2023 MINI Hardtop 4 Door - Epic fun!!
It’s not very often that a brand new car still captures the essence of the original, but every once and a while a manufacturer does it pretty damn right. This time, MINI got it right.
MINI has long now offered us a 4-door version of the classic 2-door hardtop, and I was initially angered by this; why does it exist when you could just buy a Clubman which is actually cool? But after a look over the numbers, it all starts to make sense.
The car I have here is called Keith. I have spent a very long time driving Keith, so I think I’m well versed enough to write this review. He’s a 2023 Cooper S 4-door Hardtop, which is only offered in two trim levels- Cooper and Cooper S. They unfortunately do not offer the 4-door in JCW form, that is reserved for the 2-door only, but people considering the $48,000 2-door JCW hardtop probably aren’t going to care about 4 doors in the slightest.
The standard Cooper trim starts at a quite cheap $26,800 starting price, with a 134 hp turbocharged 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine that honestly is quite peppy for what it is. If you’re looking for some proper speed though, the 7.7 second 0-60 time will likely not impress you. However, that is perfectly fine for a city car, and it is still definitely fun to drive. The Cooper S gives you a plethora of substantial upgrades, and that’s what Keith is, so I’ll mostly focus on the Cooper S trim. It starts at $33,300, which gives you get a 189 hp turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine, the B48; it’s a phenomenal engine. Any brand new 4-cyl BMW or MINI will have this same engine, but it makes more power in certain applications. It’s very tunable, very reliable, and it’s extremely fun to drive.
Another large upgrade you get in the Cooper S is a very nice set of quite large wheel-mounted paddle shifters and a SPORT MODE! In said mode, you can say goodbye to fuel economy, and hello to very zippy throttle response. Even the heaviest of feet can still achieve a respectable 27 mpg. On the highway, you can blast past 30 mpg in ‘Green’ mode. That is if you can resist leaving ‘Sport’, which sharpens up your throttle response and adds some pumped in engine noise. It’s not amazing, but the car still sounds pretty good. While this car is offered with a manual, Keith is an automatic. but do not fret! The 7-speed torque converter automatic is still a blast! It makes some super awesome farty noises on the upshift, and with the windows down, you can hear the turbo flutter when you let off the throttle. It is only a second faster to 60 than it’s Cooper brother, but it is a very noticeable difference in the real world. I wouldn’t consider this car slow, it still files through traffic. Unless your racing a JCW, you don’t really miss the extra power- it is a blast to drive either way.
The automatic version of this car is pushing 3000 pounds of weight, a bit heavier than it’s ancestors, like my 2003 2-door Cooper S, about 200 pounds heavier to be exact. But, it has 20 more horsepower to make up the difference. The turbo in the B48 gives you much more low-down torque than my supercharged 1.6, and the transmission shifts way faster than a human ever could. This makes the car feel a hell of a lot zippier around town than it’s grandfather. Thanks to super tight, accurate steering, and only understeer at it’s absolute limit under throttle, it gives you the confidence to take corners at some pretty alarming speeds. All of these characteristics make this car so much damn fun to drive, you just never want to get out. Although, eventually you might.
The standard leatherette sport seats in this car can get pretty uncomfortable, pretty quick. A quick solve would be the Chesterfield leather seats, which are absolutely FANTASTIC as they’re much more comfortable for long journeys. Not to mention, beautiful. They come in malt brown or white, and have a wonderful cross stitched pattern. But even these lovely seats cannot solve one glaring gripe:
The ride quality. It is fairly harsh. I found this to be an issue with pretty much all of the cars in the MINI lineup, but honestly it’s not really going to stop people from buying this car. It’s simply the trade-off you make when you’ve got a tiny, stiff, sporty car on 17” rims with run-flat tires; you feel all the bumps. Does this heighten the driving experience? Only when you’re booking it through a corner. If you’re simply driving around the city, it can be pretty harsh and uncomfortable, but I found the Cooper models tend to be slightly softer than the Cooper S models. Combined with those plush Chesterfield leather seats, you’re golden.
