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2004 MINI Cooper Classic Road Test

All the Fun at an Affordable Price

I must admit that I had forgotten the liberating feeling of being behind the wheel of a MINI. I had forgotten what a great time I had during my "mini" golfing road trip, traveling up and down the winding mountain highway just outside of town for kicks, and pulling all the envious eyeballs while cruising around in the ultimate automotive "funster!"

But all my forgotten feelings were reinforced when testing out the 2004 MINI Cooper. Although the Cooper is the base version when compared to the supercharged Cooper S, it brings almost as much life and pizzazz to the road and its driver.

Tom Hanks, in

Although toned down a little, the MINI Cooper base brings just as much life and pizzazz to the road. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press)

"Forrest Gump," described life as "a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get." The MINI typifies this philosophy, as its just full of surprises. It takes driving a vehicle to an all-new level with distinctive interior styling, go-kart-like handling, and a bubbly personality overall.

Talking about surprises, it wasnt

The tiny cars fuel economy is what really blew me away, and was a welcomed surprise in the face of steadily rising gas prices. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press)

the cars exceptional handling that comes due to its 4-wheel independent sport suspension, nor the standard premium 6-speaker AM/FM/CD audio system, and not the amount of people space in the cozy cabin that took me off guard. No, its the tiny tots fuel economy at 28 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway. Yes, its fuel economy blew me away. Maybe its the current price at the pump that caused me to take notice, but either way it was welcome.

After a week and 350 plus miles, I was still running on a single tank of gas. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press) align="justify">After all, every time Ive had a MINI is in my possession Ive made an effort to drive it as much as possible. My efforts paid off when I finished the week having put a total of 351 miles on the odometer (not as much as during my 2003 Cooper S test week, but nevertheless a good figure). And I bring up fuel economy because all my 350 plus miles came from one, I repeat, one tank of gas (13.2 gallon fuel capacity) which ended up costing $23.00 to refill. That was music to my ears, and money in the wallet.

So where did I drive to achieve

The MINI is equipped with a 1.6-liter, 4 cylinder, 16-valve, SOHC engine, producing 115-hp. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press)

such figures? Well, nowhere special other than my local ski resort. Like most of my weeklong tests, I kept busy driving to and from university, running errands, and just plain driving for the heck of it. Can you blame me? But not all cars inspire me to drive for the fun of it. After a long day of working I find it relaxing to wind down with an evening drive into the sunset. The MINI is the ideal therapy, with my favorite music playing on the better than average audio system, my hair dancing from the wind funneled through the standard power windows, and my back enjoying the comfort of the leatherette bucket seats.

The Cooper features a 1.6-liter,

The little car that could is affordable in base trim. (Photo: Alexandra Straub, American Auto Press)

4 cylinder, 16-valve, SOHC unit producing 115 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 110 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm. Even though the its not laced with a supercharger like the S, it still romps around town with decent acceleration for its (engine) size; 0 to 60 mph in 9.1 seconds. The 0 to 60 mph time in the standard 5-speed manual transmission with overdrive, the one I had during my test week, shaves off 1.2 seconds in comparison to the optional automatic engine. This is just another reason why I prefer manual transmissions to automatic ones; I get more bounce to the ounce!

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