Bavarian Mini Works spins its magic

THE "real" BMW Mini has finally been unveiled. It may be the third all-new car to wear the evocative badge since 1959, but the latest is actually the first to be fundamentally designed and developed in Germany.

Yet BMW is extremely keen to express the British-ness of the new Mini, and is continuing to produce it at Cowley, near Oxford, in England, which has already more than 875,000 examples of the existing design. In fact, it has increased the new Mini's UK content from 40 per cent to 60 per cent.

Dubbed the R56 series, the new-generation car will be released in Australia in the second quarter of next year.

An evolution of the current R50 (base model 'One' – not sold here – and Cooper) and R53 (Cooper S) design, the R56 Mini requires a 'spot the differences' approach if its visual changes are to be picked. Amazingly, then, no body panels are shared with its predecessor.

The R56 is 60mm longer (61mm longer on the S), has slightly more room, better meets future crash-test regulations, and yet still manages to be about 10kg lighter than before. The total redesign inside is matched by new engine choices.

Although the classic Mini 'face' is similar, the classic hexagonal grille is now a single-piece unit, the larger headlight surrounds incorporate the indicators, and the air intake and running light/foglight housings have been reshaped. The entire front section has been lengthened 38mm.

The headlights themselves no longer open upwards with the bonnet. This simplifies the manufacturing process, stops a rattle source and eliminates the need for constant beam readjustment if the bonnet is slammed down.

Like today’s supercharged R53 Mini Cooper S, the R56 equivalent sports a front air scoop situated above the grille, but the bonnet itself is now more bulbous and sits 20mm higher.

A slight wedge has been created by the new car’s rising window line, which is now 18mm higher at the B-pillar than the current coupe. This was deemed necessary to harmonise the Mini's shoulder line with the higher bonnet line. A more pronounced 'bubble' boot protrusion has been created for the same reason.

Chrome again peppers the Mini. It is applied to the grille, headlight and tail-light surrounds, doorhandles, fuel tank cap and window line. BMW calls it "premium insignia".

For the mid-range Cooper, the drag co-efficient is now rated at 0.33Cd, down from around 0.34Cd. To improve air flow and downforce, the Cooper S’s roof spoiler is much larger than before, while centrally positioned twin exhaust pipes, a bigger rear airdam and two rear foglights are specific to this model.

Each R56 Mini model has its own engine. At the moment, Australia is in line for two of them. The current Brazilian-built Chrysler co-op 1.6-litre normally aspirated and supercharged four-cylinder petrol engines in the Cooper and Cooper S respectively will be replaced by a new pair of light alloy 1.6-litre twin-cam 16-valve powerplants produced with PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Now facing the other way in their transverse application, BMW claims the engines are up to 20 per cent more economical than their predecessors, as well as much less polluting than before, while recording significant performance gains. Turbocharging debuts in a petrol-powered Mini, helping the Cooper S to achieve a maximum power output of 128kW at 5500rpm, or a specific output of 80.1kW per litre.

The S's absolute torque top is 260Nm in short acceleration bursts thanks to an overboost function, with a constant 240Nm maintained between a low 1600rpm and 5000rpm.

From standstill, the S hits 100km/h in 7.1 seconds, leaps form 80kmh to 120km/h in 5.5 seconds, and can reach 225km/h, while the EU test cycle average is 6.9L/100km, with a carbon dioxide reading of 164g/km.

In contrast, the 125kW/220Nm R53 Cooper S is 0.1 seconds slower to 100km/h, returns 8.6L/100km and pumped out 207g/km of carbon dioxide. To help achieve these figures, the new car employs common-rail direct injection, while the engine’s compression ratio is a high 10.5:1.

The turbo is a new twin-scroll unit that utilises paired exhaust ports in the exhaust manifold and turbo-charger, resulting in a pulsating action from the exiting exhaust gases, which drives the turbo's turbine more effectively and from a lower rev point, for significantly reduced lag.

Meanwhile, the non turbocharged 1.6-litre unit in the Cooper delivers 88kW at 6000rpm and 160Nm at 4250rpm, with 140Nm available from 2000rpm. This engine features BMW’s Valvetronic variable valve timing device, which varies the valve intake electronically between 0.2mm and 9.5mm within a 300-millisecond timeframe.

The Cooper takes 9.1 seconds to hit 100km/h from zero, and is 22km/h slower than the S overall. This one averages 5.8L/100km, which is 0.9L/100km better than the 85kW/150Nm R50 Cooper equivalent. The carbon dioxide emission figure of 139g/km is a 27g/km drop from before.

