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NEW Mini Cooper C In-Depth Review: Facing The 2001 R50 Legend!
23 years since it's reinvention, Mini might have made another fun filled icon. But has our appetite for fun cars changed too much for it to be relevant? Sam Sheehan investigates in this seriously fun review.
The new Mini Cooper C 3-Door might look like an evolution of the last car, but it's actually much more than that. The 2024 Cooper gets a revamped look (especially at the back), while inside it's been positively transformed with a bespoke digital infotainment system and a new dashboard. This F66 Cooper feels like a big departure from what's come before, which begs the question: Is it a true 21st-century Mini?
The best way to answer that question is to introduce the new Mini Cooper to the original BMW offering, the R50 Mini Cooper that launched way back in 2001 (so it's a modern classic in its own right). With a 1,075kg kerbweight and peppy 115hp 1.6-litre petrol engine, the manual gearbox R50 was - and still is - a real hoot to drive, even in an urban environment.
The new automatic gearbox-only car might not be much bigger on the ground (its wheelbase is just 29mm longer than the R50's), but it is much heavier, tipping scales at 1,335kg, thanks in no small part to its more substantial front crash structure and the extra tech aboard this 2024 model. It does at least have much more muscle, with 156hp produced by its turbocharged 1.5-litre engine.
MINI F66 Cooper C vs MINI R50 Bilder Video Test.jpg
That punch ensures power-to-weight is up in the F66 versus the much lighter R50, with the former producing 124hp-per-tonne, compared to the latter's 107hp-per-tonne. That translates into a quicker 0-62mph time of 7.7 seconds for the 2024 Cooper, which easily beats the 2001-2006 model's 9.2 seconds. But straight-line speed is only ever part of the equation when it comes to fun in a Cooper.
That brings us to our video, where Sam Sheehan considers fun, engagement and usability in evaluating whether this new F66 Mini Cooper C looks, feels and drives like a proper BMW-era Mini. We hope you enjoy it!