When you can't get a manual transmission in a small, sporty car, you know it's close to The End for manual transmissions.
Which you can no longer get in the smallest sporty car you can still get.
But why can't you get the manual in the Mini? Chiefly, because Mini — like all car companies — is under a lot of pressure to maximize the miles per gallon, which automatics are better at maximizing than manuals.
But you can still get the Mini, at least.
What It Is
The Mini Cooper is the iconic British small car made by German car company BMW. It has lots of British heritage — and German engineering.
You can get it as a two-door hardtop or a four-door hardtop, with your pick of three- or four-cylinder engines, the latter in two states of tune (hot and hotter). You can also order up an almost limitless combination of colors and trim pieces to customize your Cooper and make it uniquely yours.
Prices start at $23,400 for the base trim hardtop coupe with a 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine and seven-speed automatic transmission. The sportier S trim gets a larger, stronger 2.0-liter engine — also paired with the seven-speed automatic. The sportiest John Cooper Works trim gets the same 2.0-liter engine — but with more turbo boost and substantially more horsepower — along with an eight-speed automatic transmission.
The four-door comes in base ($24,400) and S ($28,400) trims, with the same engines and transmissions — but a bit more backseat leg and cargo room.
What's New
The main change for 2020 is the elimination of the option to manually change gears.
What's Good
It's still a lot of fun.
It has a lot of cargo space for the size.
It's a classic British car cachet — with German engineering under the union jack flag.
What's Not So Good
It's less fun without a manual option.
There's not much backseat space.
The John Cooper Works performance package is no longer offered with the four-door Mini.
Under the Hood
Both Minis come standard with a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that makes 134 horsepower — which is not very much horsepower, even for a very small car. But the horsepower deficit is compensated for by a torque surplus. The little engine makes 162 foot-pounds of torque at just 1,250 revolutions per minute, which gets the Mini to 60 mph in about 7.6 seconds.
If more horsepower — and torque — are wanted, the Mini S has you covered with a larger, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, which is also turbocharged. It makes 189 horsepower and 207 foot-pounds of torque, enough to drop the car's time to 60 mph down to just over 6 seconds.
For the most horsepower — and torque — there's the pinnacle Mini, the John Cooper Works version. It also has a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, but the output is bumped up (via more turbo boost) to 228 horsepower and 236 foot-pounds of torque. Which drops the zero to 60 mph time into the highs fives — which makes the John Cooper Works Mini one of the speediest small cars on the road.
On the Road
The Mini — either with four doors or two — is still a lot of fun to drive, even if there's less for the driver to do now that the option to shift for yourself is off the table.
Objectively, the seven- and eight-speed automatics work better with the turbo-boosted 1.5- and 2.0-liter engines because they multiply the advantages of all that low-down torque via the automatic's torque converter, which magnifies an engine's torque during initial acceleration from a standstill.
Even the 1.5-liter engine will skitter the tires if you floor it from a dead stop — with the traction control off. The 2.0-liter engine can roast them.
But the manual is more intangibly fun.
At the Curb
The Mini's look — and concept — dates back to the '60s (and England), but it hasn't gotten old (even though the car is now built by Germans).
It manages the hat trick of being cute without being feminine. Snarky without being menacing. Just about everyone likes the Mini.
Part of the reason for that — other than its makes-you-smile appearance — is its very small footprint. The two-door is only 151.9 inches long, which is about 3 feet shorter than a current midsize sedan.
And yet, it has 34 cubic feet of cargo space — about twice as much space as most midsize sedans have.
The catch is that neither the two- nor the four-door Mini has much backseat space. The coupe's 30.8 inches of legroom limit how many people can ride in the car — or, rather, how many people are willing to ride in the car.
But if you can handle four doors, you'll get a more doable 32.3 inches.
The Rest
All of the Mini's available engines require premium unleaded fuel, which is unusual for a modestly priced car aimed at people looking for economy as well as fun. This doesn't mean that using regular will damage the engine, but it does mean you probably won't get the advertised power or gas mileage out of them.
The good news is that premium gas now costs less than regular unleaded did three weeks ago.
The Bottom Line
Still cute; still fun. But it was always more fun with a clutch.
Eric's new book, "Don't Get Taken for a Ride!" is available now. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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