Marty Padgett provides
MotorAuthority with his observations upon his first drive of the new MINI. Padgett concludes:
Priced from $20,745 including a $795 shipping charge, the base MINI Cooper gets a strong nod this time. It feels more substantial despite MINI lopping off a cylinder. It's now a real thing, not just a step on the upgrade launching pad. We've configured a hardtop in the $27,000 range that has almost everything we'd expect or want, including the sport package, adaptive dampers, and the classic white roof.
The sportier Cooper S? It'll only set you back $24,395 in base trim but it's super easy to blow past $30,000. Maybe we'll feel differently once we blast around our favorite home roads with the Cooper S, but it's hard to want to spend more for less of an advantage.
Bigger isn't always better--but it's not always worse, either. We'll know MINI's gone astray when they start talking about building a "city car." That time is not now, and really doesn't seem any closer, either