Both R56 powerplants are built at Hams Hall in England, using parts sourced mainly from the PSA plant in Douvrin in France.

A 70kW 1.4-litre version will debut in the Europe-only One next year, along with a still-secret turbo-diesel, to replace the Toyota Yaris-sourced unit fitted to the outgoing R50 Mini.

Gearbox choices are either a six-speed manual or Aisin six-speed automatic with paddle-shift function. The Cooper S' manual fitted with double-cone synchronisation on first and second gears.

For improved traction, a mechanical limited slip differential is an S option, while anti-roll bars are fitted all-round. As before, MacPherson struts and a central arm rear axle form the R56's suspension set-up, albeit completely retuned for this application, with the S tuned to a firmer degree for improved handling and roadholding properties.

The rear axle now employs aluminium in the longitudinal arms, with a 6kg weight saving.

Also in the name of reduced mass and increased fuel economy, electric power steering ousts the old hydraulic set-up. An optional 'Sports' button remaps the electronics for sharper responses.

All new is the Mini's braking system, which now implements larger diameter brakes (280mm inner-vented front/294mm Cooper S, and 259mm solid rear discs), backed up by ABS anti-lock brakes, brake-force distribution, Brake Assist and BMW’s CBC Cornering Brake Control mechanism.

The S gains ASC+T traction control, while stability control is an option, with the latter now fitted with a Hill Assist uphill handbrake function. On the passive safety front, six airbags are standard (front, side and curtain).

Fourth-generation runflat tyres make their Mini debut, ensconcing the standard Cooper's 15-inch and Cooper S' 17-inch alloy wheels respectively.

Circular themes abound in the completely revamped interior, which now promises to be much closer to the BMW standard of material and trim quality and tactility than the model before. The main points are four new seats, with a higher 'H-point' seating position, combined with slightly more rear seat legroom, and a much slimmer lower centre console, for improved front legroom.

The all-new dash features a central speedometer that vies for the title of world's largest ever, with the lower half now dedicated to the audio controls.

Unlike in the outgoing Mini, if GPS satellite navigation is ordered, the speedometer remains in the middle. Instead, a new speedometer design is used, incorporated in the outer rim of the circle, neatly surrounding the GPS screen.

In all models, a smaller, steering column-mounted circular pod houses a digital speedometer, tachometer, various warning lights, and on-board computer and trip meter functions.

Circular face-level air vents flank the speedo, as well as the outer extremes of the dash.

Toggle switches, now larger than before, make a return, and even spread to the new roof console area if options like a sunroof are present.

BMW says the controls, with many designed in the Mini badge motif, are now arranged in "a strict hierarchic arrangement as a function of use and need for operation".

The key is now a circular transponder and push-button starter combination, facilitating the option that allows the unit to remain in the driver’s pocket.

As before, the door has a stylised exoskeletal-like appearance. Across the whole cabin, all aluminium trim employed is in fact aluminium and not plastic, while the plastics present are of a much finer grain than previously.

Revealing the new Mini chief designer Gert Hildebrand's penchant for the 1960s BMC Mini’s badge engineered Riley Elf derivative, real wood inserts are also available.

New colours and combinations have been implemented, some with a view of lifting the Mini's ambience to luxury-car levels.

For the outside, fresh hues include Mellow Yellow and Oxygen Blue, as part of the dozen choices available, of which eight are metallic and two – Dark Silver and Laser Blue – are Cooper S exclusives.

BMW says that it is possible to have 15,000 trillion overall Mini combinations if every different permutation is exercised.

The new Mini's European launch has been set for November 18, which – coincidentally – marks Alec Issigonis' 100th birthday.

Drive impressions:
ALEC Issigonis would be proud.

For the all-new Mini to meet 2008 pedestrian-impact legislation, BMW realised that it had to extend the outgoing R50's length by 150mm.

But the Bavarians managed to meet the regulations with just a 70mm increase anyway.

Another miraculous packaging victory for the Mini, 47 years after the first one reinvented the small car.

And that, in a nutshell (or, in this case, a clamshell bonnet) is what the 2007 R56 Mini is all about. Not revolution, or even evolution, but reinvention.

Welcome to the first Mini wholly created by BMW, probably the most engineering-led mainstream car manufacturer on Earth.

Every component of the old Mini was scrutinised and either updated or replaced by BMW, to infuse the new model with its brand essence.

