This Mini Cooper S is a LOT Better Than I Thought

[@Mawibe01]

You are absolutely churning out these videos my man. I'm loving it, keep em coming bro

[@KiwiCarLife]

Thanks man!

[@Vikturus22]

You should try the 1,6l one with the Supercharger. That sounds glorious and are incredibly fun to drive! a colleague of mine has one and I had the pleasure of going for a ride along, it literally handles like a go cart and his was tuned to 240hp

[@KiwiCarLife]

I have driven one of them, to be honest those old ones are pretty rubbish cars imo. Yes the supercharger sounds cool but the interior is awful, they're not very reliable nor powerful. Just get a Type R or GTi isntead

[@Niponnai]

Killing it with the content

[@KiwiCarLife]

Thanks!

[@spadgm]

Nice review, Certainly looks a bit of fun, I quite like that example you are reviewing, looks great too!

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah man I was surprised! Much better than I expected

[@DiscoFang]

That gearbox is an Aisin. Yes, Toyota. In my experience, in this Mini it’s one of the best auto transmissions out there. If you get the paddle shifts in this S model it includes a JCW steering wheel but also the JCW mods to the gearbox. The manual shifts are as fast and direct as a DCT. They actually delayed going DCT with the model refresh (including the JCW) after this because they couldn’t better the Aisin.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah man I was surprised at how good it was!

[@DanT443]

found your channel via your fit hybrid vs jazz hybrid and saw that you're from nz! Got me a fit due to it. Also have to say im not a car guy but i just watch your videos every time now

[@KiwiCarLife]

Haha glad to hear you're enjoying the Fit and the viedos

[@MrWilliam.Stewart]

Someone in the comments called it, smashing out the content young fella.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Thanks man!

[@taelee347]

My wife has a Mini Cooper S convertible in 6 speed manual (bought it just before it was discontinued) and while it is not very fast but it is very fun to throw it around. It is even endearing when I slam first into second and get some chirp from crappy run flat OEM all season tires.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah man they are good fun for sure!

[@DiscoFang]

Not very fast? She must have the old 1.6. Driving a 2L S convertible is what made me buy a 2dr hatch like this one. I was gobsmacked how fast and responsive it was. I was like “How come no one told me about these?!!” I think everyone (including me) just thought they were like the prev gen ones.

[@MrWilliam.Stewart]

Fun, yessss. Entertaining, absolutely. Good to drive, for sure. Long term durability, ahh, next question.

[@RanenPo]

Can't be worse than the supercharged R53 minis

[@thegreenhammer]

@@RanenPo nah, the R56 is the one to avoid

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah the early chrysler enginged and later peugoet engined ones are definitely cars to avoid. These latest "actual BMW" powered ones are good though. The B48 has proven to be strong, and they're pretty basic cars so not that many electronics to go wrong either. Any 2014+ mini I would own.

[@danieljclarke0115]

This is actually my car and I’ve put 40k kns on the car in under a year, Ik people who have over 200k kms, as long as you keep up with ur regular maintenance, the car will look after you

[@DiscoFang]

The F56 Mini like this one from 2014 on is a completely and totally different car from the previous models. Nothing is carried over down to the interiors, panels, components, engines, drivetrain, brakes, suspension, absolutely nothing. Reliability after 10 years is proving to be rock solid. These are the bargain cars at the mo.

[@craigauty6756]

Crazy the turbo 2L 4banga only made 190hp. Thats same as a stock 2zz. 1.8 NA

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah I know haha so under tuned from factory

[@DiscoFang]

We have both the 2ZZ in an Allex 6spd manual and this Cooper S in stock form. The power figures mean absolutely NOTHING. The Allex/‘Rolla is one of the best cars ever made but the Mini absolutely blows the Rolla out of the water. The torque (and the torque steer) is an absolute whallop. Btw also have a BMW 330d with 500Nm of torque so know what grunt is.

[@craigauty6756]

@DiscoFang how do power figures mean nothing and then state your power figures to show you know "grunt" my daily is 570hp and 700nm.... I guess I don't know grunt like you do

[@DiscoFang]

I think you need to reread my post. I said the power figures for the Rolla vs Mini mean nothing for driving. Based on owning and driving them both. But hey if spec sheet peak numbers mean everything to you then… more power to you.

[@craigauty6756]

@@DiscoFang the fact is 2L turbo 4 bangas made 276hp in the 90s. This mini isent impressive at 190hp

[@The_Noticer.]

Dont use power modules.... Have a reknowned tuner manually flash the car and DYNO check it. Not all engines are made equally. And especially turbo engines should not be driven without checking whether its not excessively boosting in the lower revs. To protect both the gearbox and the engine. My L15B7 for example had to be tempered below 2000 rpm, otherwise it'd have gone through clutches in record time, and damaged the drivetrain. Judging from the video, it sounds like its pushing a lot of boost low-down.

[@KiwiCarLife]

I guess that's why the power module only bumps the power a small amount. He's since had it properly stage two tuned so should be a rocket now

[@The_Noticer.]

@@KiwiCarLife I've heard some of the stories from the tuner I sent my Civic to. Lot of cars prematurely die because of those blind tunes. Good thing he had it properly tuned now.

