Mini One (2007-) Review

On the road

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The Mini is a highly rewarding and engaging car to drive - a car that responds to your inputs and rewards your effort. Not that it's hard work; it's just that if you want to get pleasure from your driving, then the Mini is a very willing co-conspirator.

There's plenty of feedback from the front wheels via the steering wheel, letting you know what's going on where car meets road. Purists may prefer a mechanical rack-and-pinion system, but the One's electrically assisted set-up is just fine for this car's performance. The manual gearchange is quick and precise, and while the suspension is set up more firmly than the typical Japanese or French supermini, it's never harsh or uncomfortable.

Be careful when you're specifying wheels. The One comes with 15" steel wheels as standard, but many buyers will go for 16" or 17" alloys. They may look the part - although steel wheels are part of pre-BMW Mini iconography - but they affect the way the car rides. We found that the 17-inchers improved the general ride on good road surfaces, but coped less well than the 16s on scrappy lanes.

When you're working the engine hard it gets slightly boomy in the cabin, and there's noticeable whistling around the door mirrors at motorway speeds; as noises go, it's not half as appealing as the turbo whine from the Cooper S. But it's a refined and comfortable car. There's plenty of seat and steering wheel adjustment, and everyone seems able to get comfortable in the Mini. As before, you sit low and feel very much in command. This is the complete opposite of the MPV driving experience.

You may have spotted that the One gets a higher star rating in this section than the Cooper, which we've given three. The Cooper is a faster car, so what's our thinking? It's about expectations and price. The One, as an entry-level, non-hot hatch, isn't about scorching up the drag strip or clocking fast lap times on a track day: it's about being a good all-rounder that's easy to drive, not too thirsty, and in terms of acceleration perhaps just a little way ahead of the pack, with a bit in reserve.

On this basis, the One is a more accomplished performer than the 1.6-litre naturally aspirated Cooper, and is certainly a perkier town and country car than the previous One, thanks to the extra vim of the new aluminium engine, built at Hams Hall.

It produces 94bhp at 6,000rpm, backed up by 103lb-ft of torque at 4,000rpm, which is enough for a 0-62mph acceleration time of 10.9 seconds and a top speed of 115mph. That's perfectly appropriate for a car of this size - whereas a large part of the Cooper S's appeal is that it has performance that's perfectly inappropriate. If you want to hustle the One along, it'll do it. You have to work the engine hard, but you'll have fun doing so, although fuel consumption will suffer in the process.