MINI Cooper blows its top with 2005 convertible
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — The term “mini†has been used to designate all things small, but as a stand-alone term it has become the possession of the Mini – the modern and sophisticated version of a small, squarish, British car born in the late 1960s.
In fact, the Mini Cooper is credited as the source for the term “miniskirt,” a device which undoubtedly must have looked most stunning when viewed from the low-slung seat of a Mini. The people who immediately connect the word Mini with the little square four-seater these days are of a new generation. They may scarcely recall the original, but it doesnÂ’t matter. They know what they like, and they like the Mini Cooper, which was reborn two years ago, courtesy of German car-maker BMW.
Two years ago, telling someone you were buying, or driving, a Mini might have been met with a quizzical look or a blank stare. But the past two years not only have entrenched Mini Cooper name, but made it strong enough to introduce an entirely new model – the 2005 MINI Cooper convertible. Where the Mini Cooper coupe is both cute and macho, the MINI Cooper convertible has a more severe dose of cute, without lessening its cheeky aggressiveness.
This week, BMW chose to introduce the new MINI Cooper convertible in Minneapolis. Car makers strive to dazzle the media with far-flung trips to the California coast, or to exotic resorts, but Minneapolis was chosen for being uncharacteristic. As the most sprawling, bustling city in Minnesota, Minneapolis is comparatively unknown as part of flyover country to the continent-hopping auto marketers. Perfect. For a city that used to boast about being the “Mini-apple†to New York’s “Big Apple,†and as the cultural hub of a state widely nicknamed “Minny,†timing was just right for the city’s debut as a car intro site.
Company officials stress that MINI Cooper convertible buyers should keep the top down 90 percent of the time, delivering all of them in top-down mode, and asking owners to sign a contract in triplicate vowing to try to keep the top down except for specific situations, such as the temperature dropping below freezing. Turning on the heaters is OK when it’s chilly, and raising the windows with the top down is allowed, although only for the meek. One compromise is possible. Push a button, and the leading edge of the convertible starts sliding back, stopping after opening 16 inches. A sunroof in a convertible – who could have thought of such an idea? Another push of the button, and the top folds the rest of the way back, then down, stashing neatly behind the twin-hoop rollbars behind the rear seats
Another push of the button, and the top goes the rest of the way. In Minneapolis, in January, clever marketing will take a back seat to the warmth of its secure-fitting top, when facing a blast of sub-zero air.
“Mini-apolis – the City of Mini,†said Gert Hildebrand, the MINI Cooper convertible’s designer. He followed the basic principles that always have governed the Mini’s boxy design, from a form-follows-function concept, to an emotional sculpture, leaving the boxy exterior, the surprisingly spacious interior built around four occupants, and the spunk and stance from having all four wheels stretched out to the extremities.
“The Mini always was built to be a convertible, since it started as the Austin Mini in 1959, and its authenticity asted until the replacement was designed in 2000,†said Hildebrand. “We still followed the five basic senses – seeing, which is your first impression; feeling, where you can tell the quality; hearing, the sound of the engineÂ’s power; smelling, the classic leather interior; and taste, which does not mean weÂ’ve built a chocolate car, but it is one that lets you eat up the road.Ââ€
The car generates favorable responses from everybody. Imagine the thumbs-up signals when a 25-convertible stream of MINI Coopers cruised by in an irregular, 25-car caravan from Le Meridien Hotel in Downtown Minneapolis, then east on Interstate 94 before routes down the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River, and back up on the Wisconsin side, before crossing again at Taylors Falls, for a little close-order driving gymkhana at the Wild Mountain ski area parking lot, where quickness and handling were exemplary.
The original Mini was fitted with a race engine from the John Cooper Works race shop, also in England, which transformed the original to the Mini Cooper, and it quickly became popular among enthusiasts and autocross racers because of its light weight, compact size and potent engine. The British automobile industry was a victim of its own eccentricities, BMW took over. The new Mini Cooper retains the British charm, is freed of eccentricities, and has been an overachiever in the marketplace.
