MINI COOPER R50

Creating an all-new successor to an automotive icon could have led to disaster, but BMW's Mini for the new millennium hit the target - and is now an icon in its own right too

- JOHN BARKER

Mini was heavier (1050 v 950kg) and a little less powerful (113 v 120bhp) giving it a less sparkling power-to-weight ratio, and longer gearing further dimmed that sparkle - it ran to 90mph in third. The engine BMW chose to fit didn't zing with enthusiasm either.

Under the clamshell bonnet was the joint venture Tritec or Pentagon 1.6-litre 'four'. This clean-sheet design, developed in conjunction with Chrysler, was an iron-block, single-cam, 16-valve engine built in Brazil. It appeared to offer nothing over the all-aluminium, twin-cam K-series that was built next door to the Mini factory and had already paid back its development costs... except that it fitted under the bonnet. In some markets there was a 1.4-litre Tritec for the Mini One, but in the UK it was the same 1.6 as in the Cooper but fitted with a different ECU that simply restricted the throttle opening to cap power at 90bhp. For a few hundred quid you could get an aftermarket chip that gave full throttle and better-than-Cooper power.

It's been many years since I've sat in an original BMW Mini, and the cockpit that was so amazing back then isn't quite so stunning now. Not because it's a bit worn in places but because Mini cockpits, particularly their facias, have only got more dramatic, the central dial growing from the size of a saucer to the size of a dinner plate. Interior space wasn't the major objective that it was in the classic Mini with its external body seams, but while it's cramped in the rear of an R50 it's roomy up front and the driving position is excellent, with steering wheel, seat and pedals all aligned - not always the case in small cars.