Recently
Car and Driver wrapped up its long term road test of the 2009 MINI John Cooper Works Convertible and were not happy. They felt it "lacked the reasonable level of comfort and convenience we’d expect from something costing so much;" the "stereo’s sound quality was [so] bad;" " [t]he steering-column-mounted shift lights are poorly executed;" "didn't age well;" "“constantly squeaking and rattling;" "[a]t 15,000, the doors were sagging badly enough that the handles required 'roughly double the already-high effort to open';" "[a]t 36,500, the power windows wouldn’t operate in unison;" "its 208 hp burned through four tires;" "also replaced the clutch, which cost a heart-stopping $2809.85;" and "the clutch pedal developed a hitch in the middle of its travel near the end of the Mini’s stay." They did say
Despite the costs and hassles, our Mini never failed to garner smiles and compliments. With the top down and the exhaust ripping, we could forget about the little annoyances, if not the larger ones. If we had half a collective brain, we’d move from Michigan to someplace warmer with smoother tarmac, but we don’t, so our chances to relish this Mini in its ideal habitat were limited. Performance-wise, the Mini was fairly quick, although it lost a tenth in the 0-to-60-mph sprint over the course of our test, turning in a 6.4-second time with 40K on the clock; the car did, however, pick up 0.2 second when running all the way to 100 mph. Braking from 70 mph improved by nine feet, and it clung to the skidpad a little more tenaciously at the end of its stay, to the tune of 0.92 g. The Mini averaged 28 mpg over 40,000 miles, which is pretty good considering how much time the throttle spent pinned to the floor.
Ultimately,
Car and Driver felt it was the "overall lack of refinement and durability" that hurt the JCW Convertible in its tests and recommended the Coupe since it "would have had a more rigid body, and therefore developed fewer rattles, had more precise handling, and offered a better ride."
