How come there's only a couple of seconds in it for the standing km then, does the standard Cooper catch it up? :D

father_jack - thought you'd get a good deal, well done. Now just the 6 month wait eh?

As for the times - it is a bit weird isn't itwhat is the speed at the end of these runs for each? is the gearing not shorter in the cooper s - resulting in lower in gear upper speeds if that makes sense?

Dunno - it just gives the numbers not the terminal speed.

Yeah, October is earliest delivery we're being quoted.
How come some of you have got an S already? When did u order?

Think I need another test drive tho. The "tight as a gnats chuff" demonstrator didn't seem that much quicker than a loosened up Cooper on Optimax :D

You'll probably find most of the people with them are already cooper owners upgrading, and perhaps missed your chance. (you didn't chuck out that invite from bmw last month did you? he he)

Nah - the launch was only last week here, and I didn't want to order one blind.

I test drove a cooper S on Monday.

I have a GTiT Golf Mk4, and it felt no faster than mine. I was a little disappointed, after the fun I had in the standard cooper 3 months ago. The cooper S felt less nimble on the curvy stuff, and a bit strained on the straights compared to the Golf.

only 300 miles on the clock tho, so I still may trade my golf in for one. I'm after a test in a used one in a few months, to see what a run in one is like.

That DSP is a bit of a fun killer tho. I thought the Golf traction control kicked in early, I couldn't even get the cooper s a little bit twitchy before the damn thing cut the power!

still, I loved it to bits, but slower than I had hoped, and not as hooligan as I had expected.

[Edited by apjames - 6/14/2002 11:41:23 AM]

Hi FJ

"The missus has a Cooper, and in comparison to that, the steering is better, much more weight to it and the suspension is better damped. The ride isn't nearly as choppy as the Cooper is on sports suspension, which was surprising."

What build date is your missus's car? First off we had a Dec 01build car, which we ran for 3 months now have an April 02 build car (as dealer/BMW mucked up the spec on the 1st one)
Both cars Cooper with Chilli and SS+ and the steering, ride and handling are noticably better on the 2nd car. I reckon they have retuned the suspension on more recent cars.

Cheers

Robin

It's a fairly early Cooper with Chilli which is supposed to add Sports suspension + as you say. The brochure says the Cooper S has SS+ too.
It's interesting you say that they might have retuned the suspension as the S was definately comfier. It seemed to dive more on braking too.
One more reason to upgrade then :D

Off to pick mine up in 20 minutes :)

The big thing for me with the S is the potential to tune to over 200bhp. Add a smaller pulley, better exhaust and remaped ECU, and Bobs your uncle. I'd agree that with 160 odd bhp its a little disapointing. Whilst John Cooper will charge £3500, no doubt others will do it for under half the price

I tend to look for cars with untapped potential. The Scooby has always been one, the S3 is another.

Jonathan

How is your new S going Chins ?

I'm in a state of indecision about the S at the moment. Hoping that it needs time to grow on me. Certainly down the B roads, you can really chuck this thing around.

Two main concerns, are - lack of grunt (but engine is still being run in). It will need the 200bhp to give you the nice kick in the back. It does however pick up speed very quickly. I have to put in my mind that comparing it with a £25k car, the performance you get for £14k is unquestionable.

Brakes - not pushed them hard, but the car on a rough surface is very skittish under moderate braking. The old steering wheel constantly changing directions.

Jonathan

Yes, it does look good value.
Have you 'loaded' it with any of those tasty extras ?
I've a mate who has an S on order for delivery in September. He went for a test drive last week and also said it lacked 'punch'....though he does drive my scooby quite a bit :rolleyes:
So Chins, is the S a replacement for the scooby you had ?
P.

We test drove a Cooper a few months back - very impressed. It certainly has the looks to be considered a fashion accessory, but there is a lot more to the car than that. Speed in a straight line was nothing special, but the handling was great. Let's face it, the joy of a Mini has always been going round bends at silly speeds not traffic grand prix's. As regards the Cooper S - I have to say I'm quite tempted. Read the excellent article in Evo this months and you'll see that they rated the Cooper S above an Evo, an STI, Clio 172, Civic TypeR etc etc. There is certainly more to this car than just looks.

Chris

[Edited by Chris L - 6/11/2002 10:55:10 AM]

Now a Works S will be worth having!

As for rather buy French than German, pah! Personally I'll take the interior that doesn't disintegrate plus electrics that work.

As a former owner of many "classic" minis, including a very fast 1430cc jobbie, my first reaction was "ohmigod they've ruined it" but actually, it's very, very good, and lets be honest, while the original Mini was excellent for 1959, it wasn't that good a car (dynamically speaking) compared to it's rivals at the end, it was just more fun and had more character ;)

[Edited by NotoriousREV - 6/11/2002 11:14:32 AM]