Is it at all surprising, then, to learn that this car still behaves like a Mini, but drives with the poise and expected performance of a BMW 3 Series that’s been pulled apart, made front-wheel drive, repackaged and then re-trimmed before beaten into the classic 'Brick' shape? Gone are the rough edges of the old car.

The slightly downmarket feel of the cabin is now all quality surfaces and tight tolerances. It now only looks Toy Town.

You now sit very slightly higher, on front seats that are infinitely easier to adjust, ahead of a steering wheel that – at last – telescopes to you, so a perfect driving position is achievable, amid switchgear that seems to be even more scattered about than before.

If you didn't actually have to look at the dashboard, the R56 Mini’s feel and ambience is totally Grown Up, like you are dealing with the CEO of a huge corporation that you cannot see. But with peepers open you’ll discover he or she is wearing a clown’s face, albeit one that is quite artfully applied.

Still, the central instrumentation, pod tacho, toggle switches, exoskeletal door trim and (real) metal trim, colourful surfaces and clubby ambience are further Mini cornerstones.

Being a 21st Century Mini, it’s still very much a 2+2 as far as carting four people is concerned. The rear seats are still no place for larger folk, although there’s now mercifully more legroom available. And the luggage space is still pretty meagre.

Now, how BMW ever sanctioned the old Chrysler-sourced 1.6-litre engine in the base Cooper we will never fully know, but – in the new Cooper S – the 1.6-litre turbo is worthy of a marque famous for its magnificent powerplants.

The amazing thing here is that the engine is extremely impressive until you realise that it is just a 1.6, in which case you then gasp at how extraordinary the performance really is.

Going hard, launch acceleration is brisk. As the revs race up, the Mini streaks ahead, as the driver changes up through the weighty (if a tad too slow) gearbox. Heel and toe clutching is easier now than it ever was too.

The lever's 'springing' is a little odd though, so care is needed if a disastrous downshift instead of an up-shift is to be avoided. Now you’re exploring the vast plain that is third gear. Slow for a corner even at speed and there really probably won’t be much need to drop it to second, so tractable is the engine. Similarly, planting your foot in the same gear, and you are likely to be very impressed by the forward thrust on offer.

For R56 novices, here’s the new 1.6-litre turbo engine’s sting in the tail. Selecting fourth, there is every chance that you will be amazed at how fast you are going – from licence-suspension to two-years cancellation velocities.

In the old car, the wind rush from the upright A-pillars and increasing coarseness of the supercharged engine would alert you to your law-breaking speeds far earlier.

In this latest Cooper S, you're cocooned in a quiet and refined capsule. For some, though, the diminished din of engine and other mechanical matter might disappoint.

On the other hand, BMW has fashioned a spluttering backfire-like exhaust note as compensation.

All we can say about the handling and roadholding is that the Mini continues to stick to road surfaces like a wet upside-down saucer to a stainless steel sink, while the level of body control, over some quite challengingly cambered roads, would make a ballerina envious.

Savannah gazelle-like agility, aided by the measured responses of the lighter electric steering system, are further peaks in the new Mini Cooper S' cap.

However, a back-to-back comparison with the old car is needed to ascertain whether its pinball-like direction-changing sharpness has been maintained.

The same is probably true regarding the new car's braking abilities. BMW says this is one of area where the R56 has made big strides in.

On beautifully smooth and dry-hot Spanish roads, the latest Mini feels like one of the greatest handling and roadholding vehicles ever made. And even on the rough and ready ones also sampled, there surely are not many four seaters that could keep up.

We can also reveal that, over all manner of surfaces, the Cooper S' fourth-generation run-flat tyre ride quality came as a pleasant shock, so to speak.

So, after a complete overhaul of a model that has become an icon in its own right, the post post-modern Mini is still every inch the car that the 875,000-plus buyers of the outgoing version covet.

Yet it is something also brand new: the Mini BMW always intended to build.

Beyond the fat upright pillars, rubbish rear seat space and twee interior design, it is a BMW in a way that the outgoing R50 Mini, constrained by its Rover engineering, could never be.

Maybe, for some hardcore fans, the refinements are a step too far from fundamental Mini values. The supercharged Cooper S' whine, in particular, might be sorely missed.

But we should be thankful it even exists. Don't forget, between 1979 and 2001, there wasn’t even a new Mini available to Australians at all.

After Issigonis' 1959 original, and the Rover-led 2001 rebirth, the first fully German-engineered Mini is the number-three series in more ways than one.