If you're puzzled, as we are, by what the new Mini Roadster is supposed to be that the existing Mini Convertible is not, the folks from Mini offer this explanation: "It's the return of the British roadster."
Uh, we know it's been a while since actual British roadsters -- MGs and Triumphs and the like -- zipped along America's back roads (and broke down on their shoulders), but we remember them as quite a bit different than this Mini. The slender sports cars followed a classic formula seemingly laid down at the dawn of time, with a longitudinally mounted engine up front driving the rear wheels. The Mini Roadster, on the other hand, follows the formula of other Minis, with a transverse-mounted engine and front-wheel drive.
Soft-top sibling to the hardtop Coupe The Roadster is essentially a softtop version of the two-seat hardtop Coupe, which went on sale last fall. In both cars, the back seat area is given over to a bulkhead that has a lockable, 14-by-8-inch pass-through to an 8.5-cubic-foot trunk -- which betters the 6.0 cubic feet you get in the Convertible. As in the Coupe, the deck lid here incorporates a pop-up rear spoiler that deploys automatically at 50 mph to provide additional downforce (or flip it up manually with a switch on the windshield header). The Roadster also has the Coupe's reinforced body structure, lower ride height, and deeper front spoiler.
Yep, it drives like a Mini
These are not exactly transformative changes. And indeed, the Roadster drives pretty much like any other Mini. Mostly, of course, that's a very good thing. The Roadster will be available from launch in all three strengths: 121-hp Cooper; turbocharged 181-hp Cooper S; and full-tilt-boogie, 208-hp John Cooper Works. We drove the Cooper S version, and it is a lively performer (6.7 seconds from 0 to 60 mph, according to the manufacturer). Turbo lag is not an issue, and this engine gleefully zings the Roadster down urban freeways and rural two-lanes, accompanied by a snarling exhaust note -- and the occasional racy popping through the exhaust on throttle lift-off.
