the Bucket: paceman

Friday, September 20, 2013

Bucket Seat: Mini Paceman JCW

A few weeks ago I reviewed the Mini Paceman Cooper, it was a mixed bag sort of car. It was fun to drive, looked good but lacked a power and in my closing I said I'd prefer one with more gumption. Well the guys at Mini South Africa headed my call and sent me the range topping John Cooper Works model. The sporty body kit, lowered suspension, JCW racing stripes and those two massive exhausts at the back it just transformed what I said was a good looking car into a menacing beast!

After you're done admiring the car from the outside, its time to get behind the wheel. The first thing that gets the blood racing is when you switch the car on, the tone of the dual exhausts is enough to send shivers down your spine, coupled with the deep hum of the twin scroll, turbo charged, 4 cylinder, 1.6 litre engine which it shares with its brother the Countryman JCW just makes you itch to get on the open road.

It comes with the usual 6 speed manual gear box which isn't bad and I feel slightly improved to that in the Countryman with first and second gear having much more pull but I found the clutch very hard and took time to get used to, so taking off from a stop always was funny to watch.... if you were sitting in another car. Like the Countryman the engine pushes out 160kW, 280Nm or torque and a claimed top speed of 226kph. Being a coupe and having that smaller and more narrow back, the handling of the Paceman is excellent, the All4 four wheel drive probably has much to do with this but either way it gives you confidence in pushing the car to the limits in the corners.

Once you've mastered the clutch, taking off from the traffic lights becomes one of the best feelings when driving the car, that instant acceleration catapults you away from all the other cars and in 6.9 seconds you're doing 100Kph in 3rd gear. One thing I realised about the car is that it loves high revving, so when taking it up to 6000rpm it purred at you rather that moan for you to change up. When in higher gears and on a freeway its hard not to go fast, there is still so much more that engine has to offer, drifting from 120kph to 160kph can almost be done in a blink of an eye, the car is heavy 91.7 tons) and solid so its hard for the mind to comprehend how something so big can go so fast, so quickly. There is one area that did cause some concern, the car comes with 18" alloys which are wrapped with 225/ 45 run flats, I'm not entirely sure if the pressure was overfilled but every time the car hit a bump on the road, it sort of bounced, not the best feeling when doing 120.

Moving on to the interior, nothing much has changed from the Cooper, the 2+2 seat configuration remains with the solid bar running through the centre, if a flat bench seat is needed it can be added on as an extra. Again 4 adults can sit semi comfortably in it, this car came with leather seats with heating options for the front two. Climate control is standard and the car came with the Mini connect system which has a display screen located in the large speedometer which is the stand out feature in the dashboard. The navigation controls were tiny and annoying to use, perhaps touch screen in the next model guys? The GPS navigation was pin point accurate and simple to use whilst the voice activated commands worked well with the phonebook but sucked at everything else.

Being Indian, the first thing I did was change the bass settings to full on the sound settings, the car comes with an 8 speaker Harman Kardon sound system, not good as the Beeemers I've driven but it does make the bass kick. The steering wheel is the perfect size and very light weight which makes steering a joy. The past grips I had with the other Paceman did sneak up but I very quickly forgot about them because I was having too much fun driving. Which brings up a bigger problem, although the consumption in the brochure for urban driving states 10.5ltr/ 100km, I managed to keep it to 9.9ltr, this is even with me driving like a doos. As I said before, the car is big and heavy so the engine is very thirsty so whilst I was enjoyed prolonging my gear changes I wasn't keeping an eye on the tank. After doing just 360km, the cars reserve light started to annoy me. It has a 47 litre tank but it seems like a small juice box for it since it cannot quench its thirst. That being said, I did only do city driving and didn't have a chance to take it on a long trip but somehow I don't think that would affect it too much.

On the whole, its hard to take credit away from the car since its so awesome to drive let alone look at, it still turned heads no matter where I went and the sound it makes just made it all that more better. The handling was great and overall driver enjoyment levels were very high when behind the wheel of this one. While being spacious there wasn't much space in the boot and its very hard to ignore its healthy appetite for petrol. It is essentially a big boys toy, that's if you have that much money lying around for toys, but if you have one you'll love it and if you don't you will always question people who buy it.

