2021 Mini Cooper S 3-door review UK Car News

Inside, there’s more piano black, especially around the updated infotainment screen, which is located in the familiar circular casing in the center of the dashboard. It retains an 8.8-inch screen similar to the one before, but the graphics have a higher resolution, while the operating system is new and faster. You can also customize the display and add widgets for quick access. Everything works fine, especially when using the handy rotary controller, but the screen is starting to look small next to the current fad for increasingly large tablet-style interfaces.

The new three-spoke steering wheel is particularly welcome, it is ideal to hold and covered in soft leather which makes it look like it is from the BMW supplier, while the glossy black (natch) multifunction controls are larger and easier. use. Behind the steering wheel is the same pack of digital dials that were first seen last year on the Mini Electric – although in reality it’s a hybrid display. The tachometer is actually an analog device masquerading as TFT, with the illusion only shattered when direct sunlight falls on its tinted display.

And, of course, there’s the expected driver aids upgrade, with the optional Driver Assistant Pack adding a ‘stop and go’ feature to adaptive cruise control, as well as an exit warning. of track.

Upgrades to the Mini smartphone app are also new. Not only does it have the usual location and condition services (such as fuel level or, on the electric version, range), but you can now share access to the car with up to 10 people. Give them permission and they can unlock, start and drive the car when you don’t need them.

Mechanically, the only real change is the adoption of a new shock absorber design. Called Intelligent Adaptive Suspension (standard on sports cars like ours and £ 400 on others), it’s arguably less sophisticated than the outgoing car’s electronically controlled selectable setup. Essentially, it’s a system similar to that already seen on the Ford Fiesta ST, with a frequency selective passive setup that can open a valve in the shock absorber in as little as 50 milliseconds to reduce damping forces by up to 50% during the fastest and most violent wheel impacts with the road.