Stepping inside any Mini product will take you a minute if you’ve never used one before. It’s a combination of odd proportions, odd lines, and outlandish design for everything inside the cabin. This oddity, of course, applies to 2022 Mini Cooper Convertible, is the subject of this review.
Arguably, Can be converted even weirder regular hardtop, both updated for 2022. It has a rear door as a rear loading mechanism and an accordion-like collapsible soft top on top of the aforementioned rear door, which remains open and visible. regardless of its location – there’s simply no room for the Mini to stash it out of sight in a small hole in the trunk. That gives the Mini Convertible an odd look with the top down, and since the top has to be on top of the rear doors, it also blocks the driver’s view of the rear. You can still see super tall vans in the rearview mirror, but placing it from the top makes you rely primarily on the rearview mirror to see what’s going to happen behind you. To mitigate that, there’s an intermediate point of top deployment that simply rolls the top section backwards, effectively creating a wide sunroof on the roof.
Those are all pretty wacky quirks, but our favorite convertible classic Mini quirk is no longer present in the newest car: operator. This little feature is a gauge that simply keeps track of how long you’ve been driving around from the top down. It’s hard to think of a feature that’s more “Mini” than that, which makes us all the more sad that the gauge no longer exists to shame those who don’t drop the electric roof.
Looking past the odd, there’s a conventional car interior here that divides the line between a premium and non-premium vehicle. Our Mini’s $40,350 Price Cooper WILL Testers signal that this is positioned as a small and sporty premium car, while also having some real luxury touches. The Chesterfield Brown leather seats with their white piping and beautiful quilting certainly exude luxury, while all the heavy switches and unique dampers signal the same.
With that said, the Mini’s standard interior is all leatherette, all the shiny plastic trim looks cheap and really shabby when it comes to many of the features we’d expect to become standard. For example, a base Mini Cooper S Convertible for $28,750 doesn’t have heated seats, near entry, automatic climate control, or auto-dimming mirrors.
Mini’s monitor pair – borrowed BMW car technology – also a bit less impressive than you might think. The infotainment system itself is running old iDrive technology, and despite being updated for 2022, it’s still a bit scattered and difficult to operate compared to the latest BMW iDrive software. Connecting it to Apple CarPlay is the most complicated process we’ve gone through in any new car today. You can at least choose to control it via touch or the iDrive-like knob found behind the gear lever. Aside from usability, the looks and frame are all in line with what we’ve come to expect from the Mini (read: quirky) franchise. The giant circular ambient light around the entire screen is always on, changes according to your drive mode, and can even be programmed to coincide with your rpms.
Unfortunately, the oddly shaped digital instrument cluster is not up to industry standards. It has low resolution, lacks brightness and clarity, and it struggles in direct sunlight. If the top of the screen can be stretched out, you should make the necessary modifications to make the glare-prone screen readable no matter what. Your chance to save is the optional small head-up display that pops off the dashboard, as this puts your speed and stats in an easy-to-read space, even in the sun. clean digital cluster.
Mini has updated its steering wheel for 2022, and while we like the look and feel of the Nappa leather-wrapped wheels, it’s not perfect either. The new glossy black buttons on the wheel themselves are placed so they can be accidentally activated while turning. It’s nice to have easy-to-reach buttons, but ergonomics are a bit problematic here with the 9th and 3rd hand placement.
The ups and downs of this interior function continue as you begin to consider utility and storage solutions. While a wireless phone charger is available inside the center armrest, it’s just big enough for small to mid-sized phones. Your tester’s OnePlus 8 Pro won’t fit in the space provided. The rear seats are useless, unless you move the front seats forward. And once you put the passengers in the back, forget about installing the very useful wind deflector, as it will go where those passengers sit. That’s normal at least for four-seater convertibles.
The Mini’s tailgate solution is novel at first glance, as it’s an actual rear door, like a pickup truck. However, the rear door says there’s a weight limit of just 176 pounds, so keep an eye on what or who you put on it. When the rear seats are raised, your storage space is severely limited. It is difficult to slide items in and out due to the long tailgate and the deep floor of the trunk relative to the height of the rear door. You can flip the two “Easy Load” toggles to slightly lift the rear of the hood to allow for more opening, but getting things in and out is still annoying.
Put the back seats down, and your total cargo capacity will skyrocket. The rear is now a tall, large amount of potential luggage space. Turn it on from the top and loading and unloading becomes super easy. Putting your items here makes life a lot easier than dealing with the trunk, but be careful to let items slide from the seating area back into the trunk after acceleration. We’d be lying if we said that the temptation to hear the mighty Cooper S exhaust isn’t exactly making it happen to us a few times.
However, childish joy is what the Mini Cooper Convertible and its interior are all about. It’s far from the most useful cabin. Subtle and quiet are two things you’ll never get, but that hardly matters. You buy a Mini because you like fun, quirky cars, not because it’s the most affordable or value-oriented choice.
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