Mini has the tendency to make quirky cool. And, from the Union Jack that can be painted on the roof to the large speedometer appearing on the center stack that inspires back-seat drivers everywhere, there’s a plethora of quirk in a Mini Cooper.
The newest tool in the cool box: the Openometer. This gauge shows up behind the steering wheel on the 2009 Mini Cooper Convertible and displays the amount of time you drive around topless. Well, not you personally, but the car.
I noticed this clocklike gauge immediately when I put my top down. But I was stumped by its purpose until my friend Kristin and her husband, Mike, owners of a red Mini Cooper S, clued me in. When I looked at them quizzically, Mike explained that Mini owners have competitions about how long they drive around with their tops down. So the Openometer cues bragging rights for going topless.
I didn’t quite get the point. So Mike tried to draw an analogy between the Openometer and the bud vase in the Volkswagen New Beetle. I don’t get that either. Finally, he just explained it simply: It’s a Mini thing.
Of all the tracks Mike tried, that was the one that made sense. Coincidentally, I logged more than three hours of topless driving during the test week. Well, the car, not me personally.
The test vehicle was a Mini Cooper S Convertible, which has a base price of $27,450. This includes standard features such as anti-lock brakes, one-touch up/down windows, split and folding rears seats, tilt/telescoping steering wheel and a convertible soft top with a sunroof function. Personally, I don’t think that’s an awful lot for nearly $30,000. At the very least, I’d expect standard leather seats.
The test vehicle added $6,000 in options, and that put it in the arena of what I’d call a comfortable car. The extras include Dark Silver metallic paint ($500), Punch Carbon Black leather seats ($1,500), cold weather package ($500), premium package ($1,250), sport package ($1,500), 17-inch web spoke alloy wheels ($500) and rear park distance control ($500).
Notice this doesn’t include an automatic transmission. Want one of those, too, and you’ll add an additional $1,250.
The Mini comes in plain Cooper and Cooper S designations, and other than a $3,000 difference, there’s also a matter of horsepower – 54 horsepower to be exact. The Cooper comes with a 118-horsepower inline four-cylinder engine; the Cooper S adds a 172-horsepower turbo. Even with the massive difference in power, the city/highway mileage estimates are really decent for both Cooper and Cooper S. Obviously the Cooper will ring in with better estimates, but surprisingly not by much. You’ve got 28/36 mpg in the Cooper versus 26/34 mpg for the Cooper S.
The petite size of the Mini Cooper combined with the turbocharged four-cylinder engine in the test vehicle made this car incredibly fun to fling around. Plus, it was just all-around easy to drive because it was maneuverable in tight Chicago spaces. Add in the convertible top and some nice weather, and you have a recipe guaranteed to make you smile.
I really like the sunroof function on the convertible. Basically, the canvas top draws back just enough to give some open air without the full effect. Be warned, however, the wind noise with the sunroof is almost worse than it is with the top fully down.
The only downside to the convertible as far as I could see (or not see as the case may be) was the canvas black hole created by the convertible top itself. With the top up, there are some huge blind spots over the right and left shoulder, which means you have to be extra vigilant before changing lanes. What I didn’t expect, however, was the black hole created by the top when it was in the down position. The top just doesn’t seem to go down all the way, which makes visibility out the rear view mirror a bit difficult.
Something else I noticed that is inherent to a rag top: road noise. It was definitely noticeable on the highway, and there were several times that I could hear wind rushing into the cabin – like I hadn’t closed a window. But after checking and rechecking, that wasn’t the case. Plus, since we had some blinding rain during the test period I know the seals were solid as no water trickled in.
Convertible top aside, the actual ride is on the sporty side of the spectrum. Steering is responsive, and the Mini is adept on a racetrack. However, the tight performance suspension and small size of the Mini makes for a pretty rough ride over Chicago potholes.
I should also note that I still had a small difficulty with the whole reverse thing. The Mini manual transmission has a bit of a notch that you have to muscle your way through as you moved left to the reverse gear. I don’t know if it’s my seating position or my wimpy bicep, but I had to either use two hands or lean forward to get some extra torque with the maneuver.
At least Kristin didn’t laugh hysterically at me this time. Nope, she simply looked at me, shrugged and said, “I wasn’t going to say anything.”
Regardless of my issues with reverse and the canvas top, I have no problem recommending the Mini Cooper S Convertible as a must-test if you’re looking for a convertible. Mostly it’s because this is a darn fun car to drive. But it’s also because the Mini is a great city car that parks and drives well in Chicago.
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