By Mark Elias
Tuesday, Oct 4th, 2011 @ 11:45 am

Always known for its unabashed cheekiness, BMW’s MINI division has never been shy about expanding its range. Like its parent company, MINI seems intent to find new segments.
 
Enter the fifth model in its lineup, the MINI Cooper Coupe is certainly the cheekiest and possibly the strangest of the bunch, and definitely the smallest. Don’t let the apparent size fool you, though. We are talking about a vehicle with the dimensions of the convertible with a roof that resembles a slacker wearing a backwards baseball cap.
 
Although it looks as though space would be at a premium, the Coupe manages to regain some of the real estate that it gave up to the folding roof mechanism in the droptop. Updated throughout, it is a true hatchback-based coupe firmly entrenched in the Super-Compact sports segment and loaded with personality, and depending on which model you choose, performance.
 
Rock star in Music City
The most noticeable part of the Coupe is clearly fastback top, which looks like it spent its summer at SoCal Speed Shop getting chopped and channeled. Appearing as though it has lost about three inches in overall height, it actually operates from a deficit of only 4/10s of an inch. Interior headroom is also surprisingly accommodating with the addition of dimples in the roof. We’ll call them Gurney bumps, in honor of racer Dan Gurney, who had them built into the roof of his Ford GT40 race car so it would offer him proper head clearance.
 
A functional hood scoop grabs more air for the cold air intake, and a new front lip spoiler helps to keep the front of the car firmly planted. Three available contrasting color roofs (Silver, Black and Chili Red) are matched to dual racing stripes that run from front to back and over the working spoiler that deploys at 50 miles per hour and disappears again if speeds drop below 37 mph. All together, there are nine colors and, MINI officials claim, over 10 million possible build configurations thanks to a plethora of personalization options.
 
The interior is a combination of high tech and high performance. Experience with a previous MINI Cooper will lend a sense of familiarity. There’s the center-mounted speedometer, the tachometer over the steering wheel, and the lower dash-mounted toggle switches that operate windows and other such kit. A punch leather interior features perforated leather with contrasting piping and a smattering of chrome and brushed aluminum was the order of the day for range-topping models.
Have fun with the options list and you’ll find a Harman/Kardon premium audio system, MINI Connected functions like web radio, Google local search and Google Send to Car services, including RSS news feeds, and in-car use of Facebook and Twitter. Not being totally enamored at the thought of in-car distractions, we could probably do without the last two features. We searched Google using our smart phone, and once the location was found, we had the directions transferred to the car’s navigation system. Welcome to the new world of connectivity.
 
The in-car entertainment field is undergoing a new growth spurt with manufacturers and outside vendors trying all sorts of ideas to arrive in market with the “next big thing.” From a builder’s standpoint, MINI brings its Dynamic Music feature, which takes into account steering, speed and turn signals to change up the music accordingly. Updates can be enabled through the use of smart phone connectivity.
 
A premium third party app is also available thanks to MINI’s partnership with mobile jukebox programmer MOG. A subscription-based program, it allows access to over 12 million songs for about $10 a month. It delivers curated content, self-selections, editors’ picks, new releases and playlists in high quality audio downloads over a smartphone network. With other similar apps and programs in existence, we think it’s a case of trying to reinvent the wheel when that isn’t necessary. Your mileage, coverage and cell plan bills may vary in the new system, which goes online with MINI in a couple of weeks.
 
Power trip
The MINI Cooper Coupe comes in three flavors and, as a result, three states of tune. For those with acid reflux of the automotive nature, there is the Coupe, with its 121 horsepower, 114 lb-ft of torque inline four-cylinder engine. For those with a taste for more zest, there is the Cooper S Coupe, which punches in at 181 horsepower, and 177 lb-ft of torque. For those who like it hot, the John Cooper Works Coupe (JCW) is your plate du jour thanks to 208 ponies and 198 lb-ft of torque and up to 207 lb-ft of low-rpm overboost. It bucks the trend as far as disappearing manual transmissions are concerned with a 34 percent take rate, MINI claims.In an effort to capitalize on that, they are preparing their latest marketing blitz around the mantra of “Stick Happens.” Ad campaigns will implore buyers to “Buy two pedals, get one free.”

But one thing the Coupe doesn’t do is offer a lower curb weight. Despite the appearance of less mass, the JCW Coupe actually checks in around 170 lbs. more than the standard two-box JCW Cooper.

We started our Coupe experience in Nashville behind the wheel of the JCW. The fastest, highest performance MINI of any sort yet, it features an aggressive look that says, “I may be small, but still, you best move aside.” The JCW “surfboard” logo in the lower intake grille is one of the few visual cues that separate this version from the Cooper S that lies just below in the model lineup.
 
An aspirational car in its own right, the typical owner of the Coupe, according to MINI itself, aspires for a Porsche Cayman, Audi TT or BMW Z4 but, presumably, has a tighter budget.
 
In testing the JCW, we found a car that was fully committed to the sporting life. Starting as the platform that also includes the convertible, it has been strengthened by the use of beefier rockers sills, and a torsion wall cross piece across the rear axle, hence the added poundage. A lockable cargo pass through door is located in the cross piece, and adds to the practicality of the car, and its 9.8 cubic feet of cargo capacity. Dimensionally, the Coupe rides on a 97.1-inch wheelbase for a vehicle length of 147-inches overall, about 1/4 of an inch longer than the hardtop due to the spoiler’s extended length.

This JCW car is a torquey little monster with a sport mode that helps rid the engine of the turbo lag that existed in earlier editions of the MINI. A remapping of the engine plan boosts acceleration sooner and holds throttle and the gearing longer. The manual transmission was a smart shifting six-speed with well-placed gates that were easy to find and execute.
 
On an autocross course set in the parking lot of the Tennessee Titans Stadium, it was easy to see the great balance engineers bestowed on this car. Handling is sedate at most times until you want to bring it to the edge of its limits. Then you want to do it some more.
 
Shifting was easy and well spaced with no difficulties getting into the various gates. It managed to continue to pull throughout the gears and passing was easily accomplished in fifth gear. Once we got into sixth, the JCW was willing to cruise all day. But at the end of the day, the MINI JCW Coupe was all about motoring fast.

We didn’t have the opportunity to really experience the rest of the lineup, but we’ll be sure to hop aboard a few of these helmet-top Coupes in the near future for more thorough evaluations.
 
Leftlane’s bottom line
With the new MINI Cooper Coupe, the MINI brand continues to offer fun to drive cars in a family that now counts five models.

Small but mighty, the Coupe provides a balls to the wall experience in a size not much bigger than a shoebox. It fits oddly into the MINI lineup, but it brings with it genuinely sporting credentials that are hard to discredit.
 
2012 MINI Cooper Coupe base price range, $22,000 to $31,900.

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