Jim Kenzie left the cold of Canada to drive the new MINI at its Puerto Rican press event for
Wheels.ca at MINI's invitation and expense. Kenzie provides a very detailed review as well as his initial impressions from his time with the cars. Kenzie decides in part:
. . . If this isn’t the best-handling front-drive car in the world, I don’t know what might be.
For buyers who will never push the car this hard, the marketing folks have foisted such irrelevancies as self-parking (you’ll show it off to your friends once, then never use it again) and an electronic key fob that no longer needs to be stuck into the dashboard to start the car, so you can lose it down between the seats just like you do in all BMWs. I just don’t see that as progress.
Fortunately, the essential goodness of the Mini has been retained. Improved even, thanks to stronger performance, increased interior space, slightly better ride, significantly improved fuel consumption and, we hope, better assembly quality.
For sheer driving fun with four seats and a bit of a trunk, it doesn’t get much better than this. . . .
