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The MINI range - The Times
01.12.2001 |
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MAXIMUM POINTS FOR THE CHEEKY NEW MINI
Given the wide range of cars I have driven this year, it is almost impossible to say which is the best - how does one compare a £160,000 Aston Martin Vanquish with a sub-£10,000 Volkswagen Polo?
But something had to stir the soul more than any other and I am sure it will come as no surprise, then, to find that the car that put the biggest smile on my face this year was the BMW MINI.
The Vanquish's V12 may have produced the best engine note and Mercedes-Benz the best technological innovation with the folding roof on the SL500 but, for most, these cars are the stuff of dreams
The MINI was the most eagerly anticipated car of the year by most people and, as an overall package, it has not disappointed. Of all the cars I have driven this year, the MINI has turned most heads. It is the car everyone wants to talk about and that has moved me sufficiently to put my money where my mouth is and go on the waiting list for next year's Cooper S version.
48 hours after the launch Peter Nicholls and I were dispatched to the Kings Road, Chelsea, to garner the public's reaction.
Quite simply, they were utterly, wonderfully shameless. They shouted, pointed, came running over when we parked - everybody wanted a piece of the MINI. It was only then, I think, that I realised what a place the original had in the hearts of so many and how BMW has turned what could have been the PR disaster of the decade into a huge success. And the fact that the MINI is so keenly priced that it won't be making a single pfennig - sorry, euro - on it adds to the "feel-good" factor.
A close second on my list comes the Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. Although I found the new-look SL500 technically excellent - there will be a full review on this page next weekend - as a driver's car it lacked passion and spirit. But the AMG boys have turned it into the sportscar of the year.
It is hard to split the following two, so the Skoda Octavia RS and the BMW M3 share third place, although the Skoda has the edge by virtue of being a good £24,000 cheaper. BMW is well-known for the quality of its M series, but this is an absolutely stunning piece of kit and, although the price tag of about £39,000 is not cheap, performance-wise it is a lot of car for the money.
The Octavia RS is simply tremendous fun, with 180bhp, the stopping ability of a Harrier and light, direct steering. And with a price tag of £15,100, if you are still put off by a Skoda badge, you deserve to pay another manufacturer a lot more for a lot less.
Disappointments of the year include the new Polo - an object lesson in an opportunity missed. But they will sell by the bucketload anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter how uninspiring the range is.
Triple Eight, the race engineering team that runs the supremely dominant Vauxhall Astras in the British Touring Car Championship, also missed a trick by making the limited edition road-going version of the track car merely a slightly tepid offspring of the woolly Astra Turbo.
But it is the MINI, the cheeky, chunky £10,000 MINI, that sweeps all before it in 2001, to be named The Times Car of the Year.
By Catherline Riley, Motoring Editor