Luxury Hatch

Exterior: size on the outside is one thing being a hatch, once you get inside one you'll see how much space this car actually have. Design was changed after BMW took over the MINI in 2001, and made the huge difference in the car not only to the out side but to the interiors and the technicalities of the car.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort): Audio system is a bliss, the quality materials used will show you your worthy spend, space wise this car has a lot of room to seat 4 adults and a 10-12 year child easily.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox: The standard 1.6L naturally aspirated engine is what drives this hatch which produces 122BHP@6000RPM & 160NM@4250RPM whereas the other 1.6L optimised engine on the S model produces 180BHP@5500RPM & 240NM@1600RPM (basically it's a 1.6L engine with a turbo). Fuel economy is great with this small engin size you can easily get over 11-12 KMPL in the city and over 15-16 KMPL on the highways. All the models comes with a standard gearbox except for Mini S model which in addition has Paddle Shifters.

Ride Quality & Handling: Ride quality is excellent specially when you carner this car you feel the suspension and the low profile tyres that it runs on, the positioning of the gearbox is just perfect for you to make appropriate down/up shifts, specially if you love a manual gearbox. Handling is also really nice with added features as standard from the BMW (after it's aquisition) like: Drive by wire, BMW's Cornering Brake Control, and ofcourse there are other options like ABS With EBD, TCS, ECS.

Final Words: In my opinion this is a great buy if your'e a Mini Cooper Fan, Talking about price tag you can not help it if you have to buy, you buy it at the offering price and even if the price is lowered down what do you think you'll get it for 10-15 L? a maximum bargain you might get is a 5-10% and this would not matter to a person ready to spend this kind of money over a hatch.

Info on the site is not really helping the potential buyers and the people like the other reviewer who says people will go for other sedans/SUVs in this price range, well mate this is not a car for everyone to buy that's why it has a hefty price tag, moreover it's for enthusiasts only.

Areas of improvement: In a country like India BMW not only on Mini but in BMW automobiles should also not give run flat tyres as they have a poor life here as the conditions of roads are not like the one's Germany/USA/UK/Australia. Introduction of RFT's is the most stupidest thing BMW ever did in india without considering the roads condition. A RFT cost somwhere between 19-20K for 5-Series (2012,May Price) and when punctured they tell the customers to get it replaced. 19-20K is not a small amount even for a person who can afford to buy a 40L car to get a flat tyre fixed. Going out of city is really daring if you don't buy a space saver spare.