More MINI magical marvels!

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), April 20, 2007

Byline: By Chris Russon

Chris Russon on additions to Britain's iconic little car

There seems to be no end to MINI mania. Only days after the millionth model rolled off the production lines at Cowley in Oxford along come two more versions of the little car .

New to the club are a diesel Cooper and the entry-level MINI One ( and both are set to become top sellers.

The second generation of Britain's iconic little car was launched late last year in Cooper and Cooper S forms. Now the range is broadening out with models of wider appeal.

With the One, MINI fun now starts from pounds 11,595 while the diesel will be available from pounds 14,190. The diesel uses a 1.6-litre engine developed by French car maker PSA and it has already built a reputation in the Peugeot 207 GT.

It also impresses in the MINI resulting in the most economical Mini ever. Average fuel consumption is a claimed 64.2mpg but there is nothing lacking in performance.

Top speed is a claimed 121mph and 0 to 60 acceleration just short of 10 seconds ( and that's not short of what you would expect from the Cooper.

In fact, thanks to an overboost facility, this 110bhp turbo-diesel can generate as much power as the flagship Cooper S.

The Cooper Diesel is fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox leaving all options open to the driver. In higher gears it cruises effortlessly but drop it down a couple of notches and there is spectacular power delivery.

Couple that to the legendary MINI handling and here is a car which cannot fail to impress.

The diesel's attractiveness is not confined to performance either with low CO2 exhaust emissions of 118g/km putting it in Band B when it comes to road tax ( or pounds 35 a year for the private buyer.

Low emissions are also a characteristic of the new 1.4-litre petrol engine which powers the MINI One ( although at 138g/km they fail to achieve quite the same benefits as the diesel and this version will cost pounds 120 a year to tax.

However, this is the version most MINI fans have been waiting for. Of course it is not in the same league as the Cooper models but it is a huge improvement over the original.

The engine is a down-sizing of the 1.6-litre Cooper engine jointly developed by MINI's parent company BMW and PSA.

Compared to the 1.6-litre engine used in the previous MINI One, it's 15 per cent more efficient.

Although smaller in capacity, bhp is up from 90 to 95 and the performance statistics are a top speed of 115mph and 0 to 60 takes 10.9 seconds.

Not only is that quicker than the original but fuel economy is also improved to close on 50mpg overall ( and that's an increment of 10 miles per gallon.

To be fair, the engine has to be worked to get it at its best but it delivers much more driving pleasure than the previous One.

Like the Cooper and Cooper S, the MINI One and the diesel are fitted with traction and stability controls as standard and feature the new-look MINI interior which still makes use of a large, centrally mounted speedo just as on the very first Mini in 1959.

The BMW Mini excels at retaining clever retro features ( such as the flick switches on the facia ( but housing them in a modern and stylish interior.

The front seats on the new generation of MINIs have been redesigned to do away with the rather clumsy folding mechanism which was a frustration of the original and all-in-all the new range is MINI par excellence.