G16 AUTOMOTIVE
THE CAR PAGES
A fun-size chocolate for the road
I
t is a $4,500 options package that adds nothing to the car’s driving ability. But it yields the most beautiful automobile
in the 50-year history of theMini Cooper, and that’s pretty much the point. It is the 2010Mini Cooper 50
Mayfair, one of two special-edition Minis celebrating the firstMini Cooper cars, introduced in 1959 as 1960 models. The other is the 2010Mini Coo-
per 50 Camden, a beautiful but maddening thing, a possible har- binger of our global driving fu- ture. The Camden comes with an electronic driving-habits monitor that comments on driver errors, sometimes employing an acerbic “stupid” when the person behind the wheel does something egre- giously wrong. In choosing theMayfair edition,
we elected beauty without the beast, a substantially more likable choice for me andmy road crew— my wife,Mary Anne, andmy assis- tant for vehicle evaluations, Ria Manglapus. We frankly admit we loved it be-
cause of its looks. TheMayfair, named after the
exclusive residential and shop- ping district in the center of Lon- don, comes withHot Chocolate Metallic exterior paint. It looks so delicious, you want to lick it. The chocolate theme is carried into the interior, where it mixes with toffee accents, manifested in our car by seats covered with toffee- colored Lounge Leather with white piping and faint-green stitching and vertical toffee pin- stripes over a hot-chocolate dash- board.
Driving theMini 50Mayfair
could substitute for eating. In which case, it would serve as an automobile with super go-kart performance and a weight-control machine. All that chocolate and toffee is
offset by tastefully sculpted chrome surrounds—the decora- tive pieces surrounding instru- mentation, vents, the gear-shift lever, the parking-brake lever tip, and front and rear cup holders. Chrome also is used beautifully,
WARREN BROWN
On Wheels
judiciously on the exterior—on the grille, the headlamp and fog- light surrounds, and the door han- dles. The car is the motorized equivalent of a chocolate sundae. The cherry on top for theMini
(officially rendered as MINI, all uppercase letters, under its mod- ern-day ownership by Germany’s BMW) is its legendary perform-
2010 Mini Cooper 50 Mayfair
NUTS&BOLTS
Bottom line: Mini Coopers are for practical people who enjoy art, dance, poetry and theater. For dreamers who understand the cost of inaction on urgent matters, who want to help the Earth without hurting the spirit of adventure. The Mayfair is the best Mini yet.
Ride, acceleration and handling: Very good on all three. But the car can be a danger to your legal and financial standing. It has a small engine and relatively little horsepower, yet it zips! And it does that with such beauty and alacrity, it attracts unwanted attention from law enforcement personnel. It’s a traffic ticket with a smile.
Head-turning quotient: It’s a work of art.
Body style/layout: A front-engine (transversely mounted), front-wheel-drive subcompact built for utility and fuel efficiency.
Engine/transmission: The standard Mini Cooper engine is a 1.6-liter, transversely mounted, four-cylinder job—118 horsepower, 114 foot-pounds torque. In the tested 50 Mayfair version, it is linked to a six-speed Getrag manual transmission.
Capacities: There are seats for four people. With rear seats raised, luggage capacity is 5.7 cubic feet. With rear seats down, cargo capacity is 24 cubic feet. The fuel tank holds 13.2 gallons of required premium gasoline. (“Required” here means required.)
Mileage:We averaged 37 miles per gallon, mostly on highways. Had we stuck to posted speed limits, we could’ve saved time and money (no roadside arrest and ticket) and fuel. I mention that as part of my pledged community service agreement. To put it another way: You can go to jail or to hell in a Mini just as fast as you can in anything else. Four cylinders does not automatically mean “no power.” It is how those cylinders are engineered that counts, and these four are engineered with BMW oversight.
BMW GROUP
ance and surprising small-car util- ity. It is whyMary Anne and I bought our firstMini Cooper, in- digo body with white roof, in 2001. We still own the car, drive it ev-
ery day.We were happy to find that the functional attributes that attracted us to theMini have been improved in the car’s latest itera- tions. We wanted a small, fun, safe au- tomobile with reasonable fuel effi- ciency and utility.We got that in our 2001Mini—a front-wheel- drive car with a 1.6-liter, 116- horsepower transverse-mounted four-cylinder engine, with its four wheels pushed to the corners. It zips, competes easily and safely in highway traffic, and gets about 34 miles per gallon on the highway
and 24 mpg in the city. It requires premium gasoline. But we don’t care. It’s a super-cute little car that’s a hoot to drive. The 2010Mini 50Mayfair re-
tains all those virtues. It’s just prettier. There’s a 1.6-liter, trans- verse-mounted four-cylinder en- gine with advanced valve engi- neering (electronically controlled variable-valve timing) that deliv- ers 118 horsepower and 114 foot- pounds of torque. It’s linked to a super-smooth six-speed manual transmission. Throw in those looks and you have an irresistible piece of work, a car you drive for therapy.
brownw@washpost.com
Brown is a special correspondent.
Safety: Standard equipment includes rigid body structure, four-wheel disc brakes (ventilated front/solid rear), anti-lock brake control to prevent brakes from locking up in panic stops, electronic brake-force distribution to better balance brake force per wheel based on the car’s passenger and cargo and passenger loads, electronic stability and traction control, and side and head air bags.
Price: Base is $18,800; dealer invoice, $16,920. Total for the tested model is $24,500, including $4,500 for the Mayfair package, $500 for the Hot Chocolate Metallic exterior paint and a $700 destination charge. Dealer’s price as tested is $22,120.
OPQRS
BD
SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010
on
washingtonpost.com
Chat with Warren Brown
11 a.m. Fridays at
washingtonpost.com/discussions. Also, listen to On Wheels with Warren Brown from noon to 1 p.m. Sundays on WMET World Radio (1160 AM) or
www.wmet1160.com.
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