Earlier this year, Mini unveiled the Cooper Coupe, basically a Mini Cooper with two fewer seats, a separate trunk, and a chopped roof. Now, Mini has officially introduced the Coupe’s partner in crime, the Cooper Roadster, which features all of the above, but adds a drop-able roof.
Given that the Coupe and Roadster have been joined at the hip ever since being previewed as concepts at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show, the Roadster’s appearance should come as no surprise. As with the Coupe, most everything below the Roadster’s high waistline comes from the four-seat Cooper convertible, with some structural elements added to support its unique roof mounting points and fixed, stainless-steel rollover bars. The Roadster also features a more steeply raked windshield and an overall roof height 0.9 inch lower than that of the Cooper convertible.
The top is manual, a center-mounted latch on the windshield header allowing it to be jettisoned on the fly by Vitamin D addicts in need of a sudden fix. When stowed, the top rises no higher than the bodywork, preserving both the chopped Mini’s sleek styling and a semblance of rearward vision (unlike the Cooper convertible). Raising the roof is made easier by a button between the rollover bars that activates pneumatic springs. These springs release the top from its stowage well and pop it into a more easily reachable position.
We have but one gripe with the Roadster’s fabric roof at this point: it comes only in black, “in keeping with British roadster tradition,” according to Mini. Considering that its tin-topped twin brother offers a choice of three contrasting colors for its roof—with optional racing stripes available to match the body, no less—we half expected the Roadster to have racing stripes sewn into the fabric. But basic black it is—all the more reason to keep it stowed.
Like the Cooper Coupe, the Roadster features a surprisingly spacious trunk—and a pass-through between the seats will allow drivers to carry longer lumber without having to hang their planks through an open trunklid with an embarrassing red flag hanging off the back. Holding 8.5 cubic feet, the Roadster’s is no Lincoln Town Car well (heck, it’s not even a Cooper Coupe’s, which can fit 9.8 cubes), but it does better the Mazda Miata’s 5.3 by a useful margin.
In most other respects, the Roadster and Coupe are pretty much identical. The Roadster will mirror the model range of the coupe—as well as everything else in the Mini family—with the 121-hp base Cooper, the snappier 181-hp Cooper S, and 208-hp John Cooper Works model. Six-speed manual transmissions are standard across the board, with a six-speed automatic optional on the Cooper and Cooper S. Mini estimates that the Roadster models will take about 0.2 seconds longer than their Coupe counterparts to hustle to 60 mph from a standstill, meaning 8.7 seconds for the Cooper, 6.7 seconds for the Cooper S, and 6.3 seconds for the John Cooper Works).
Inside the Roadster, Mini serves up the same snazzy décor as it does in the Coupe. Extras include leather with contrasting piping, lots of optional trim pieces, keyless operation, an auto-dimming mirror, Harman/Kardon speakers, Recaro seats, park-distance sensors, a wind deflector, and multiple wheel/tire upgrades. Like the four-seat Mini convertible, all Roadsters will have an “Openometer” to log the amount of time spent driving with the top down.
The Mini Cooper Roadster goes on sale in the U.S. early next year, with prices likely starting around $27,000 for a base car. Based on Mini’s pricing schedule for its other models, figure on a Cooper S running about $30,000 and a JCW going for somewhere near $37,000. That’s getting awfully steep, but even more than other Coopers, this Mini is just as much fashion accessory as car. At that price, though, we’d at least hope for a power top.
