AFFORDABLE EXTREMES (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Introductionword count: 68

Elegant? Maybe. Focused? Certainly. Individual? Absolutely. This Coupe model proved to be a dramatic twist on the MINI theme at its launch in 2011. Racecar looks are matched with race-ready handling, plus realistic running costs and surprising practicality. It's everything you wouldn't expect and it's shook up the affordable coupe sector in a way that few other cars could have done. Is it a good used buy though?

Modelsword count: 12

3dr coupe (1.6 petrol/2.0 diesel [Cooper / Cooper S/ JCW/ Cooper SD])

Historyword count: 206

We've had over half a century of Mini motoring. But never anything quite like this. The MINI Coupe was launched in 2011 as essentially the first standard model two-seat MINI. This variant was the first to feature a notchback shape with a recognisable boot. And it was the first to stop hassling small sportscars and become one itself. It was this final step that of course was the largest and most significant. Just as the launch of the original 5-door Countryman sent this ambitious brand into a whole new Crossover family market, so this Coupe moved the marque away from hot hatches and into contention with some of the most talked-about two-doors in the industry, cars like Peugeot's RCZ and Volkswagen's Scirocco. Maybe even the Audi TT. Cars that make a sporting statement without needing a lottery win. Cars we all thought were stop-in-the-street sensational - until we saw this one. It's not a look everyone will like. But it's one everyone will notice. And isn't that part of the point of the purchase of a car of this kind? The Coupe bodystyle spawned a Roadster open-topped version in 2012. And lasted until shortly after the third generation modern era MINI Hatch was launched in 2014.

What You Getword count: 595

Love it or hate it? You'll be in one camp or the other when it comes to the styling of this MINI Coupe. Pen-man Anders Warming said he was inspired by the efforts of the British tuning firms who tried to create a coupe version of the original Mini back in the Sixties and came up with curious oddball designs like the Mini Marcos and the Broadspeed GT. Either that or he designed this car on speed. It is, after all, to say the least, a little unconventional, sitting 23mm lower than an ordinary MINI, the dramatically raked-back windscreen leaning into a so-called 'helmet' roof design that looks either like a backwards baseball cap or like someone's sat on the rear end, depending upon the charitability of your perspective. To us, with its racy stripes and contrasting roof colour, it looks like one of those detachable hardtops that customers of some convertible cars buy to clip on and get themselves through the winter and in a way, though the structure is permanent, that's kind of what it is. You can also, you see, buy this design in 'Roadster' open-topped form, a shape that sits a lot easier on the eye but lacks the aesthetic extremity that makes this Coupe rather endearing. The active rear spoiler that rises out of what looks like a bootlid is an example of that. And talking of bootlids, this was the first booted notchback shape the brand had ever brought us, assuming you discount original Sixties spin-off saloons like the Riley Elf and the Wolseley Hornet. Both of those cars looked practical but weren't. In contrast to this one that looks ridiculously cramped but isn't. It hasn't actually got a boot in the conventional sense - the three-box shape actually disguises a lengthy and rather heavy rear hatch - but that's all to the good when it comes to practicality. Lift it up and, like us, you may be astonished to find that contrary to appearances, this has a very large luggage bay indeed, at 280-litres big enough for a couple of golf bags and the biggest of any MINI bar the Countryman, a car that sits on a much bigger, very un-MINI-like platform. In other words, nearly double the space you'd get in an ordinary MINI hatch and 20-litres more even than is offered by the Clubman estate version, though it's true that the space is shallow and the floor uneven. The reason for this becomes clear when you take a seat in the cabin - namely that the tiny back seats of the MINI Hatch have been completely ditched. Which is just as well, for with a roof height dropped by 5cm over the ordinary model, rear occupants would have needed to be dwarf-like. So instead of a couple of useless pews, you get a storage shelf, plus a hatch through to the boot through which you can poke skis or long items up to 1.7m in length. Or indeed reach back into the boot to retrieve small items. Behind the grippy three-spoke wheel, it's a mixture of old and new. The familiar huge central speedometer in the middle of the smartly-trimmed dash (which you tend to ignore in favour of the digital speed readout in the middle of the circular rev counter that sprouts from the steering column directly in front of you). Plus the usual chromed toggle switches. Less familiar is the cocooning feel created by the raked-back windscreen and lowered roofline, recessed above each of the seats to accommodate taller folk. What To Look For

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