2009 Mini Cooper S

The MINI has come a long way. Many of you may remember that the initial release of the MINI was welcomed with warm arms and words of praise, but those words of praise started to disappear quickly when daily driveability was affected by normal wear and tear and high ambient temperatures and heat soak. The 2009 MINI Cooper S goes a long way to rectify those problems, but make some more. Evolution I suppose has it's ups and downs.

First, the turbocharged four cylinder engine is words better than it's previous supercharged older brother. Before sloppy and poor throttle response lead to awkward slow speed driving and a lack of umph at anything below 4000rpm due to the supercharger using up more power than it's making. The new turbocharged motor does away with all of that. Throttle response is greatly improved and torque from slow engine speeds is readily available now. You no longer have to wind it out to make it go.

Handling is still superb, pushes in the wheels to the corners is a receipe for go kart like handling and nimbleness on a scale to which other cars barely make it to the halfway mark. The suspension is firm, maybe too firm for some, but for the enthusiast it's just right. You feel the road and you know exactly what is going on. Bodyroll is not excessive, but enough to let you know you are pushing your limits. The handling is fairly neutral with a hint of understeer when you get in over your head. Oversteer is available though if you know what you are doing and wish to rotate the car through a corner with lift throttle oversteer.

Unfortunately, the MINI is still front wheel drive, but due to some advanced suspension geometry, putting all that power down results in minimal torque steer. The traction control does a wonderful job pushing power to the other side to help balance your intended direction when too much power tries to find it's way out of one tire. However, the tight packaging of the engine and front wheel driving configuration leave lots of room for the rear of the car and passengers without awkward driveshafts taking up valuable floor space.

The interior of the car is where evolution goes a bit in the wrong direction. Everything on the interior gets bigger. The center mounted speedometer is now a good 20-25% larger than the previous generation making it awkwardly huge. There is no hiding how fast you are going from your passengers... or for that matter, the people behind or next to you that can see through your windows. I'd be willing to bet satellites from space could see this large speedometer if they wanted to.

Toggle switches remain the way of doing business in the cabin, but an awkwardly places knob on the speedometer and one below often confuse people as to which one to turn to adjust the volume knob. Best to just remove the knob and use the buttons on the steering wheel anyway. This way your passenger can't interfere with your musical selection.

For a resonable price, a MINI can be yours with all the bells and whistles of a much more expensive car. Dare I say it ... it's a premium priced vehicle in a MINI package and a MINI price.