The Santa Ana wind swept in strong after a weak El Nino, blazing a trail of hot, dry air from east of the San Gabriel mountains down into Los Angeles.
It was near 30 C in the middle of February, when we turned onto Sunset Boulevard driving top-down in a Mini Convertible. It was a metallic blue colour, same as the sky. It felt wrong, but so right.
The drop-top Mini is a perfectly camp companion for Sunset Boulevard. New for 2016 is a Union flag imprint on the folding canvas roof. The strip of light around the console glows red when you put the car in Sport Mode. A cute little car pops up on the central screen with cartoon thought bubbles – the Mini is thinking of go-karts and rockets. “Let’s Motor Hard!” it says on the screen.
Mini is trying to move a little up-market – or at least more adult – to broaden its lineup to include a full-range of cars from coupes to convertibles to a five-door hatchback and even a wagon. But the cars still have that calculated sense of silliness the Germans brought with them when BMW took over the company in the mid-1990s.
The difference now is that Mini’s goofiness is juxtaposed with such adult luxuries as cottonwood trim and dark truffle punch leather – a $1,500 option on the Cooper S – which covers the seats in a diamond-print burgundy cowhide. Reading the brochure, you’d think you were looking at the options list for a new low-rise condo development; it has everything expect parquet floors.
It’s not until we take a right onto Laurel Canyon and drive up into the Hollywood Hills that it becomes evident what else is new with this Mini Convertible: it’s nice to drive. The shimmy and shudder of the old model is gone thanks to a stiffer body structure. The road is narrow and rough with blind corners that require constant attention, but the car tracks true, inspiring confidence. It doesn’t bang through potholes like it used to. The longer wheelbase has helped to smooth out the ride.
By the time we hit Mulholland Drive, I don’t feel as if my fillings are coming lose. The Mini may have lost a bit of that go-kart feel, but it’s a trade worth making for this new-found comfort. The car is perfectly pleasant where the old model was a bit rough. One of the Mini’s engineers explained they’d done a lot of work on upgrading the rear suspension and isolating the cabin from suspension noise. Job well done. There’s nothing revolutionary about the new Mini, it’s just better.
According to local lore, the Santa Ana wind makes people crazy. Joan Didion once wrote some school teachers won’t even try to hold regular classes during a Santa Ana because children become unmanageable. By midafternoon, there’s still not a cloud in the sky. There are people surfing in Santa Monica without wetsuits. Maybe it’s this weather, but the Mini Convertible is making a lot of sense. For the first time, it all makes sense.
You’ll like this car if ... You live for tanlines, sunglasses and dream of an endless summer.
TECH SPECS
Base Price: $27,990 (Cooper); $32,240 (Cooper S)
Engine: 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo; 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Transmissions: Six-speed manual or six-speed auto
Fuel economy (litres/100 km): TBD
Drive: Front-wheel drive
Alternatives: Fiat 500c, Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet
RATINGS
Looks: It’s perfectly in keeping with the rest of the new Mini lineup, looking exactly like somebody simply chopped the roof off the coupe.
Interior: To properly experience all the Mini’s camp glory, you’ve got to shell out for some options. They don’t come cheap, and you can easily add $8,000 to the sticker price. But the basics of the new cabin are an improvement. It’s more spacious – at least in the front seats – and quieter, too.
Performance: The basic Cooper gets 134 horsepower while the Cooper S gets 189. Our test drive only included the S, which felt punchy in city driving with sharp throttle response. But from experience, even 134 hp is enough to make the relatively lightweight Mini feel fun.
Technology: High-tech stuff such as dynamic dampers and a heads-up display are now available. But the real centrepiece is the roof, which folds down in 18 seconds while driving at speeds of up to 29 km/h. Don’t want to put the roof all the way down? No problem, you can just fold back the front, creating a makeshift sunroof.
Cargo: The trunk is 25 per cent larger than before, so you might actually be able to fit something into it.
The Verdict
8.0
A solid, fun, affordable convertible.
The writer was a guest of the auto maker. Content was not subject to approval.
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