Enjoy a MINI Convertible for 24-hours… and free fish ‘n’ chips!
Listers Boston MINI makes the Great British summer last a bit longer with an extended test drive, and a fish ‘n’ chip lunch… and the car itself? Magnificent!
MINI Convertible… absolutely awesome! Proverbially, the sun shines on the righteous, but perhaps due to a clerical error, I appear to have made the cut recently, too. A heatwave, 10th July, and my car’s air conditioning chooses 30°C temperatures in which to pack up. Great(!). But then a fortuitous email from our friends at Listers Boston MINI arrived with not one, but two, very exciting offers…
The first is a voucher for free fish and chips for two, at Eric’s Fish & Chips in Thornham in North Norfolk, for anyone test driving a MINI Convertible until the end of August. For those unfamiliar with Eric’s, it’s a nostalgic place headed up by three AA rosette chef Eric Snaith. His aim from 2015 was to celebrate our national dish by creating the best example of it you’ve ever tasted… and he has succeeded. All fresh and homemade, with chips cooked in beef dripping and pure-white fresh cod in beer-batter, served in a quaint coastal location, all very retro and authentic; the best of British. Suits the MINI perfectly.
The second offer from Listers Boston MINI was the opportunity for me to live with the MINI Convertible for the weekend. This was just as appealing given my own car’s lack of air conditioning, never mind the opportunity to lower the MINI’s roof in just 18 seconds. The clever three-in-one roof can also retract just a little, a bit like a traditional sunroof rather than a convertible. And it’s fully electric, operating at speeds of up to 19mph. You can even operate it remotely via the key fob, if you’re a show-off… and I am.
So, Friday evening, heatwave in full swelt, and England due to face Norway in the World Cup the following evening. Burghley House’s Battle Prom concert was also due to take place that weekend, with Elgar’s Nimrod playing as a Spitfire flew overhead. It was shaping up to be the most British weekend ever, and I had the perfect car for it.
It’s hackneyed to say that MINI is a genuine motoring icon, but what else can you say? The car launched in 1959 and over 10 million have been sold. Even the modern MINI celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and over five million of those have been sold globally, including one million in the UK. Last year alone the company sold in excess of 250,000 vehicles with electrification perfectly suiting its nimble handling.
And today’s MINI isn’t just fun and universally admired, it’s also underwritten by excellent BMW engineering. Whilst convertible sales have dropped by 90% over the past two decades, the MINI is still fighting the good fight. Not only is it one of the most affordable open top cars on the market, but it’s one that’s suitably funky and youthful enough, with cheerful paint colours and a character that suits carefree summer motoring.
The scientists at MINI appear to have invented an entirely new colour, a bit like red, but more… red. It’s hard to state just how red the car is, but it looked fantastic, especially with gloss black highlights and a black hood. It’s a car that makes you smile every single time you approach it.
Inside, plenty of room in the front seats, not a massive amount of legroom in the rear but surprisingly usable for children or less lofty folk. The boot isn’t huge but it’s deeper and more capacious than appearances suggest… a full week of supermarket shopping could be easily accommodated. Build quality? Very impressive, with a lovely knitted recycled plastic material on the dash and a lovely strip of woven material on the bottom of the small diameter, thick-rimmed steering wheel with its large thumb pads. It felt great and the leather on the wheel and the seats, although vegan, undoubtedly has a premium feel. Instrumentation and switchgear are typically quirky (for instance, the round touchscreen) but no ergonomic complaints. It all looks good and works well.
The convertible range is based on different mechanicals to the hatchback, which is available with a petrol engine or full electrification. An electric MINI Convertible is fabled, but no word on when that might land.
We’ve enjoyed MINI’s electrification before, in the brand’s Countryman SUV model, and it’ll likely make the Convertible brisk and quiet, but nothing quite beats the character of the combustion MINI. It’s also quite economical; you’ll easily achieve over 45mpg. Powering the car is a 2.0-litre petrol engine in different states of tune: the Cooper model prioritises comfort, generates 163hp, and reaches 60mph in 8.2 seconds. Our 204hp S version sprints to 60mph in 6.9 seconds, and the 231hp John Cooper Works reaches 60mph slightly quicker, at 6.4 seconds.
Thereafter, you’ve a choice of Classic, Exclusive or Sport trims, plus Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 option packages. Top trims enjoy adaptive cruise control, electrically-adjustable seats and a Harman Kardon sound system. There are also myriad ways to personalise your MINI, from a Union Jack convertible roof to some really pretty paint colours, but none quite as pretty as our Chilli Red.
I’ve grown accustomed to test driving fully-electric vehicles, and I quite like them. But the MINI Convertible is one of the few cars that make me want to hang on to petrol power for a bit longer. Its rorty, bass-rich petrol engine sounds amazing; not offensively loud but it certainly sounds like you’re driving something with a larger engine with more cylinders. The gearbox is intuitive too, and you quickly learn when to ease off, encourage the car to downshift then prod the throttle for a delicious, smile-inducing pop of power.
Handling is jolly nice too. I’m not a racing driver or a Jeremy Clarkson-type, but anyone – even those not concerned with the minutiae of suspension, damper or chassis setups – will recognise that the MINI is a proper driver’s car, and you don’t have to be misusing it or driving quickly, it always feels a bit special, even at low speeds, even around town. The Convertible builds on that and feels genuinely fun and exciting.
Wind noise and tyre noise are a little more noticeable as in all convertibles, but the hood is snug when it gets a little cooler. You can definitely enjoy that wind-in-the-hair sensation, it’s very visceral, and the poser in me enjoyed lowering the hood, turning up the music. I treated the good folk of Sleaford to a carefully-curated Spotify ‘MINI Convertible’ playlist including – but not limited to – Offenbach’s Can Can, Rule Britannia, Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive and Quincy Jones’ Soul Bossa Nova. I really don’t care at all whether people were calling me a prat as I drove past, I was having enormous fun, grinning from ear-to-ear. And actually, there’s something about a MINI that’s too accessible, too democratic, to elicit any resentment.
People know the MINI Convertible as an affordable, fun, very British car for people who don’t take themselves too seriously, who don’t mind shamelessly showboating and for people who just want to have fun.
The MINI is already a great vehicle, and for anyone who is of the opinion that a convertible car writes cheques that our climate is unable to cash, I suspect you’ll be surprised how comfortable the car is with the roof down, even without blazing hot temperatures. That being said, a weekend of bright sunshine on the red paintwork, a win for England, and the (ultimately unfulfilled) prospect of heading off to the coast for fish and chips made everything seem just that little bit better. I’d book that test drive if I were you!
MINI Cooper S Convertible – Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the MINI Convertible? Price: £28,975.
Is it petrol or electric? Mini Convertible is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo engine, 204hp.
How fast is the MINI Convertible? The car reaches 0-60mph in 6.9 seconds.
How economic is the MINI Convertible? The car has a fuel economy figure of 42.8mpg.
Listers Boston MINI is currently offering an extended 24-hour test drive offer including a voucher for fish and chips for two at Eric’s Fish & Chips in Thornham. See here for details.
