Mini Cooper Club Coupe Review
Here’s a blog I never posted. It’s from June when I had the Mini Cooper (“Big Papi”) in for a new windshield.
After a few days driving the new, slightly larger Club Mini Cooper Coupe, I must admit that I prefer Big Papi. For anyone not interested in cars even slightly, I implore you to perhaps stop reading unless you want to count all the times that you could add “that’s what she said” to a lot of this.
(He’s a loner, Dottie… a rebel)
– The Club seemed more fuel efficient BUT Big Papi might be more efficient now that they adjusted the transmission gear ratios that have been a problem for over a year now.
– There is more room including an extra four or five inches of leg room BUT the steering wheel still only moves up and down and I cannot bring it closer to me which would be necessary in order to utilize the extra leg room. I would have liked to have seen how much band equipment it could hold as it is almost as big as the PT Cruiser. The barn doors on the rear (that hearken back to the ’69 minivan my dad had) are more convenient than a hatch.
– Decent cup holders in the front and back. That’s a major improvement.
– Funky little interior lights that you can change from orange to pink to mauve to violet to blue. These would have been major league cool if they provided more than a mere trace of ambient lighting.
– The front seats had those side panels that cushioned your butt cheeks and enveloped you in a comfy way. The downside was that they were leather and the extra comfiness turned to major swamp ass after a half hour. Quite the case for high-tech air-conditioned seats (Offered in the BMW 700 series).
– The main body’s paint was a delightful blue with the roof a grayish silver. Very nice, until they decided the silver should intrude upon the blue and encircle the aforementioned barn doors. The ‘08 body style also seems to throwback to the simplicity of the original Mini’s rather than the cute curves of the ‘05’s like Big Papi. However, to keep in that tradition and to keep in the tradition of producing cars that people find aesthetically pleasing, they never should have outlined the Club’s rear doors in the silver.
– There is an extra door on the passenger’s side for easier access to the back seat. If you are going to put the extra door there, you really should put it on both sides.
– There is a sunroof with a bug screen but no dark shade. In the PT Cruiser, there is a panel you can pull to cover the sunroof and protect yourself from making the car a terrarium.
– The tach is still where it was but they added a permanent digital display of temperature & speed which is good because I keep my variable settings display at mph anyway & occasionally check the temperature. The speedometer is still in the center of the dash & it’s even bigger. Love it. The radio is not a Harmon and, while it sounds good, it is not that easy to use while driving.
– I feared that I may get pulled over for suspicion of DUI because the turn signals don’t operate the way I am used to and I kept switching from left to right and back again several times before getting them to shut off completely. Also, I kept swerving because the steering is more sensitive and the most minor of touches (i.e. trying to figure out the radio or pick an interior light color) causes the Club to get angry. My bad.
– Other downer: not a convertible.
– Other plus: getting to deal with the kind service people at Princeton BMW/Mini. They are the nicest, most polite, most accommodating people. They make you feel special (in a good way) and seem to appreciate your business.
That’s my Big Papi. He’s an ’05 convertible and he has been in the family for almost exactly three years. I need to give him a bath. I need the Tylenol PM to kick in sometime soon.
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