MINI Cooper S reviews

2003 MINI Cooper S Review Summary

What reviewers liked most about the 2003 MINI Cooper S:

• ...the Mini's mini engine, a 1.6-liter, overhead-cam four-cylinder, is plenty grunty enough.- The Car Connection

• Color options outnumber those in a bag of jelly beans and can be topped with a roof that's either body-colored, black or white.- New Car Test Drive

• Body roll is minimal, even in high-speed turns, and the car's exceptional stiffness simply enhances the feeling of stability and control.- Cars.com

• BMW priced the Mini with an appreciation for real-world pocketbooks...yet endowed it with a visual and physical opulence that ratchets up its value quotient.- New Car Test Drive

What reviewers liked least about the 2003 MINI Cooper S:

• The rear seats are simply too cramped if the driver and front passenger are much taller than 5 1/2 feet.- Cars.com

• When it comes to bumpy roads, though, the Mini and the road surface must agree to disagree, and often it's not a polite conversation.- The Car Connection

2003 MINI Cooper S Comparisons:

• And the trunk holds a laughable 5.3 cubic feet of cargo...that's just a smidgen more trunk space than a Mazda Miata.- Cars.com

• The tougher choice comes when the S is held up against more conventional performance sedans in the same price range...including the GTI 1.8T, Civic Si, Sentra SE-R Spec V and SVT Focus.- AutoWeek

Best one-liners about the 2003 MINI Cooper S:

• Despite the shopworn bleatings of Madison Avenue and the very premise of whole ranges of adult videos, small can be satisfying.- The Car Connection

• The eagerly awaited Mini has arrived with the emotional appeal of a puppy, the high-style gloss of a fashion magazine and the technological edge of a Los Alamos lab.- New Car Test Drive