read more

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2015 MINI COOPER D FIVE-DOOR HATCH REVIEW

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Mini purists have long since given up looking away when instructed, so a five-door Mini is just another in a long line of abominations that fill the internet with bile. But, when your arch-rivals have a five-door to pull in the punters, you have to compete on level terms or you lose customers and anger dealers who care nothing for history or internet forum rage. And so we now have a five door Mini hatch. Not the high-riding Countryman based on the old car, but a fresh, stretched version of… Read more

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MINI 2002 – 2014

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2005 Mini Cooper S Cabriolet

Launched to an amazed world in 1959 the Mini became a huge success worldwide as well as in Australia, with it being built in Sydney for years. It faded from the 1980s onwards though some variants were still being made overseas till the year 2000. The British motor industry was in serious trouble for many years and eventually BMW bought out major sections of the failing business – and decided to build an all-new Mini for the 21st century. Many believed it would be flash in the pan when launched… Read more

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GROWN-UP MINIS IN FAMILY WAY

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They were iconic times. I celebrated starting uni by purchasing my first pair of Levi jeans; my first Ben Sherman button-down-collar shirt; and the up-and-coming Rolling Stones headlined an all-nighter at Wembley Pool At the same time, Mini Coopers were buzzing around London leaving behind the titillating odour of cooking Castrol R. More than a whiff of nostalgia came back recently when Mini introduced its first five-door hatchback to complement the three-door variant of the third generation iconic car. Known for more than half a century for its agile handling… Read more

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MINI LIFTS THE HATCH ON ALL-ROUND GAINS

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Trim, taut and terrific: okay, that’s old hat, but nothing could better describe the new Mini Cooper. A member of the 2014 Mini Hatch family, the Cooper, carries the famous name with aplomb. The new hatchback comes in three versions – Cooper, Cooper D and Cooper S – with the choice of two petrol (three and four-cylinder) and one diesel engine (three-cylinder) attached to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. The new Mini Hatch has its ups and downs . . . in the nicest possible way. It… Read more

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2014 MINI COOPER S REVIEW

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Introducing a car as well-known as the Mini Cooper S brings back images of twin-tank bricks-on-wheels sliding across the top of Mount Panorama or slithering down the Col de Turini. With the all-new model Mini has come a new, beefed up Cooper S, powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four cylinder. Which is one cylinder and a half-litre up on the three-cylinder Cooper, not to mention a $10,000 price increase. VALUE The Mini range starts at $24,500 for the manual 1.2-litre turbo One. Our road test car, the Cooper S, starts… Read more

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STRETCHED MINI COMING

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Minis are becoming more maxi by the day. Which is no bad thing, those who love the cheeky styling of the original BMW Mini, but need more than two seats will be pleased to hear that a stretched five-door Mini is on the way. The current three-door Mini is almost coupe-like in that it’s all a bit squeezy in the back seat if you shovel adults in there. It’s not just the Mini body that’s bigger, the wheelbase is what counts when it comes to interior space, in the Mini… Read more

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NEW MINI WORKS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL

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Designing a new Mini isn’t easy. As with the Porsche 911, Fiat 500 and VW Beetle, a new Mini must not stray too far from the original. Yet it’s also required to be different enough to make buyers fall in love with it so they desperately want to hand over their hard-earned and stay at the head of the automotive fashion scene. Bigger, and definitely better, than ever before, the fourth generation (if you count the 1959 original as the first) Mini is smoother, quieter, cleaner and safer – but… Read more

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MINI 2002-2013

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Despite sceptics having serious doubts about the new Mini when it was launched in the UK and Europe 2001, it has been a big success. It arrived downunder in March 2002 and local car enthusiasts immediately joined in the fun. Fun, which has continued to this day, has been further enlivened by the fact that an all-new model is due this year. Meaning that quite a few older Minis will appear on the used-car scene as fashion conscious owners want to trade up. If there is a flood of used… Read more