| A Week at the Wheel | Cambs, England | MINI Cooper D |

Inside & Out:

The MINI's design remains one of the sharpest on the street, combining kerbside appeal and contemporary curves with a nod in the direction of the original's design. A lot of MINIs must be sold purely on their looks. To make such a buying decision, whilst it may be correct as an affair of the heart, is to do a disservice to the quality of the rest of the package.

As reported elsewhere, the new interior is actually a mild rework of the first 'new' MINI's and that's no bad thing. There was very little wrong with the older car's layout and the ergonomics and design ethos were almost perfect. The new interior features relocated toggle switches and detail changes to some materials and styling, but without comparing the two generations side-by-side some of the changes are hard to pick out. The interior light that can be cycled through several different colours to change the ambience is, for example, a stylistic garnish found in very few cars at any price.

Engine & Transmission:

MINI's new compact diesel (sourced from the Peugeot-Citroen group) is a fine little engine that offers good manners, impressive economy and decent performance. There is some clatter when starting from cold and it is unmistakably a diesel unit from the outside, but the level of intrusion into the cabin is minimal and compares well with more expensive cars.

Thanks to a generous dose of torque combined with an appropriately leggy set of gear ratios, the Cooper D combines all the everyday pace required with, increasingly important, very good economy; read 45mpg plus, and low emissions for the minimum pain at taxation time. Some of the gains are thanks to BMW's new 'EfficientDynamics' measures, though you'll not notice most of the changes. The Cooper D is no ball of fire, granted, but real world performance is more than enough to cope with the demands placed on it in every day driving and there's enough poke to dip into the talents of the excellent chassis.

Ride & Handling:

Clearly biased towards fun rather than comfort, the chassis continues to offer a stiff, but well controlled, ride. Many rivals offer a more absorbent and cosseting drive around town but once out of the urban sprawl and onto A- and B-roads, the MINI's compromise delivers. In spades. Endowed with generous levels of grip (perhaps even too much to safely exploit the car's fine balance - a criticism that can be levelled at 95% of cars made today), the MINI offers precise and sharp turn-in before cornering flat and hard with almost complete neutrality.

Equipment, Economy & Value for Money:

The list of standard kit isn't as generous as some rivals', but the options packs do offer decent value and the list of individual choices one can make mean that customising your MINI can be a very personal and rewarding experience; it's quite possible you could make a unique car, such is the diversity of boxes available to tick.

MINI remains a premium brand, but sensible options, such as the TLC pack that covers all servicing and parts, go some way to justifying that additional cost. The product's ability, brand name, desirability and consequential strong residuals are enough to hush the criticisms levelled at the sticker price.

Overall:

The new Cooper D is the pick of the 'normal' MINIs, with enough performance, economy and value to render the petrol Cooper almost redundant in the range. At this point in time the MINI still remains the default choice for the style conscious small hatch buyer. The fact it's a solid all-rounder to boot makes it very hard to beat. Only the new Fiat 500 can threaten to ruin the party.