Test Drive: 2012 Mini Cooper S Coupe

By Kevin Harrison

For my very first job I had the distinction of being recognized as an artist. Hold your astonished acclaim for me because I was the type of artist that had their title sown onto their shirt. That’s right, according to Subway, I was indeed a ‘Sandwich Artist’.

It was by no means a job I’d recommend to anyone, but it worked well for a gawky teenager still in high school – I didn’t come home with french fry grease all over me for instance, just the undesirable smell of onions and pickles. But I did meet a lot of interesting characters, not least of which was a regular who came by every day for lunch.

This woman intrigued me because at no point during my sandwich artist days was I ever able to figure her out, mainly because of what she always ordered.

She always requested a footlong veggie and, believe it or not, all she got on it was cheese, extra mayo and about half our container of olives. That’s it. My fellow sandwich artists would always be disgusted by her order, but I was just more dumbfounded. Why would anyone get just one toping when you can get unlimited topings at no extra cost?

This happens from time to time in the car world too and BMW has lately dabbled in the same sort of puzzling territory. When the X6 first debuted my immediate thought was why would someone want a less practical more expensive X5?

And now they’ve gone and done it again with their Mini brand with the Cooper coupe. Why would anyone want a less practical more expensive Mini? I drove one to find out.

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Canadian Fashion Designers Present “Red Mudder” Mini Cooper S

This is apparently what you get when you have two Canadian fashion designers and tell them to make something of a Mini Cooper S. Dan and Dean Caten apparently envisioned an offroading Mini – one obviously more capable than the Countryman. As such this fashionable Mini, dubbed “Red Mudder” is the first Cooper to get Mini’s All4 all-wheel drive system. This may even plant the idea in Mini’s proverbial head to bring the system over to the Cooper family down the road. In addition to All4, the Red Mudder gets a raised suspension, bush guards, rally lights, tinted windows, off-road capable tires (with a hatch mounted spare) and an aluminum plated interior. Since the Catens are apparently quite patriotic, they also put their signature maple leaf on the door and on the headrests of the Red Mudder.

The Catens, who also go by Dsquared, had the opportunity to put their fashion talents to work as a part of Mini’s 11 year sponsorship of the Life Ball initiative which is essentially a European AIDS/HIV fundraiser. Other designers to have the honours over the years include Versace, Kenneth Cole, Diesel and Calven Klein.

The Red Mudder will be auctioned off with proceeds going towards the cause.

Congrats guys, looks awesome!

[Autoblog]

Oh Hi: 2011 Mini Cooper Lineup

When BMW isn’t prodding Porsche to race, they’re hard at work refreshing the Mini lineup for the 2011 model year. We’ve pretty much seen what the refresh is going to look like through spy shots, but BMW has released official photos of the Cooper lineup.

The biggest news is that both engines get a boost in power. The regular Cooper gets a bump from 115 horsepower to 122, while the spicier Cooper S gets its power boosted from 172 to 180. Mini is still going to stick to turbocharging the Cooper S models, mostly to keep fuel efficiency numbers in check.

On top of that, the Coopers will all get LED tail lights, a slightly refreshed front facia and the Camden edition will be optional on every Cooper trim level, not just limited to the Cooper S like it is now.

Click here to check out an aray of pics, courtesy of Autoblog.

[Mini via Autoblog]

Boo! Porsche Turns Down Mini’s Challenge

As it turns out, Mini might be developing an attitude that it likely inherited from its parent, BMW. Just days ago, Mini took a fairly substantial jab at Porsche and challenged them to a race to see who made the better performance car: the Cooper S or the 911 Carrera S. In an open letter, Mini took a few swipes at the image that Porsche portrays and claimed that the extremely less pricey Mini could do what the 911 could do, and do it better without the snobby image. Apparently there was a catch of the race being on the track’s paddocks and not the actual tarmac. Something to give the advantage to Mini?

The challenge was dealt by Mini USA’s CEO Jim McDowell. Oddly enough, McDowell used to be a former employee of Porsche USA. So since a CEO challenged, a CEO responded. Detlev Von Platon, CEO for Porsche USA wrote this open letter back to McDowell:

Mini Challenges Porsche to A Race!

Oh no they didn’t!

But seriously, that’s quite a ballsy jab at Porsche. At first thought it seems like a ridiculous match up, but those fortunate enough to have driven a Mini Cooper S know that it is quite the tasty performance recipe.

Still, Porsche’s got over 200 horses on the lil’ Mini in its 911 Carrera S, but it is also quite a lot heavier with the Cooper S weighing about 450 pounds less. It’s classic light weight vs. horsepower battle and I loves it.

The big race, should Porsche accept the challenge, will take place on June 21st. Do it, Porsche! You’re not gonna let Mini talk to you like that, are you?
Check out the rather cheeky open letter to Porsche above

[Mini USA]