Just Drive There asks whether the 2016 base MINI can "
still blow the doors off" and is non-plussed. It concludes:
. . .Overall the Mini Cooper is a good car. And that’s the problem, it is just average. It should not be average; it is a Mini after all! Where is the legendary chassis, the legendary chuckability and the legendary look? All in all, the car has no character. I guess you could say it has finally been Germanized…. Honestly, if it were not for the neo-retro-ish styling in the interior, from the driver’s seat it felt no more special than a VW Polo or Honda Civic. . . .