The new Mini Cooper was targeted for 20,000 U.S. sales, and instead sold 32,000. Last year, its second, saw the Mini Cooper hit 36,000 sales. The Mini Cooper convertible starts at $21,500, with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, boasting dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and 115 horsepower with 111 foot-pounds of torque. ThatÂ’s enough to pull the front-wheel-drive, 2,700-pound box from 0-60 in 8.9 seconds. If you choose to replace the five-speed stick with a four-speed automatic, the 0-60 run is 10.2 seconds.
That car is ideal for people seeking a commuter-friendly vehicle with adequate power and impressive fuel economy, and for those who want more, the MINI Cooper S is there for enthusiasts. The same four-cylinder engine, jointly built by BMW and Chrysler in Brazil, is supercharged, boosting power to 168 horses and torque to 162 foot-pounds, with a six-speed manual that lowers 0-60 runs to only 7 seconds. Performance is snappy, and the car stays flat and stable while turning abruptly and stopping instantaneously with its four-wheel discs and available brake-distribution assist.
MINI executives figure their convertibles will ultimately account for 30 percent of sales, which would thrust it right up there with the New Beetle Cabrio, and into territory reserved for the Chrysler Sebring, Ford Mustang or Thunderbird – the top three convertibles in U.S. sales.
Perhaps the best feature of the MINI convertible is that it is entirely as much fun as the regular Mini. I once wrote that “it is impossible to drive the Mini Cooper without a smile on your face.†That also goes for the convertible version, which still holds four occupants, even if the rear seat residents would best be short people or kids.
The interior is really slick, with a large tachometer visible through the steering wheel and a large speedometer centrally located on the dash, or the chrono option, which has both a speedometer and tach on the steering wheel column, and a large instrument resembling a chronograph watch in the center dash location.
With front-wheel drive biting for traction, razor-sharp steering and handling, and a tight 34.8-foot turning circle, the MINI carves its own path in maneuverability – just as it has in the automotive segment. Large vehicle and SUV fanciers alike would appreciate the benefits of small cars, if all small cars were as fun to drive as the MINI Cooper convertible.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns. He can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Five Hundred could carry Ford securely into 2005
The “Big Three†of United States automotive corporations are reinventing themselves these days, veering away from preoccupation with trucks to refocus on full-size sedans. In that scenario, Ford Motor Company introduces the 2005 Ford Five Hundred, which breaks new ground in several ways.
First, the Five Hundred is conservatively styled without gimmicks or frills, but it is a provocative and reasonable sedan that restrains itself from getting caught up in the current tendencies of too much power and winter-challenged rear-wheel drive. It is gratifying to see a company resist those trends, and the Five Hundred appears willing to choose safety and economy over power and pizzazz.
Uncontroversial styling might have better staying power, at that. The Five Hundred is one foot shorter than the aging Crown Victoria and three inches longer than the Taurus, with more rear legroom and trunk capacity than either. Rumors of eliminating the Taurus are premature; the Five Hundred will complement the Taurus, not replace it. At least, not until the trusty Taurus fulfills a couple more years of fleet duty.
Another trend Ford bucked is that companies are acquiring other companies to expand their global presence, and itÂ’s only reasonable to combine models. But after buying Volvo, instead of rebadging the next Taurus or Explorer and forcing the clone on the Swedish company, Ford helped streamline VolvoÂ’s path to create new vehicles, which raised world standards for progressive safety structure.
The Volvo S80 sedan and its truck-of-the-year XC-90 sibling, are built on the “P2†platform, which emerged from considerable time in Volvo’s sophisticated Gothenburg safety center, where frontal, front-corner, rear, side, and rollover crash-tests led to comprehensive safety designs. The S80 and XC-90 might be the safest vehicles on the planet, with ingenious structures designed to absorb, deflect and ultimately control crash energy, while the layering of the different grades of steel – the heaviest used in pillars, roof and side structure – keep occupants in a cocoon.
For the Five Hundred, Ford summoned VolvoÂ’s P2 platform for the underpinnings of the Five Hundred. OK, Ford doesnÂ’t use the costliest, high-strength steel that makes the Volvo unwavering in its safety zeal, but good steel and the structural design make the Five Hundred unquestionably the safest Ford sedan ever built.
A Ford body, with a Ford-designed interior, and a Ford engine driving the front wheels, wrap around that structure. Ford also borrows VolvoÂ’s Haldex all-wheel-drive system, a device that electronically directs full power to the front wheels, but reacts in 50 milliseconds to shift as much torque as prudent to the rear wheels. You donÂ’t need all-wheel drive all the time, and in this case you only get it when conditions determine that you need it.