[@Vees565]

Love the content! Could you do one on the r53 1st gen cooper s

[@KiwiCarLife]

I have a friend with a JCW one, could be worth a video

[@IBOO57]

Is that engine noise artificially piped through the speakers or is that really the engine?

[@KiwiCarLife]

That’s really the engine!

[@DiscoFang]

@@KiwiCarLifeWell actually, it’s partially piped. Unless it’s been coded out but the pops n cackles are real and the exhaust from the exterior can sound ok on these too.

[@ShaneScott-yf5yg]

Is that really a thing? Engine noise through speakers ?

[@perpetualgrin5804]

I like the orange exterior colour and also the orange highlights in the engine bay on some cars.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah man it's cool aye!

[@Indestructable]

Happy to see the spedo has been moved back where it belongs!😂 The infotainment system is a much better use of the space, especially with those leds

[@KiwiCarLife]

Definitely haha having it in the middle was so odd

[@Birmingham_racing]

Fun cars out the box

[@KiwiCarLife]

Definitely!

[@BEAMNGBROTHER]

Nice man I have driven a bmw with a b48 and they are not bad im gonna be honest very fast tho that one was phev so it was bit faster. but still a good engine if for a 4 cylinder turbo good gti alternative. Also these things sip fuel im pretty sure for a 2.0l turbo that does 11l/100km lol but yeh its fun.

[@The_Noticer.]

Not impressed by the numbers. My L15B7 pushes 165KW (no supporting mods) and does 4.8/100KM on highways and 5.8 to 6.4/100KM in city traffic.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah but you're reaching the limits of what that L15 can do... Sure factory they are severely under tuned (probably for efficiency), but the owner of this has just had it dyno tuned at 206wkW. Soooo, yeah he'd be leaving you in the dust haha

[@The_Noticer.]

@@KiwiCarLife Wasn't making this a pissing contest, not very nice of you to make that final statement. Point I was making was, that downtuning it so much should usually be at the benefit of increased fuel economy as a trade-off, as you said. But 10-11L/100KM is what I got with my 20 year old K24. So its downtuned, but not econommical. Meaning its more market segmentation than anything else, or lack of faith in the reliabilty. I still think Honda makes better ICE's, which before your change of heart you would've agreed with. And no, its not the limit, even a simple intercooler upgrade pushes it to 180. As I said, when it was dyno'ed at 165 it didn't even have a drop-in filter. And it pushed 150 even before it was tuned. Up from 135. So honda lowballs it.

[@BEAMNGBROTHER]

@@KiwiCarLife the l15 is quite under tuned I agree but that is due to the fact that they have abetter car to make big power such as the k20 turbo used in the civic type r. which would be abetter comparison to the b48 as they are both the same size. but both are good engines and I am a fan of the type r

[@TheDangerBuck]

Will there ever be a video without a reference to a Honda type r

[@KHGuitarFreak1988]

LOL!!!

[@KiwiCarLife]

Haha probably not

[@stanleychung88]

I really hate how you are opening my eyes to cars I've written off in the past. Dammit you and your open mindedness 😂

[@KiwiCarLife]

Hahah yeah man I’m lucky to get to drive all sorts and most cars that I would write off have surprised me too!

[@kimihart1049]

This might be a controversial statement. But if you want a 4 cylinder, bmw. Dont buy a bmw, but buy a mini. Even mini's clubman and countryman are good fun vehicles.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Problem is, I would argue no one should be buying 4 cylinder BMW if they actually care about driving haha. This B48 is alright, but BMW's are best had with an I6.

[@itsalexanderbotha1504]

GOOD VEHICLE

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yesssss

[@EyelessSnowy]

You have to drive a original Mini now to compare old vs new..... Love it how the "Beetle" kept slowing you down 🙂

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah that would be an interesting one!

[@dill6078]

Try a JCW

[@KiwiCarLife]

Now we're talking!

[@tokyodrifter108]

But it still is a BMW at the end of the day, not a british simple hatchback

[@hondamanvtec2894]

Still a Mini 😂

[@KiwiCarLife]

That's not necessarily a bad thing though. The latest B48 and B58 are very good engines, Toyota clearly thought so too because they put them in the supra.

[@tokyodrifter108]

@@KiwiCarLife I agree, but its not true to itself, a bit like the current supra

[@DiscoFang]

But so what? Why get hung up on the name. Is that all a car is to you? The name and brand?

[@tokyodrifter108]

@DiscoFang Any British car company makes it very apparent that its "british", even though they're all German

[@tobygray497]

Borrowing a mini to do a review is more fun than actually owning one.

[@KiwiCarLife]

Well... in theory the latest B58 ones are solid, but who knows I guess

[@blakebucknall4008]

Yea these are great until they break. No room to work in that bay.

[@KiwiCarLife]

I wouldn’t expect them to have too many issues though? Pretty simple cars and the B48 has proven over the last 10 years to be solid

[@thatguyben3128]

_Never had the pleasure of being in a modern Mini 🫤 they look like fun and this one sounds like fun_ .. _cool review 😎_

[@KiwiCarLife]

Yeah honestly I was surprised! They're better than I thought