Mini Cooper S R53 - What makes it so great

hello and welcome to the very first video here on all things technical today i would like to introduce you to my mini cupress r53 in this video i would like to show you what makes this generation of mini cooper s so special and why this out of all of the mini cooper s's is the one to have in my opinion but before we can dive into specifics let's set the scene a little the first mini the classy one no the ones basically looking like this were introduced back in 1959 and were built up until the 90s almost looking identical throughout the whole time one of the features that made these cars stand out is that they are front wheel drive with a very small transverse mounted engine which made it possible to create a very short bonnet and keep the whole length of the car at only around three meters while still providing enough space inside to seat four people the tiny wheels were pushed out as far as possible to maximize the interior space they were described as having a wheel at every corner the mini was tiny practical and a lot of fun to drive it became an icon very quickly but an update to more modern times was necessary and in 2001 the new mini was presented to the world now owned by bmw it looked like this that was the base version the mini one followed by the slightly more powerful mini cooper and then the next year the mini cooper s came out the most powerful production mini at the time until the john cooper works once came along then in 2004 there was a facelift that changed a few visual and technical things and this is the mini we have here this mini cooper s is known as the r53 it was built in 2006 which is the last year they made the first generation of the new mini the r53 was then replaced by the r56 which is quite a different car i do like the r56 i just like the r53 a little better let's take a closer look and here we see a profile of it does that shape remind you of something that stubby bonnet the steam windshield i mean it looks like it's losing its rear wheels there so far out the back the shape is very reminiscent of the classic mini [Music] there we go not bad well the r53 is of course a lot bigger than the original minis but in comparison to more modern cars it is still a very small car it is short and it is narrow i mean look how short that bonnet is it's only around this long that is basically the size of the front wheel which is quite large admittedly this is a 17-inch wheel and therefore is about twice the size of the wheels of an original mini these by the way are the john cooper works alloys which suit this car rather nicely i think one other thing that strikes you is how long the doors are compared to the length of the car they are massive but that means getting in and out of it is very easy provided you can get the door open and behind the door there's a chromed fuel filler cap and then the car basically ends i mean if you look where the roof line ends that's just that's above the rear wheel when you come around the back we see one of the trademarks of all new mini coopers and that is this twin exhaust in the middle here it was presumably inspired by classic racing minis which often had one single exhaust pipe coming out the middle and the designers of the modern mini crew presses probably thought that would look a bit too strange so they put two pipes there i don't know if that did the trick because i still think it looks a little odd they remind me a bit of soda cans but at least vixel sounds quite nice let's have a quick lesson [Music] now since we're on the back it's worth having a look at the rear lights there's nothing special about them they're just nice and small just like on the original mini the second generation ever gained some large rear lights with bigger chrome surrounds which just makes the whole car look a little bulkier but let's go around the front and here we see the typically friendly face of a mini it looks a little cute but also purposeful with that wide stance the second generation gained some bigger headlights with even bigger chrome surrounds and the whole bonnet grew in height due to pedestrian safety issues which makes the second generation again look a little bulkier don't get me wrong they still look nice that just didn't look as elegant as the first generation so what we have here is a retro styled car with actual connections to the past which makes this look believable but that's not only retro styling on the outside there's retro styling on the inside too so let's check out the interior this is nice isn't it that is because this is the park lane trim which gets you these lovely leather seats and the chrome surrounds for the instruments well let's address the speedometer situation first when this car was new everyone was shocked by the size and the placement of it there was a giant dinner plate in the middle of the dashboard but this is just another way to tie in with the past the classic minis in the early days famously had a single speedometer right in the middle and nothing really else they were a functional car not styled over the top but simple and practical the interior reflects that quite nicely i think it's simple there's a dashboard in a very traditional shape there's one big dial in the middle and under it is the utility area there are stacks of black boxes that do stuff radio climate control and then of course the row of standard toggle switches for a few further functions it's all very understated they are there to be used and don't desperately try to look pretty and yes the speedometer is big but not comically big and well the size of it only grew since then all in all the whole interior of the new minis of the following generations got more and more playful they gained ornamental surroundings around the toggle switches and usable elements tried to look like the mini logo they created their own style which was something new and different but not really connected to the idea of the classic mini and this is what i love about the looks and the style of the first generation of the new mini cupresses it's believable it's faithful and it's well balanced at least in my opinion but there's one more area where this car is very retro and that is in the engine department right in front of my knees so let's go and have a quick look [Music] well this actually functional bonnet scoop here is a telltale sign that there is something special under the bonnet and in order to get it to open one needs to find the lever the right hand side footwell then walk around the front of the card to the right find the lever here and the bonnet opens should you ever want to signal airplanes or attract ufos get a first gen mini because the headlamps are facing skywards now all that is left in the engine bay are some sad looking dead eyes and here we are now how did people make power in the past well with a supercharger yes this tiny little 1.6 litre engine is supercharged to make around 170 horsepower in the standard configuration and here you can see that the bonnet scoop actually serves a function it feeds the intercooler that is sitting on top of the supercharger with air this really is the most old-school way of making power it might not be the most fuel efficient but it is cool and it makes a very entertaining noise when at speed so i think you should hear that supercharger in action so i would suggest let's go for a quick drive so what's the first impression when starting to drive well it is the initial shock of how heavy everything is the clutch the steering the gear lever everything requires a lot of force to operate especially the clutch so i'm not sure if that is normal but all in all everything is nicely weighted and especially the weight in the steering is a very good thing because if it was any lighter you would look like a drunk person driving around because uh the slightest movements in the steering wheel will translate into rapid changes in direction another thing that is noticeable is how light and airy it is in here the visibility is fantastic there is a lot of glass around you which makes the space feel a lot larger than it actually is well in this case that is helped by the glass sunroof in this particular example but no matter where you look you always see what's around you which is pretty cool the windscreen is very steep which makes a lot of wind noise and also makes it necessary to carry a bottle of windscreen cleaner in the boot because it kills more insects than pesticides do in case you have overseen a bump in the road you'll be informed of its existence as soon as the front wheels get to it because the sport suspension transmits even the smallest bumps directly to you so the ride is quite hard but this suspension keeps the car unbelievably flat through corners and it is after all the handling that makes this car so great to drive and luckily there are some very bendy roads ahead this car is so agile it's unbelievable you turn the wheel and the car turns it doesn't start to lean for us or anything it just turns as if it wasn't caught on a roller coaster luckily it's equipped with sports seats which do a remarkable job of keeping you in the car the power delivery isn't as instant as expected from a supercharger the engine produces its peak torque at around four and a half thousand rpm so you need to rev it quite high if you want to accelerate quickly and it is at around 4000 rpm where you start hearing the supercharger doing its job apparently that wine is reminiscent of the straight cut gearboxes of classic racing minis the following generations of mini cooper s were and still are equipped with turbocharger which boosts fuel economy and even the engine's agility but they also lost the craziness and the noise of the supercharger this cooper s might not be the fastest or the most practical car ever made but it is so much fun to drive it really has its own character its own personality it doesn't only have a very friendly face it also has a very lively and playful nature thank you for watching i hope you enjoyed it if you did leave a like and uh should you be interested in diy content then go check out my other channel called all things diy

Channel: ATT - All Things Technical

Views: 17,801

Rating: 4.9443154 out of 5

Keywords: automotive, car, Mini, Cooper, Auto, Mini Cooper S, R53

Id: AsKcp5e-kU0

Length: 13min 1sec (781 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 22 2020