2016 Mini Cooper Convertible review – Roadshow

The Good The 2016 Mini Cooper S Convertible offers open-top driving for you and a few friends. Its handling feels more nimble than most cars, and its eco and sport modes make a real difference. An optional Harman Kardon audio system is a must for music lovers.

The Bad With the top up, the Mini Convertible’s blind spots get large, and with the top down the rear view becomes compromised. The brakes feels a little weak for sport driving. The infotainment system lacks support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and the destination and music search interfaces are needlessly tedious.

The Bottom Line With its unique design and fun handling character, it’s easy to forgive some of the 2016 Mini Cooper S Convertible’s flaws, but wise buyers should take a close look at the non-sport Mini Cooper Convertible, which will likely offer equal satisfaction.

I steal glances at the full, green canopy of the forest overhead when I deem it safe to take my eyes off the road. Unadulterated by a roof, pillars or side windows, the 2016 Mini Cooper S Convertible affords a truly panoramic view of the scenery.

But as the next twist in the road comes up, I remind myself that I’m here to test handling. Braking and downshifting, feeling the suspension tilt slightly and the tires bite into the pavement as I turn the wheel, the Cooper S Convertible sounds off with a delightful little exhaust snort when I upshift at high revs to third for the ensuing straight.

Mini reengineered its standard Cooper hardtop a couple of years ago, and follows with the new Cooper S Convertible, also on a new platform.

Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow

Combining sport driving character and a gloriously open top seems like a perfect mix, but not all is rosy in Mini-land.

The Mini’s top, folded down behind the rear seats, obstructs my rear view. Racing up to a turn, the brakes feel like they took a nap, and only groggily get to work when I put the pedal down hard. The car itself still exhibits fun handling, but this generation has grown substantially since BMW bought the brand and re-engineered the classic Mini cars in 2002. The new grown-up Cooper S Convertible may offer better interior room than its predecessor, but it lost that earlier ultra-nimble driving character.

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New generation

This latest Cooper S Convertible represents a new generation for the iconic anglo-car, following the new Mini hardtops launched last year. The traditional Mini look is here in full effect, and most people won’t be able to distinguish this generation from the previous. But an additional 5 inches of length makes this one less mini, although additional cabin space may seem like a reasonable trade-off.

The power-operated convertible top will be the real draw for fans of open-air driving, and the Cooper S Convertible holds a distinction for being one of the few four-seater convertibles on the market, especially with a base price under $30,000. Driving with the top up, the cloth overhead looked sturdy and didn’t flap or make more noise than I would expect. As a bonus, at mid-position the top rolls back just enough to uncover the front seats, serving as a sunroof.

With four seats, it takes a lot of cloth to cover the Mini’s cabin.

Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow

As a Cooper S, this Mini convertible comes with a 2-liter four cylinder engine using a twin-scroll turbocharger, making 189 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque. Drop the ‘S’ from the Mini Cooper Convertible, and you get the three cylinder turbocharged engine that reasonably impressed me in the Mini Cooper hardtop.

A six speed manual transmission comes standard in the Cooper S Convertible, but my example had the optional six speed automatic, with paddle shifters and a sport setting. Fuel economy rates at 25 miles per gallon city and 34 mpg highway, although in my mixed course of driving I only squeaked above a 25 mpg average.

Rectangle in a circle

Those new to Mini might wonder at the big, circular frame in the center of the dashboard housing a wide, rectangular LCD. In past years that frame held the speedometer, and Mini retains it for love of legacy.

The LCD itself shows navigation, app integration and digital audio, with sources such as Bluetooth streaming, satellite radio and a single USB port for iOS devices or drives. The maps on the navigation screens show excellent detail, including buildings rendered in perspective view. Route guidance works well, especially with the optional head-up display showing turn-by-turn directions.

Mini’s maps look nicely detailed, but the destination interface is frustratingly out-of-date.

Wayne Cunningham/Roadshow

However, destination entry still relies on the old paradigm of entering city, street and number separately, or choosing a different screen for point-of-interest searches. Now that Ford’s Sync 3, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have brought single-box destination entry to in-car navigation, the Mini’s interface feels very outdated and clumsy. The Mini infotainment system doesn’t support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, either, although the Mini Connected app enables online destination search in the system if you cable your smartphone to the car.

On a similar note, searching for music on a connected device using Mini’s infotainment interface involves a ridiculously tedious and complex interface. A single-box search here would be very nice, especially considering the hand-writing recognition touchpad atop the dial controller for the infotainment system.

The highlight of the Cooper S Convertible’s electronics was its optional Harman Kardon audio system, which creates very detailed sound and will be a worthwhile upgrade for music lovers.