Issue #42, January 26, 2007

Classic Cars

with Bob Gelber

I know I’m a little late to the party, but I just bought a Mini Cooper S. Let me explain. When the Mini first debuted in 2002, like most of the automotive press, I was enamored with the little bugger. Praise was heaped upon the car by virtually every automotive publication in the world. At the time, I seriously needed a new daily driver, but, instead of buying a Mini, I purchased a Ford Focus SVT.

Since its introduction, the Ford Focus, at least in America, went over like a lead balloon carrying Orson Welles. I am probably one of three people here who understands what a sensational car the Focus SVT is. Marketed as the ST70, it is one of Ford’s top selling models in Europe. Another reason for buying the Focus SVT is that, at the time, Mini’s were hard to get and usually carried hefty dealer mark ups, while poor Ford was discounting SVTs like mad. It also turned out that the Mini and SVT were road tested side by side in many automotive magazine comparison tests and they virtually had the same performance. The Focus was also slightly larger but, sadly, basically looked like a Ford Focus, while the Mini was the most charming looking little cupcake to hit the American highway in decades.

In retrospect, my Focus SVT served me very well, with exceptional performance, gas economy and handling second to none. For the record, the SVT is as fast as a three series BMW and probably handles better. It is certainly not as well built, but it is half the price. It has never let me down, but in two years has had some minor electrical problems, the most serious being the fact that I had to replace the oxygen sensor three times. It kept going bad, prompting the “check engine light” to go on. For the record, the new European Ford Focus SVT (ST70) just won the World Rallye Championship. No mean feat. I doubt if that car even ran with oxygen sensors.

To “focus” on the Mini, I’m one of the few people I know who owned one in the late sixties. Compared to the new one, the original Mini was tiny. Mine was a 1968 Mini Cooper 1275 S and it was modified by Harold Radford and Sons in England. Radford Minis were common among the wealthy in England because they were virtually custom appointed cars that were many notches in luxury above the average production Mini. I purchased the car slightly used from a fellow car enthusiast named Nelson Peltz, of Peltz Frozen Food fame, and Nelson told me that the car used to sit on the fan tail of a friend’s yacht. The car certainly had a good pedigree and I tooled around Manhattan in it for several years. The big problem I had with the car was the fact that it had ten inch wheels. It also had an air and hydrolic suspension, one dumb idea. Three times the tiny wheels dropped into NYC potholes and damaged the suspension. The miniscule car was very prone to damage by other car’s bumpers when parked. Eventually I got tired of worrying about the car and reluctantly sold it. For the record, I liked the car so much that several years later I drove through Europe with my entire family in a Mini 1000. As we all know, the original Mini was a runaway best seller in Europe, but truth be told, was simply too small to be popular in America.

By the way, BMW, who designed and builds the new Mini Cooper, is really fibbing about its name. The original Mini was never called a Mini Cooper, but just a Mini. Only when it was modified for more horse power was it called a Mini Cooper. The 2007 version of the new Mini is already out, but has been slow to come to America. I’ve been told that because it is redesigned, but actually looks the same, there have been some issues with production. The biggest change in the Cooper S model is the fact that the new engine is turbocharged, whereas my original model is supercharged. I personally prefer a supercharger, because there is no turbo lag. I’m also suspicious of turbos that are mounted in a very hot exhaust system. Traditionally, they have had heat related turbine bearing problems.

Initially, after owning the Mini for one month, I’m very impressed. It is a much more civilized car than the Ford Focus, with razor sharp handling and steering. In fact, next to the über sports car, the sensational Lotus Elisi, it is probably the sharpest handling car in production. Make no mistake, the Mini Cooper S is a sports car dressed up as a cutesy economy car. It has jewel-like details and excellent build quality, with an awful lot of BMW engineering DNA. Forget it’s small size. When seated in it, it feels like a normal sized car. In fact, you’re almost at eye level with virtually every other passenger car. What other car goes from 0-60 in seven seconds, does 140 mph and gets 35 mpg? Simply amazing. The Mini Cooper S is the filet mignon of automobiles, small and pricey for it’s size, but oh, so tasty.

Bob Gelber, an automotive journalist living in the Hamptons, appears regularly on television as an automotive expert. You can email him at bobgelber@aol.com.