I hate the Mini......not because of the 'it's not a real BMW' debate. If it's designed by, made by, and sold by BMW, then it's part of the family. I just always thought it was a car that tried too hard. It was twee and fiddly for the sake of it. So it was with no pleasure that I was lent a Mini Cooper D last week. Now it wasn't love at first sight. Of course it had the obligatory black stripes on the bonnet, and after sitting myself in the drivers seat, I was surrounded with a whole mess of random switches and dials in the wrong places. Why does the tiny rev counter sit above the steering column?
It was antithesis of every bit of BMW’s fine ergonomics. So I set off on my 80 mile journey home, and after sticking £35 of diesel in, headed through the pouring rain.
I didn't drive the car much the next day, but on the following day had to pick the kids up from school and decided to use the Mini.
So in the spirit of a car I did not particularly like, I gave it a proper thrashing. Now I don’t mean I drove like an idiot, I'm not one for using the road like a race track, but I drove the diesel like I would an old petrol hot hatch, and the whole thing came together. The engine was smooth and punchy, revved freely and did not for one moment sound like a diesel. The ride was fluid, the steering precise, the gear change a delight. When I had to give the car back, it still had over half a tank of fuel in it...... And you know what? I fell in love with that little Mini. I ended up loving the fact that every switch was in the wrong place, and every action required me to think about what I was doing.
So it was with great regret that I returned that Mini to the garage. In a strange way the Mini’s real charms are not in its looks, they are in its talents which run very deep.
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