Detroit 2009: MINI Cooper Convertible chills out
by Alex Nunez on Jan 11th 2009 at 5:34PM 
Click above for a high-res image gallery of the new MINI Cooper Convertible
We'll be straight with you. We missed the MINI press conference. We know, we know... the horror. Anyway, you didn't exactly need to be Kojak to figure out what happened. The 2009 MINI Convertible drove out of a simulated ice block with a couple made up all frozen-like in the front seats. As for the car, well, it's pretty self explanatory. Available in March, it finally ditches the last-gen engines for the NA and turbocharged 1.6L fours available in the hardtop Cooper and Cooper S. Other changes? The trunk's roomier, the interior gets brought up-to-date, and the rollbar becomes a pop-up unit, significantly improving rearward visibility and giving the Cooper a much cleaner top-down profile. Finally, cute-gimmickry overload is fully achieved with the addition of the "Openometer," an add-on gauge that tracks the amount of time spent motoring with the top down. Adorable, right? Chicks are gonna dig it.
Gallery: 2009 MINI Cooper Convertible
Live photos copyright ©2009 Alex Núñez / Weblogs, Inc.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
firstplace 5:41PM (1/11/2009)
Now if only they would drop a 2.0 turbo of somesort in it....
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Travis 6:15PM (1/11/2009)
why? it handles great, is only 2600lbs (the hardtop), and gives you 36mpg on the highway. if anything, I'd beg BMW to squeeze a little more power out of the current 1.6. The JCW option can get you up to 189hp with just a software upgrade, and the JCW MINI has a stock 207hp. either would be preferable to a bigger, heavier engine if it's going to throw off the balance, but both options are quite expensive... C'mon BMW, throw us a bone here!!
firstplace 7:08PM (1/11/2009)
bigger isn't always heavier. Point taken on the weight, the 260lbs is great but they really should give 200hp/200lbft to compete with the wrx's, gti's, and mazdaspeeds of the world. It probably wouldent alter fuel consumption much, torque actually tends to help.
PJ 2:02AM (1/12/2009)
It has enough torque steer with the turbo 1.6... the prev-gen car was better in that regard.
Jrejre 5:46PM (1/11/2009)
"Man Struck By Lightning While Trying to Set Openometer World Record"
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Mobius_1 6:25PM (1/11/2009)
Those wheels do look good, but that openometer is just that, a gimmick, not very useful IMHO. But I think the canopy with the roof folded down looks quite cool, a good throwback to the convertible hatches of old.
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TyWright 7:26PM (1/11/2009)
Toooooo bad it has a FAKE HOOD SCOOP!!! I'm sad every time I see a new Cooper S.
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Travis 8:26PM (1/11/2009)
so get the CAI and turn it into a functioning hood scoop. no need to cry...
Rev 4:32AM (1/12/2009)
I wouldn't want to drive a Mini but if I had to I'd rather just get a regular hood on an S. I never understood what type of person chooses to pay extra for a sporty car but is satisfied with the fact the "sporty" car they just spent all that money on has completely useless (and fairly ridiculous) "sporty" features. I would pay extra to get rid of the scoop just cuz I don't have a major need for one. Who knows - maybe it helps with aerodynamics...
Between the cuteness, the checkerboard/stripe crap, the fakeness and this cute-o-meter - it's a little cringworthy...
Michael 7:52PM (1/11/2009)
"Hey, girl, check out how open I am. You can see it on the /Openometer/. Yeah. I'm awesome."
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apearlman 8:57PM (1/11/2009)
I have nothing useful to say about this car.
But those wheels remind me of all the Matchbox cars I had as a kid.
Here's an example: check out the Viper's "rims".
http://www.odinartcollectables.com/images/matchbox%20Dodge%20Viper%20rt-10.jpg
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JayP 10:27PM (1/11/2009)
Openometer, my butt.
I drove an MGB throughout my college days and put the top up only 5 times. That's only 5 days in 7 years folks!!
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J-son 11:18PM (1/11/2009)
Leave to the Germans to figure a way to turn enjoyment into just another metric to be analyzed
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James 11:39PM (1/11/2009)
Chicks are going to dig it? Does that mean I can't like it, too? Because I do...
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glhs076 12:13AM (1/12/2009)
Nice car with Mopar power. Always laugh at fools that put a BMW M on a car that has a SOHC 1.6L Neon engine under the hood. Now it has the world engine chrysler makes. If your going to do a FWD swap why not go all the way with the 285 WHP SRT 4 engine (not the first time they lied about crank HP).
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Vega 4:18AM (1/12/2009)
Yeah, that was true for the last generation Mini. It was also the weakest part of the whole package. The new engines were constructed in cooperation with Peugeot and have now thankfully arrived at current state of the art levels in term of NVH, economy etc.
David 7:46AM (1/12/2009)
So ignorant!
The new engines are PSA-BMW joint ventures, as the other poster alluded to.
I have a first-gen MINI. Despite what you say, and despite it being true, I've had ZERO engine issues, and my car is still a blast to drive, 4 years later, so who's laughing now?
glhs076 10:56AM (1/12/2009)
you can have Indy port your head and have 275 CFM intake flow with the SOHC head. Also the 2.4L short block can be bolted to it. Problem is the tiny SC they came with. But you can do a ton with the NA model. Who assembles an engine doesn't change where it came from, the new mini is still Mopar powered. Just like the Honda SUV with a 3.5 is Chevy powered. Ignorant Americans believe there products are junk. So these import builders have to go out of there way to make you believe there is some thing different under the hood. Chysler has built there own 4 cylinder FWD engines out side the US since 1964. They just couldn't sell the cars here parked next to a Hemi car lol.
PJ 2:01AM (1/12/2009)
Anyone who calls the Cooper S a "chick car" hasn't autocrossed one. Unless they mean chicks with a taste for lift-throttle oversteer.
The pop-up rollbar solves the single biggest problem with the prev-gen convertible; it had almost zero rear visibility with the top up.
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glhs076 11:04AM (1/12/2009)
I agree, the first Mini S is something. First FWD that you can rotate nuetral like a FWD Shelby Auto. The steering is also very fast like the Shelby's, great autocross car. Lift to rotate with out hitting the brakes hard and killing speed. The power and ballence to suck the back end down and pull the front end through. The S is also a liar like any other boosted Mopar with as much WHP as rated at the crank. As the mini is a "cute" car it has to win its respect though.