The Mini Cooper S - A Turbo Go Kart

The Mini Cooper S - A Turbo Go Kart

Remember when you went go carting as a kid and went whipping around the track? It was a blast, wasn't it? Well, the Mini Cooper offers an opportunity to relive those days as an adult and on the wide open road.

The Mini Cooper comes in a couple of different versions. The Mini Cooper is the basic version with a normally aspirated engine. The Cooper S is a turbo charged version of the car that comes with an optional sport suspension. There is also a high end performance version called the "John Cooper Works" that is really high performance, but we will stick with the "S" for this article.

The first thing you notice about the Cooper is how roomy it is. Despite appearing small from the outside, the car is fairly spartan inside, which gives you a lot of room. The only serious inconvenience is you tend to sit a bit high in the seat. Why does this matter? When you pull up to a light, you often have to lean forward to see it if you are first in line. It is just one of those oddities you will notice about the Cooper.

For performance, the Mini Cooper S is hard to beat. It handles like a go cart. You can fly around corners and circular onramps with the only limitation being how brave you are. The car simply runs like a train on rails. Whatever you have heard about the handling being good is an understatement.

Acceleration with the Mini is a mixed bag. You can manually switch between normal and sport options with the flick of a switch by the shifter. The non-sport options is okay, but not great. With the automatic transmission, it has the typical lag between when you press the gas pedal and the car reacts. Flip on the sport option, however, and the process is seamless.

One of the fun options with the Mini is the steering wheel shifter. Depending on the model you have, the automatic transmission can be switched to a manual transmission. The gear shifters are found on the interior of the steering wheel and you can fire up and down the gears like with an Indy or Formula One car. Driving this way is a good bit of fun.

If I have one complaint with the Mini Cooper S, it has to do with the breaks. They work find, but they definitely feel a bit soft at time. You tend to get used to it fairly quickly, but your first few trips in the car can be a bit herky-jerky.

Is the Mini Cooper S a car worth your attention? Definitely. It packs a lot of performance and character, particularly with a price tag in the $25,000 range and an estimated 30 mpg. I liked it so much, I bought one.