BMW installs forced air in its Oxford saltbox

No less than 39 years after the first Mini Cooper S blatted its way into the annals of motoring history with its John Cooper-tuned 70-hp Series A BMC engine, the new Cooper S rises from the carnage of BMW's disastrous British dalliance sporting 161 bucking horsepower from a supercharged 1.6-liter cyclone.
One wonders what Paddy Hopkirk and the boys would have accomplished in the '63 Monte with all that power and a six-speed gearbox to control it. Or how the lads over at John Cooper Garages would have snickered into their pints every time they heard a BMW executive say, "Mee-nee Coo-pah."
No matter. Amusing twists of history aside, the new Cooper S is a grin on gatorbacks, a marvelous lunch box packed with tantalizing Bavarian sweets and decorated on all sides with updated images of Britain's best automotive icon.

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Coopers make barrels. In this case, barrels of fun

Here's some advice: Don't buy a Mini Cooper unless you own an enclosed, lockable garage. Otherwise, you'll get to talk to your neighbors until 11 o'clock at night. They'll come a-knocking, begging rides, trailing kids with disposable diapers and disposable cameras. And during those rides, other travelers will shout questions at you. From their moving cars.
It's a little hard to fathom this frenzy. The Mini was last sold here in 1967, an object of giddy derision that turned its fair share of Americans off British cars for three decades. Now it's back—24 inches longer, 11 inches wider, 1100 pounds heavier—and turning heads as reliably as the New Beetle and the PT Cruiser.

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Forbes Test Drives 2002 Mini Cooper

So much flowery prose has been spilled so far in the automotive press over the new Mini Cooper that we were starting to get skeptical.
And so when the time for a test drive came, we were both pleasantly surprised to find out how capable the car really is and also a bit taken aback by one aspect we think hasn't been well explained: Contrary to what some prognosticators have claimed, this isn't a car that will do battle with VW's New Beetle or Chrysler's PT Cruiser. They aren't even in the same league.


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The True Story Behind the MINI's Exhaust Tip

As many of you probably know there's an interesting story behind the MINI's exhaust tip and why it looks like it does:
Mini designer Frank Stephenson explains what a can of Budweiser and the new MINI have in common: "We worked a number of 24-hour days trying to get the full-sized clay model completed for presentation to the board of directors," says Stephenson. "So when we finished the job with just hours to spare, I thought it appropriate that the team have a beer or two to celebrate. That's when I spotted the problem."
That problem was the complete absence of an exhaust tip on the otherwise complete clay. Thinking quickly, Stephenson stripped the paint from his beer can, punched a hole in the bottom, and fixed it in place on the model.
It wasn't long before he was called on the carpet by his boss at BMW. "It wasn't the shape (of the tip)," he says, "everybody liked it because it was unique yet oddly familiar. He was concerned that I had wasted a modeler's time milling the piece when his time could be better spent elsewhere. That was when I felt the need to confess."
That confession got him stunned silence followed by nearly uncontrollable laughter.(BMWworld.com)
While the beer can tip applies to both models you can see the influence a bit more in the Cooper as it's single tip is larger.