As far as creature comforts are concerned, we’re lacking in some places in comparison to other cars in this price bracket. For one, we don’t have any sort of power adjustable seats or steering wheel. Even in the top 2-door JCW trim, which starts at $43,000, doesn’t offer power seats. We can’t be selling cars in 2023 without power seats! They literally put power seats in the Club & Countryman, which is absurd.
For $250, MINI will sell you a heated steering wheel, which is worth every penny. You get a nice large touchscreen display compatible with Apple CarPlay, but not Android Auto. Thankfully, there is some very nice physical controls that are super intuitive and easy to learn, especially if you’re used to BMW infotainment, because it’s the same exact setup. The whole MINI system is just a re-skin of iDrive 7; super easy to use, and a great system overall. My favourite is the sport displays and the little checkup the car will do. It will asses engine temp, fuel level, outside temp, if sport mode is on, and if all is perfect, a little graphic of your MINI will go along a racetrack and say, “BE MINI!” Absolutely adorable if you ask me.
Overall, the interior is super well thought out and well built. Absolutely no disappointment here. I ADORE the fun little details they’ve scattered all around this car. For example, the start button could have been just a typical boring start/stop button, but no! They’ve made it a little red toggle switch that pulses red when you haven’t started the car yet, as if to say, “What are we waiting for? Lets get motoring!”
The whole line of toggle switches is quite brilliant actually, they’re super fun to operate. Around the centre screen of the car they have arranged a beautiful array of LEDs that will light up depending on whatever you are doing. If you’re changing the climate control, it will show you if it’s getting colder or hotter with blue or red lighting. When you’re revving up the car, the lights act as a massive tachometer! And when you’re about to reverse into something, (as I often am), it lights up progressively more red to notify you. A brilliant little piece of design I’m so happy they decided to include.
The screen with your speed, range, and all that important driver information is so good, too. Your speed is displayed in the centre in a nice little circle with your fuel level on the right and RPMs on the left. The RPM needle looks digital, but a keen eye can notice that it’s actually physical. You can only really notice it in bright sunlight with the screen off, but I find it interesting it was somehow more cost effective to do it that way then to just make it all digital.
The glovebox is a good size, the stock floor mats have a nice little design I enjoy, the double moonroof is a classic MINI feature that is once again awesome to have, and we still have a real handbrake! I love the dashboard and how you can option it to have many cool different trims, and I LOVE the ambient lighting all throughout this interior. It’s fun. It’s a fun interior.
Things only really get un-fun if you’re the one sitting in the back seat, it is just straight up claustrophobic. If you really care about your backseat passengers, you aren’t looking at buying a MINI anyways. Luckily the back of the seats is carved out a bit so you can have legs, but headroom isn’t ideal and you can’t stretch out, but it’s not AWFUL. It is manageable if you need to take 4 people somewhere in a pinch. I consider myself fairly claustrophobic, but the back seats are doable for a 30 minute drive if I had to. It is almost funny how tiny these rear doors are, but I can see lots of people finding these doors useful for throwing things and stuff back here, (and of course children). If you have kid/kids and you’re after the MINI family lifestyle, the leg room is acceptable until they reach the age of 18 weeks.
My 2003 MINI struggles to carry 4 people, let alone comfortably. Not to mention, the hindered performance. I would understand someone buying this over the regular 2-door if you know you have to bring people around more than once a week, so definitely do not buy this car for Uber. The other upside is you’re really not loosing much from the 2-door in the looks department. Every time I see one of these on the road I hardly notice the extra doors unless I’m looking for them.
Overall, this car is not for everyone. It just isn’t. You really have to love the MINI lifestyle to buy one of these because on paper, you are spending more for less compared to other cars on the market, but there’s a way these cars make you feel. They’re so fun, they’re so lively, and they’re so full of passion and personality; you can’t put a price on persona. Well, actually you can: $33,300. If you love the looks, if you love the drive, if you love the lifestyle, there is no better car to fit the picture.
