Classic small car looks the same, but packed with big improvements

Looks can be deceiving in new Mini Cooper

	The new Mini Cooper is still cute enough to make ‘Hello Kitty’ look scarily sinister by comparison.
Mini USA

Base price: $21,200 ($26,170 as tested). Fuel economy: 29 MPG city; 36 MPG highway. Standard equipment: Turbocharged 172-horsepower 1.6-liter I-4 engine, six-speed manual transmission, air conditioning, power steering, remote door lock. Safety equipment: Antilock brakes, electronic stability control, front airbags, front-row side airbags, side air curtains. Major options: Panoramic sunroof, automatic climate control, heated seats, automatic headlights, rain-sensing wipers. Pros: So cute you just want to pinch its cheek. The most fun you’ve had in a car since parking after the prom. Excellent gas mileage. Cons: Back seat is virtually useless. Optional center armrest obstructs gear changes. Center speedometer obstructs speed checks. Verdict: Don’t let your eyes fool you — while the Mini Cooper looks like its forebear on the outside, upgrades to the engine and suspension make the all-new Mini Cooper a worthy successor to its delightful predecessor.

Source: Mini USA

REVIEW

By Dan Carney

msnbc.com contributor

updated 12:47 p.m. ET April 5, 2007

Dan Carney • E-mail

As good as computers are at calculating your taxes, dredging up phone numbers and relaying critically important photos of Britney Spears in various states of dress, the human brain is vastly superior at pattern recognition. That’s why many Web sites use those drunkenly jagged passwords that humans can recognize and computers can not.

But the human ability to connect familiar-looking new objects with those we’ve seen before can leave us bored, even if those objects have changed in unseen ways. A case in point is the 2007 Mini Cooper S.

It’s a dead ringer for its predecessor, despite being an entirely new car with genuine improvements. That means it’s still cute enough to make “Hello Kitty” look menacingly sinister.