Archive for category Mini Cooper

An Insight to the Mini Cooper Vehicles

Posted by admin in Mini Cooper on June 2, 2011

The latest generation Mini cooper launched in 2009. It is a high performance sporty car. The Mini cooper is designed in two different body styles – the hatchbacks and the convertibles. The trademark features of the Cooper cars include two rear barn doors with a rear hinged half door art of the passenger side front door. So, let us take a closer look at the Mini Cooper models.

All Coopers are equipped with 1.6 liter with 4 cylinder engine along with base hatchbacks, convertibles and Clubmans that have 118 hp-130hp throughput. The Mini Cooper S models have superior performance, capable of producing 172 hp with turbocharged engine.

Manual as well as Automatic transmission with 6 speeds is made available in all Coopers. John Cooper is one of the new models, which comes with a 208 hp version of the turbocharged engine, 6 speed manual transmission, high performance disk brakes, specific tuning with a performance suspension, and 17 inch wheels.

The safety features offered in the vehicle include an antiskid system with traction control on all models, ABS, Front side airbag and curtain side air-bags. Head and torso protection with pop-up rear roll bar can be, and power fabric top with a heated glass rear window along with a sunproof mode that opens the top portion of vehicle above the front seats, is available with the convertibles.

On all models a wireless cell phone connection is available, while some of the advanced features are available only on particular variants. As a whole, the Mini Cooper models have been quite convincing and hence quite successful in the market. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Mini Cooper S – A Turbo Go Kart

Posted by admin in Mini Cooper on June 2, 2011

Remember when you went go carting as a kid and went whipping around the track? It was a blast, wasn’t it? Well, the Mini Cooper offers an opportunity to relive those days as an adult and on the wide open road.

The Mini Cooper comes in a couple of different versions. The Mini Cooper is the basic version with a normally aspirated engine. The Cooper S is a turbo charged version of the car that comes with an optional sport suspension. There is also a high end performance version called the “John Cooper Works” that is really high performance, but we will stick with the “S” for this article.

The first thing you notice about the Cooper is how roomy it is. Despite appearing small from the outside, the car is fairly spartan inside, which gives you a lot of room. The only serious inconvenience is you tend to sit a bit high in the seat. Why does this matter? When you pull up to a light, you often have to lean forward to see it if you are first in line. It is just one of those oddities you will notice about the Cooper.

For performance, the Mini Cooper S is hard to beat. It handles like a go cart. You can fly around corners and circular onramps with the only limitation being how brave you are. The car simply runs like a train on rails. Whatever you have heard about the handling being good is an understatement.

Acceleration with the Mini is a mixed bag. You can manually switch between normal and sport options with the flick of a switch by the shifter. The non-sport options is okay, but not great. With the automatic transmission, it has the typical lag between when you press the gas pedal and the car reacts. Flip on the sport option, however, and the process is seamless.

One of the fun options with the Mini is the steering wheel shifter. Depending on the model you have, the automatic transmission can be switched to a manual transmission. The gear shifters are found on the interior of the steering wheel and you can fire up and down the gears like with an Indy or Formula One car. Driving this way is a good bit of fun. Read the rest of this entry »

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