The third generation MINI gets a makeover and is now more fun than ever before
When it comes to mid-life refreshes, I quite often decline the opportunity to travel to drive the vehicles, but when the good people at MINI India asked if I wanted to travel to the island of Mallorca to drive the mid-life refresh of the third-generation MINI, I agreed. With not much of an agenda, it meant we could drive just about anywhere on this beautiful island. And we arrived to a bright, sunshine-y day at the Hotel Sa Cabana pretty much in the middle of the island overlooking the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. Covering the entire western coast of the country, these are recognised as a World Heritage Site because of their astounding natural beauty, and as I would discover, they should also be considered a World Motoring Site because of the utterly stunning mountain roads.
But back to the MINI, this is the mid-life refresh of the third-generation MINI, which BMW internally refers to as the F56 — you know you are a car nut when you start referring to German cars by their internal model designations. The third-generation vehicle was introduced globally in 2014 and the Convertible, which we were also driving, was introduced in 2016. On the face of it there doesn’t seem to be too many changes to the car, but then you get closer. There are a lot more customisation options available and you can emblazon your name on hard-plastic snap-on parts above the glove compartment and next to the side indicators, you can even customise the door sills and the puddle lights on the outside mirrors.
And then there are the most visible changes to the MINI, that is to the headlights which now acquire long-range auto-adjusting lED-Matrix lights and then there is the uber-cool taillight design, the “British Union Jack.” The British are quite cool about their flag being used everywhere from underwear to uniforms, but the very German-based MINI takes the use of the Union Jack another step. As a customer, you can choose to have Britain all over your car, the headrests, the roof (full-colour on the hardtop and black and white on the convertibles fabric roof). You can have the Union Jack on the side mirrors and even on the dashboard. But then again, the British love German things with the British flag emblazoned across them; take the British Royal family for example. Make no mistakes, no matter how many Union Jacks the MINI might have and even if it is built at Oxford, it is a BMW at its mechanical heart. But the really nice touch is that if you own a third-generation MINI already you can actually swap your existing lights for the new ones. By the way, these will most likely be only available as an option on the cars.
On the inside, there are subtle changes as well; the infotainment screen is now a touchscreen, and the gear lever gets a change as well along with some other minor touches here and there. luckily, the MINI retains the lovely metal switches. The Convertible roof operates through the push of a button as it always did and when the sun is out and 25 degrees the roof never went up while I drove it. The next day I drove the facelifted three-door hatchback which had the same exterior changes and with the racing stripes looked wonderful.
On the roads of eastern Mallorca towards Porte Cristo, albeit full of cyclists, the hatchback was a sheer joy to drive. The cars that I drove were the Cooper S versions which have the two-litre four-cylinder petrol engines which produce 192 horsepower, enough to get the cars to 100 in 6.8 seconds for the hatchback and 7.1 seconds for the convertible. luckily even the rural roads in Mallorca, which are of a fabulous quality, have a speed limit of 90 km an hour, so we really had fun. Highways in Spain and most of Europe have a limit of 120 so you really do get to play around with the car without breaking the law. And some other changes to the Cooper S at least is that in sports mode, it does feel a whole lot sharper with very quick steering. Despite the front wheel drive system, the MINI has always been a fun car to drive and this one remains the same.
Mechanically the MINI One has the smaller three-cylinder 1.5 litre engine, which starts at 75 horsepower but engines can be tuned all the way up to 120+ horsepower and it remains to be seen what specification MINI brings the One version to India. However, many of the options of the car are available across the range. However, things like the really useful heads-up display, particularly on European highways in a place where you have no idea of the route, can be quite expensive. let alone the fancy lights.
The MINI is quite expensive in the eyes of some people, the refresh even with the new features will cost upwards of 35 lakhs for the Cooper models, as much as a BMW X1, which is a more practical car in every respect. But this is what I have to say on the MINI, it is a head-turner and short of spending a crore plus on a sportscar, the MINI is a lot cheaper than that. And if you want a fun little car to drive, this ticks all boxes because it has something that most cars don’t — character. Sure, it overdoes the Britishness at times but dial it down on the options list, other than the taillights and go for it. And also, do visit Mallorca! What an island! Despite the cyclists.