Specifications

1.6ltr twin scroll turbo charge engine
6 speed manual transmission
160kW @ 6000pm
280Nm
0-100 in 6.9 seconds
Top Speed 226kph (electronically governed)
Consumption 10.5/100km
CO2 emission 186g/km
Price R440 500

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Bucket Seat: Mini Cooper Paceman

When it comes to Mini, everything they do now is a contradictory of its name as it is all big and bold. I’ve been spinning around for the past week with their latest variation called the Paceman. It’s a cross between a SUV and Sports Coupe …if I may describe it as that, something like Land Rovers Evoque. It’s based on the Countryman but instead of four doors it has two really big doors and a very sexy sleek slanted roof line which they call the 'helmet roof' that’s very easy on the eye, it also gives it that sporty stretched coupe look.

Another interesting fact about it's design is that it’s the first Mini to have horizontal rear lights, doing away with the cliché vertical ones found on all their other models. The car is offered in 3 models, the Cooper (90kW), Cooper S (135kW), JCW (160kW) all which come standard with a 6 speed manual gearbox or a 6 speed auto gearbox is available as an extra.

I’ve been given the standard Cooper but then again when it comes to Mini there is so many ways to customize it that no single one is really “standard”. My particular one had 18” mag wheels, some sport stripes and a panoramic sunroof as extras. The car also comes in two tone colours so you can let your imagination go wild but for me the red and black combination which mine had looked quite wicked.

The cabin has a 2 x 2 seat configuration with individual seats for each of the 4 passengers. There is ample room in the front for both the driver and the passenger whilst at the back, the space is pretty decent for an adult but they just have to mind their head when getting up with the slanted roof. The car has all the equipment you’d expect to find, including hands free Bluetooth which again was very simple and quick to set up, its a pity that it only offered calls feature and not the media streaming but there was a USB and AUX port for that. 

Like the Countryman, the cruise control and media controls can be found on the steering wheel. Everything is neat and has that quality finish that one becomes accustomed to by the brand, the traditional large speedometer is prominent in the centre with the other instruments are located below it. The car also has the mood lighting where by you can change the colours of the inside cabin lighting with a flick of a switch. The panoramic sunroof did get used a lot during these lovely sunny winters days in Durban.

Ride quality of the Paceman is faultless, it really is a joy to drive and with the active power steering it makes navigating the car really easy. Although if you want even more stability, there is an All4 option for it. Having the 90kW engine did have it's flaws though, even at the coast it seems to lack the power needed and I found myself having down change gears at every incline I faced. The car is heavy, coming it at 1.7 tons, so maybe there is a need to opt for the Cooper S or JCW if you are considering this vehicle but if you're not phased with power then the Cooper should be fine as as on the flat surface it just eats the tar in front of it as the naturally aspirated engine takes the car from 0-100km in 10.4 second which is decent for its size and weight.

Lack of power wasn't my only issue with the car, the car has a raised window level which like the roof goes off at a gradient which increases as it approaches the rear, this obstructs part of the view of the side mirrors which prove to be a nuisance when parking. Yes it looks cool but practically it doesn't make sense. Then there's the turning circle, the Paceman isn't a very long car, so you'd expect to do u-turns pretty easily with it but it doesn't. For what would be an easy u-turn for many cars, it would take a 3 point turn for the Paceman. Lastly, the long doors, no seriously they are huge so one has to be extra careful when parking next to an object or other cars if you don't want to transfer some of your paint to them.

The boot space is decent with 330 litres of it at your disposal so you can get your golf set in comfortably and if need be you can drop the back seats for additional room. The doors have compartments to keep stuff like keys and sunglasses but if you're like me you can just dump stuff in the cup holders.

One thing that becomes fairly obvious when driving this car is the attention it gets, the car is a head turner of note and people will notice you driving down the street or when at halt at an intersection. The exhaust has a lovely tone to it so it sounds like its packing some power even if you're sitting with the 90kW Cooper engine. Its spacious and handles like a dream and is not too shabby on fuel consumption with a claimed 6.5l /100km. The car can be regarded as a novelty but at the end of the day, it's not impractical to have and with baring the quality that BMW pride themselves on, you know you're getting a good product.