Handling continues to be impressive and the car feels planted at unpronounceable speeds. In fact it’s planted enough for a team member to remark that it doesn’t feel like it’s doing more than 120 km/h. That was at a time when the speedo on the instrumentation and the heads-up-display were telling me that velocities were slightly over 160 km/h. Now that’s a sign of a good handling car. Flick it into a bend at fairly ridiculous speeds and you will hear some tyre wail but the car holds its line quite well and will safely see you through to the other side of the bend. Unfortunately, such dynamic abilities also come with a price. And in this case, the price you pay is with a slightly compromised ride quality, although I must admit that the ride on the current car is much better than it used to be in the previous iteration. It’s not harsh but it’s definitely firm and you do feel bumps, ruts and pretty much all sorts of road shocks through your spine. It won’t give you a headache but they’re very much there.
Braking duties are of course handled by a four disc set up, which work very well. There’s enough bite, feel and progression for you to not put to use the mandatory ABS, EBD and other sorts of electronic wizardry. And believe you me, there’s a lot of techno wizardry that goes into the car, courtesy BMW’s fab electronics department, all of which add up for a pleasant drive experience.
On the whole then the MINI is a great car and certainly one that is a heap of fun. It may not be the most practical car and it’s definitely not the people’s car it had started life as but it does tick several of the right boxes. It’s an attention grabber par excellence and it’s tremendous fun to drive. Sadly, our government regulations (read import duties) are such that the car is priced out of its league per force. At over Rs 30 lakh, ex-showroom, the MINI’s case is quite diluted. Even though it’s a brilliant product.
