MINI Cooper D 3-Door

Mich has been said about the MINI, much can still be said about the MINI and yet there will continue to be so much more left to be said about the MINI. It is undoubtedly the Brigitte Bardot of the automotive world, which is to say, it’s a veritable sex symbol. For those of you who aren’t really very familiar with classic cinema, Brigitte Bardot was one of the original sex symbols. The same can be said of the MINI. It’s as iconic a car as can possibly be. Men have had their knees buckled while many a woman has swooned at the sight of the MINI. Truly, if ever there was a sex symbol of the auto world, it would have to be the MINI. Not to mention the car’s amazing legacy. Its rise from rags to riches (it has transitioned from being a people’s car to a lifestyle statement) can be rivalled by few among its ilk. Naturally, when the opportunity to drive the latest iteration of this icon came along, it was a straight case of “give in to the temptation”.

Despite its origins as a super compact people’s car, the current MINI is anything but that. Yet, in spite of all its dimensional expansion, it continues to be as impractically incredible as ever. No, if you’re looking for a sensible car, the MINI should not figure on any page of any list that you might draw up. Now change that to a list of cars that make you smile every time you see them and transform the smile into a grin every time you get behind the wheel, then the MINI figures on every single page on that list of yours.

I mean, look at it. Those bug-eyed headlamps, that brilliant colour scheme and those fabulously contemporary yet classically MINI lines just make you fall in love with it. Even at standstill. And that’s just on the outside. Get inside and the cabin will titillate you with its pop-culture-inspired neon ambient lighting. Not to mention that massive round dial in the centre console that houses the infotainment system, which includes the sat nav. The leather seats wrap around the body to provide good all-round support and the steering wheel too is nice and meaty to grip. It’s best not to talk about in-cabin space since that is clearly not the MINI’s forte, especially given that the car has no pretensions to being practical. To be fair, though, you won’t really find space up front lacking. Nevertheless, don’t try putting anyone on the other side of adolescence in the rear. That’s pretty cramped. Also, please, please, do not think this is a five-seater hatchback. It isn’t. It can accommodate two adults (up front) and a couple of kids (at the rear).

Also, it’s advisable to take a couple of minutes to orientate yourself with the controls, for nothing in the MINI is where you expect it to be. Nor do the buttons look like those in any other car. For instance, the engine Start/Stop button is actually a red toggle switch in the middle of the centre console. It isn’t on the dash on either side of the steering wheel and it isn’t a big red or black button. Indeed, everything in the MINI seems ‘out of the box’. But there are some areas for improvement as well. For instance, I couldn’t fathom why the car couldn’t get a rear-view mirror with auto antiglare. The MINI’s continues to be a click-clack manual button operated one.

Start the engine, slot the auto transmission into D (for Drive) and the MINI pulls effortlessly from all sorts of speeds. The new 1.5-litre three-cylinder TwinPower Turbo diesel engine from BMW is a refined unit and doesn’t feel like a three-pot motor at all. In fact, if you haven’t read the spec sheet before a test-drive and come back thinking you’ve just driven a four-cylinder engine, you’re up for forgiveness. The engine is a capable unit and pulls the car cleanly with practically no lag. Acceleration is brisk and if that’s not what you like, you can either pace things up a bit or slow them down by selecting one of the three drive modes. The MINI engine offers a choice of three different ECU maps that can be filtered through at the press of a dash-mounted button, even on the go. Go for Sport if you fancy some racy driving or get into the Eco mode to save the planet. Default mode is Normal, which is sort of in between Sport and Eco. Needless to say, Sport is the most fun mode to drive in but then if you’re running through peak traffic, it’s best to save some petrol for later via the Eco mode. To help you save the planet, you also get the benefit of auto start/stop, which can be switched off. The only downside to the new engine is that it seems to have lost a little bit of the edgy punchiness of the old four-pot motor.

Handling continues to be impressive and the car feels planted at unpronounceable speeds. In fact, it’s planted enough for a team member to remark that it doesn’t feel like it’s doing more than 120 km/h. That was at a time when the speedo on the instrumentation and the heads-up display were telling me that velocities were slightly over 160 km/h. Now that’s a sign of a good handling car. Flick it into a bend at fairly ridiculous speeds and you will hear some tyre wail, but the car holds its line quite well and will safely see you through to the other side of the bend. Unfortunately, such dynamic abilities also come with a price. And in this case, the price you pay is with a slightly compromised ride quality even though the ride quality is actually much improved over the previous iteration of this iconic car. It’s not harsh but it’s definitely firm and you do feel bumps, ruts and pretty much all sorts of road shocks through your spine. It won’t give you a headache but they’re very much there.

Braking duties are, of course, handled by a four-disc set-up, which works very well. There’s enough bite, feel and progression for you not to put to use the mandatory ABS, EBD and other sorts of electronic wizardry. And, believe you me, there’s a lot of techno wizardry that goes into the car, courtesy BMW’s fab electronics department, all of which add up for a pleasant drive experience.

On the whole then, the MINI is a great car and certainly one that is a heap of fun. It may not be the most practical car and it’s definitely not the people’s car it had started life as, but it does tick several of the right boxes. It’s an attention-grabber par excellence and it’s tremendous fun to drive. Sadly, our government regulations (read import duties) are such that the car is priced out of its league per force. At over Rs 30 lakh, exshowroom, the MINI’s case is quite diluted. Even though it’s a brilliant product.