Mini will join the ranks of automakers offering three-cylinder engines in the U.S. when the next-generation hardtop arrives in November, the company announced today, confirming our reporting from the past several years. A related four-cylinder engine will offer more power for what we presume will be the Cooper S models.
Both engines are based on BMW's new modular engine design, in which each cylinder displaces 0.5 liters—and all engines are direct injected and turbocharged. (You can read more details on the high-tech engines here.) Mini says that its 1.5-liter three-cylinder, which we assume will be in the base Cooper model, will be rated at 134 horsepower and 170 lb-ft of torque.
That gives it a welcome 13-hp advantage over the 1.6-liter inline-four in today's Mini Cooper, but it's the torque that's the real story. The current Cooper offers just 114 lb-ft of twist, and only after you wind the engine up to 4250 rpm. The new one offers that 170 lb-ft from just 1250 rpm on up. In short, it sounds like the base Cooper will not only be more powerful on paper, but should feel much quicker and more usable on the road. You'll also feel pretty cool knowing that you've got the same engine destined for the BMW i8, but months before that $135,000 sports car hits the market.
Further up the line, in what we can only presume is the Cooper S model, buyers get a 2.0-liter four-banger with 189 horses and 207 lb-ft of torque. (With a brief overboost function, the latter number actually goes up to 221.) Both are healthy increases from the present Cooper S's turbocharged 1.6-liter's numbers of 181 and 177, respectively. We're expecting both engines to be more frugal, too.
Mini isn't talking about transmissions yet, except to say that they are "newly developed," but we're not expecting any shocking news. The outgoing Cooper and Cooper S both already come standard with six-speed manual gearboxes, and it's not like Mini is going to follow the lead of the Corvette or the 911 and wedge a seven-speed stick into its offerings. On the automatic front, there are few cars in the world with more than six gears—a few seven-speed transmissions and Chrysler's nine-speed are the exceptions—so don't be surprised if the new Minis pack six-speed automatics again. If they do, there's no harm done, as little cars with smaller engines don't exactly need a huge spread of ratios.
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Along with the engine announcement, Mini described some of the details of the new front-wheel-drive platform underpinning its upcoming cars, but little of it is meaningful without more info on the next Mini itself. Still, the company touts the platform—which will also sit under the next generation of BMW 1-series—as lighter and stiffer than before. As you'd expect, the new platform supposedly allows for more interior space and easier access to the back seat. One point of particular note, though, is the news that the next Mini will offer (as an option, no doubt) a suspension with adjustable damping. Considering that many of the Mini variants, when riding on run-flat tires and sports suspensions, are stiff enough that a pothole can rupture the driver's spleen, we'd call the adjustable dampers good news.
This isn't to say we want Minis to ride like Buicks, though, and on the general sportiness front, today's announcement is really positive. As much as the Cooper S should be a joy, it's the turbocharged triple, with its robust torque rating and—we assume—lighter weight that really has our interest piqued. In only a few weeks, we'll get the story on the rest of the car.
from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com
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