Recently, while I was enjoying a tasty beverage at the coffee shop, the barista placed a take-away cup on the bar and called out a six-shot latte. For those not familiar with fancy-coffee terminology, that means six times the normal amount of espresso – and caffeine – went into that beverage. In Mini's model language, the John Cooper Works lab

Just for fun, let’s put Mini into the Marvel universe for a minute. Could this Hulk stand to get a little angrier, though? Perhaps. If the Mini Cooper three-door is the small and mighty Ant-Man, and the Clubman is lithe and nimble do-gooder Spider-Man, then the Mini John Cooper Works Countryman could fairly be compared to the Incredible

New Haven, CT – Looking at the all-new 2016 John Cooper Works, Mini has engineered out the unruly, making this third-generation hyper-hatch a relatively well rounded performance car. That’s a significant accomplishment, and a welcome one if the previous JCW (last sold as a 2013 model) with its nervous steering, ADD handling and poster-boy torque

Where once Mini boasted about the strength of its smallness, the 2017 Mini Cooper Countryman rolls out onto the show floor at the Los Angeles Auto Show on the coattails of its bigness – a major part of the automaker’s marketing push for the most family-friendly member of its line-up. The Countryman family also gains its first plug-in hybrid electri

$(document).ready(function () { $("#mini-gallery").owlCarousel({ items: 2, loop: false, center: false, mouseDrag: true, lazyLoad: true, touchDrag: true, pullDrag: true, navigation: false, pagination: true, navTe

Glumness and melancholy were setting in like hardening emotional cement. We all grow up and most of us grow out , I ruminated as my shrinking nuclear family boarded the 2016 Mini S Clubman to drive our youngest daughter to the airport. She’s flying off for her gap-year travel odyssey before resuming university thousands of miles away come Septem

$(document).ready(function () { $("#mini-gallery").owlCarousel({ items: 3, loop: false, center: false, mouseDrag: true, lazyLoad: true, touchDrag: true, pullDrag: true, navigation: false, pagination: true, navTe

Vehicle Type Great mileage, instant recognition, amusing performance, and potent power. Small Hatchback / Convertible History/Description The third-generation Mini Cooper hit the road for model year 2014 with more size, features, and technology than any of its predecessors. The latest take on the fun-focussed product lineup saw ne

If you thought you’d seen a four-door Mini before, you’d be right. In 2011, Mini introduced the SUV-like four-door Countryman which has since evolved into the exclusively all-wheel drive Cooper S Countryman ALL4. It starts at $29,950. Those with longer memories will recall the 2008 Mini Clubman which had a single rear side door on the passenger s

The fish is clutching at the sides of its tank with its little fins, mouth contorted in angst, water sloshing violently around the bowl. Silly? Yep. Childish? Absolutely. Frivolous? Sure. Needless? Well, no. My daughter is screaming at me, “Daddy! Slow down! You’re making the fish upset!” I do, and the fish settles happily back in his b

Not since the 2003 remake of The Italian Job has the Mini Cooper been given such a high profile film role: the forthcoming Adam Sandler movie, Pixels, will pit the film's protagonists (played by Sandler, Peter Dinklage, Denis Akiyama and Josh Gad) behind the wheels of Mini Coopers as they defend the earth from an alien attack. In the Chris Col

Let’s get something straight right off the top: When it comes to plug-in hybrid vehicles, the recently introduced 2018 Mini Cooper S E Countryman All4 is neither the most practical nor the most frugal choice available. You want all-out SUV practicality? Try the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which for about the same price is substantially roomier (it

City dwellers are unique. They’re on a space budget for parking and maneuverability. Unless they want to sit and stew, they need a peppy capsule to almost instantly transport them around constant and sudden traffic obstacles. Urbanites also want something that’s attractive, given all the eyes they pass daily. And given the price of life in Canad

Photos by Michael Bettencourt Don’t you just love it when a car doesn’t take itself too seriously? It’s time for a retro-style throwdown. After all, amid a sea of SUVs and A-to-Bs, it can be easy to forget at times that driving is supposed to be fun. Here’s a pair of cars designed from the drop-top down to keep that fact top of m

The sun never set on the British automotive empire. Granted, former heavyweights like British Leyland did get their legs chopped off a bit in the 1970s. ’Tis but a scratch! While Rover and MG and Morris etc. are now, at best, shagged out after a long squawk, there is still a vibrant auto manufacturing industry in the UK these days. Why, they buil