2012 & 2013 Mini Sedan Reviews & Ratings

The original Mini sedan was designed by Sir Alec Issigonis in 1959 for the British Motor Company (BMC) which evolved in 1952 with the merger of Morris Motors and the Austin Motor Company.The small two door economical car was in response to a fuel crisis gripping Europe in the 1950's. The Mini sedan has become a popular motoring icon driven by everyone from the average person to famous celebrities and has been successfully sold and manufactured around the world including periods when it was br... (full review continues below)

The original Mini sedan was designed by Sir Alec Issigonis in 1959 for the British Motor Company (BMC) which evolved in 1952 with the merger of Morris Motors and the Austin Motor Company.The small two door economical car was in response to a fuel crisis gripping Europe in the 1950's. The Mini sedan has become a popular motoring icon driven by everyone from the average person to famous celebrities and has been successfully sold and manufactured around the world including periods when it was branded under the Morris and Austin banner. Today the Mini brand is part of BMW.

Always a fun car to drive BMW has ensured themodern day Mini sedan retains familiar styling and handling to the original along with its renownedfuel economy but it has many added features from earlier models including premium technology, safety features and significantly increased performance. In the early days the key competitor to the Mini sedan was the Volkswagen Beetle and even today this car remains a competitor, but it has been joined now by other small cars such as the Fiat 500, Honda CR-Z, Hyundai Veloster and Scion tC in what has become a very competitive market. Mini continues to stand out from competitors with its excellent driving dynamics and interior finish.

The Mini sedan is available in 2 door Hardtop and 4 door Countryman models. The Hardtop has 3 variants the Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper Works (street legal racing cars with high performance parts and tuning). The base model Hardtop Cooper model starts at $22,200 featuring a 1.6 liter 4 cylinder engine with 121 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 114 foot pound of torque at 4,250rpm. Fuel economy of the Mini sedan is an excellent 37mpg on the highway and 29mpg in the city (with a slightly lower mpg with automatic transmission) with the 13.2 gallon fuel tank providing a range of 488 miles. The Cooper S Hardtop Mini sedan starts at $23,800 featuring a turbocharged 1.6 liter 4 cylinder engine that boosts performance with 181 horsepower at 5,500rpm and 177 foot pound of torque at 1,600 - 5,000 rpm. Even with the increased performance fuel economy is only slightly compromised at 35mpg on the highway and 27mpg in the city with a range of 462 miles. The John Cooper Works Mini sedan variant is feature rich and starts at $30,600 with the tuned turbocharged 1.6 liter 4 cylinder engine providing a significant boost in performance to 208 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 192 foot pound of torque at 1,850 - 5,600 rpm while remaining reasonably economical.

The 4 door Countryman Mini sedan isa slightly larger car that also has 3 variants including the Cooper, Cooper S and Cooper S with All Wheel Drive. The Countryman Cooper Mini sedan starts at $22,450 featuring a 1.6 liter 4 cylinder engine with 121 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 118 foot pound of torque at 4,250rpm. Fuel economy is 35mpg on the highway and 27mpg in the city with the slightly smaller 12.4 gallon fuel tank providing a range of 434 miles. The Cooper S variant starts at $26,050 with a more powerful 1.6 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine that delivers the same performance as the Hardtop Cooper S with a slight compromise in fuel economy and range (397 miles). The addition of All Wheel Drive to the Cooper Sincreases the starting price to $27,750 with the same performance features and similar fuel economy.