2025 MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door – Review by David Colman

Even without a manual stick, it's still great fun to drive

David Colman

Photos and Story by David Colman
Special Correspondent
THE AUTO CHANNEL

The late John Cooper would be turning over in his grave if he knew that for 2025, BMW is offering a "Cooper S" MINI without a manual gearbox. Cooper, a maverick race car constructor, not only pioneered the move to rear engines in Formula 1 back in 1950, but also built and fettled the British Motor Cars MINI that won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964. So the blasphemy of naming a fully automated new MINI in his honor rankles my sense of propriety. But does that bit of treachery make the latest MINI a loser? Hardly. To be sure, the latest offering would be a better MINI with a stick shift or at the very least, a set of proper shift paddles. But the bottom line here is that the 2025 Cooper S hardtop is still great fun to drive, as is. Just don't let John Cooper know that.

If you happen to live on or near a very twisty, reflex-testing piece of road, you need this car. I know this MINI would make my life commuting from the sticks to civilization ever so much easier. The new Cooper S is exceptionally responsive to the most minute steering inputs. I loved grasping the fat-rimmed, BMW-designed steering wheel by its pistol-gripped handholds, and putting the MINI through its impressive paces. You can also dial up the cockpit paradigm by selecting one of four available "MINI Experience Modes." And no, Jimi Hendrix is not one of them. Choose from "Vivid, Timeless, Balance, and Personal." We settled on Timeless, which replicates the look of a Grandfather Clock face. As for Drive Mode, the available "Go-Kart" choice perfectly suited our quick twitch requirements and need for speed.

The MINI's responsiveness is a product of a finely tuned suspension system abetted by a killer set of street legal, autocross-worthy tires. BMW engineers have perfected the MINI's relatively prosaic MacPherson strut front/ multi-link rear underpinnings with spring rates and shock tuning that shine on switchback terrain. Handling adhesion at each contact patch is maximized by a set of legendary Pirelli Cinturato P7 radials, diminutive in size (215/40R18), but abundant in grip, with a race-worthy treadwear rating of TW 320.

Equally essential to the MINI formula is the Cooper S's explosive 2.0 liter "TwinPower" turbocharged and intercooled 4 cylinder motor, which produces 201hp and 221lb.-ft. of torque. That's the kind of output that makes dispensing with back road slow pokes a treat rather than a chore. In a condensed four-seater like the Hardtop 4 Door, which weighs just 2,991 pounds, 201hp goes a long way to making the Cooper S fly. Flatten the loud pedal, and you'll crank off 0 to 60mph runs in 5.8 seconds, and quarter mile sprints in 14.4 seconds at 99mph. Believe it or not, despite its wind grabbing bread box shape, this MINI tops out at 150mph. You can attribute that kind of unexpected performance to its excellent power-to-weight ratio of 14.88 lb/hp.

If there's one abiding beef I have with the latest MINI, it can be found front and center on the dash panel. MINI has chosen to eliminate all but a handful of physical switches in favor of a 9.4 inch diameter circular OLED touchscreen. Other than turning the ignition on and off, selecting a gear, or activating the emergency flashers, you are forced to deal with the huge circular screen for almost everything else. I'm not sure what lack of logic led to this dire situation, but it really put a damper on my enjoyment of this car.

For years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has focused on reducing highway deaths and injuries by urging us to Avoid Distracted Driving. Use of a cell phone while driving has long been a Moving Violation in California. But the 2025 MINI forces you to drive yourself to distraction by averting your eyes from the road to micro-manage the OLED pie plate screen. Further complicating the situation, MINI has installed a duplicative head-up display module right in front of the driver that obscures line-of-sight to the road. Yes, you can temporarily retract the head-up every time you climb into the cockpit, but after re-starts it sporadically reappears - Why should you be forced to ablate this obstruction at all? Why not make it something you choose to turn on, rather than a nuisance you're required to turn off?

So the MINI Cooper S presents a surprisingly wide array of pluses and minuses. At just $39,795 out the door, it makes an attractive package for the high-performance enthusiast on a budget. Unfortunately, if you want to add paddle shifters, you'll have to spend substantially more to upgrade to the soon-to-be-available John Cooper Works (JCW) MINI. But if you're satisfied to let the Cooper S's 7-speed Steptronic transmission do your thinking for you, then go for the Hardtop 4-door. You'll still love it, despite its sore points.

2025 MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4 Door

• ENGINE: 2.0 liter inline-4, intercooled and turbocharged DOHC 16-valve, aluminum block and head, direct fuel injection
• HORSEPOWER: 201hp@5000rpm
• TORQUE: 221lb.-ft.@1450rpm
• FUEL CONSUMPTION: 28MPG City/39MPG Highway
• PRICE AS TESTED: $39,795

HYPES: Stellar Backroad Bomber

GRIPES: Goofy OLED Pizza Pan

STAR RATING: 9 Stars out of 10

©2025 David E Colman