With a base price of $22,795, the car comes quite well-equipped in basic SE form, with SEL and Limited as upgrades. Base price for the all-wheel-drive version is $24,500, and Ford has taken great pains to gather its options on packages that are under $1,000.
“Command seating†puts occupants comfortably up tall, four inches taller than in a Taurus, with a good view and remarkable space. Trunk-space is 21.2 cubic feet, and that’s before folding down the rear seat. Inside, you may be completely unaware that you are in a car officially classified as “midsize,†because of all the spaciousness. You also won’t know you are surrounded by more than just all possible airbags, by a ring of steel, integrated with a frontal energy-management design directing the force of a blow to the lower frame rails and cross-members. Ford claims that the Five Hundred remained perfect from the A-pillar forward in a 35-mph frontal crash.
There will be enthusiasts who will complain about not having enough power. “Enough†is the operative word here. No, the 3.0-liter V6 won’t dust off your neighborhood drag-racer, but it is sophisticated, if small. It has chain-driven overhead camshafts, one over each bank, with four valves per cylinder. Everything is electronic on the engine, including the gas feed, which is computer-coordinated with the transmissions.
As it is, the engine has 203 horsepower at 5,750 RPMs and 207 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 RPMs. ThatÂ’s not a lot, in these days of runaway power. The transmissions themselves help the car achieve acceptable acceleration levels, with 0-60 times under nine seconds. The engine lacks twin cams on each head, or variable valve-timing, but that leaves room for future refinement. Besides, it helps keep emissions lower than the standards demand, and helps fuel economy rank in the upper 20s.
The front-wheel-drive Five Hundred has a six-speed automatic available, while the all-wheel-drive car has a CVT – continuously variable transmission. The problem with U.S. buyers getting accustomed to CVTs is that the transmission shifts constantly, but feels as though it’s not shifting at all. So you step on the gas, the sound level comes up a bit, but then it holds, without increasing as the car goes faster and faster.
ItÂ’s very smooth, and surprising. At the first introductory drive opportunity of the cars north of Chicago, I pulled up to a stoplight on a four-lane highway in a rural region. My drive partner and a Ford designer were on board with me in the all-wheel-drive version with the CVT. Next to us, another Five Hundred stopped with two people aboard. Their car was front-drive with the six-speed automatic. Nobody else was in the vicinity, so we had to go for it when the light changed.
A cynic might say that the little V6 engines couldn’t make the big and spacious sedans go fast enough to be accused of drag-racing, but the surprise was that we pulled ahead slightly on launch, gave up about five feet when the other car shifted to second, then we pulled away slightly again. It turned out, we had two more similarly vacant intersections and repeated the impromptu “test,†and the result was the same each time. We figured their car, being lighter with front-drive only and with two on board instead of three, and having the six-speed against the CVT might have a big edge. But the AWD and CVT prevailed.
Speaking of alpha-numeric identification, itÂ’s wearisome how ferocious images of Barracudas, Firebirds, Eagles, Hawks, Rockets, Chargers, Challengers, and Sting Rays have been transformed into a mind-numbing array of cars named S60, WRX, G35, XLR, CTS, STS, and, for all we know, XYZ. Ford decided to rename its newest cars after past winners, but found GT-40 was copyrighted and had to settle for GT, then Futura was taken, so it needs a new name for its next new midsize sedan.
Ford did use “500†to distinguish its top sedans decades ago, so it rekindled that name for its newest car, with the provision that it gets spelled out – Five Hundred, instead of 500 – for a perceived touch of class. We can only hope Ford will spare us the Edsel, Pinto and Falcon. Please.
At any rate, by whatever name, Ford officials declare the Five Hundred will be the flagship of an entirely new car strategy. Market trends showed sedan buyers were moving upscale, with an ever-increasing demand for more features, more room and more luxury, while smaller sedans were decreasing in popularity, with customers going toward SUV.
Into those seemingly separate trends, Ford dropped the Five Hundred as a vehicle that does both. It provides more room and features than most sedans, while offering up-tall seating, spacious legroom, enormous cargo capacity, and all-wheel drive benefits that used to be the domain of crossover SUVs.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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