The competition, it has to be said, isn’t that hot. If you want a soft-top tot for tooling to the shops and trundling about on a summers day, there are plenty of good-looking cars that come to mind. If, on the other hand, you want a car that stands up when the going gets twisty, the choice gets a whole lot more limited. Keen drivers will look to the Smart Roadster, Ford’s Streetka and the MINI Convertible. Now that this MINI features 170bhp under the bonnet (up 7bhp on the original MINI Cooper S to help alleviate its additional weight), it has the pace to knock both of these contenders into next week and the cheeky good looks to match.
Pricing may be an issue for some potential customers. MINI has perfected the trick of offering an attractive up front price – in this instance £17,960 – and then tempting buyers with a whole host of options. I’d wager that most Cooper S Convertibles will trundle from dealerships knocking on the door of £20,000. Standard equipment includes the fully electric roof, Park Distance Control and 16-inch ‘X lite’ alloy wheels. Just remember that the 17-inch five-star bullet alloys fill the wheel arches even better. Then there’s that stereo upgrade and so on.
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