Back in the
day, Minis from BMW were pretty easy to point out, there were either the
Cooper, Cooper S or JCW variants in either hard-top or convertible formats.
Then came 2012 till present, Mini has been introducing to the public a slew of
spin-offs cumulating in the gargantuan Countryman.
Now the
Mini Paceman is the eighth model to join the line-up,
and it’s probably the hardest to categorise.
Essentially a three-door version of the not very Mini Countryman, it’s retro styled and if you ask me; a more affordable Range
Rover Evoque coupe. Confused yet? Getting behind the
wheel, I tried to decipher this puzzle of a vehicle, with 184 horses on tap
from the Cooper S variant, does the Paceman have the pace to match?
With a little bit of
style, the Mini Paceman swells the automaker's lineup
to a size that's anything but mini
So is the
Mini Paceman just a Countryman missing two doors?
Well, up to a certain extent. They are both built on the same platform; get the
same engines, styled similarly too right up to the A-pillars. However, to
Mini’s credit, they didn’t just weld the rear panels shut to create the Paceman. The roof has been lowered by 39mm and ride height
is down 10 mm, it’s strictly a four seater now while
boot space has shrunk by 20-litres to 330, all of these while the buyer is
expected to shell out 15K more over the equivalent Countryman.
In a market
full of “me-too” cars, less practical, pricey niche vehicles seem to be the
order of the day when it comes to brisk sales. Case in point;
BMW’s X6, Range Rover’s Evoque and that whole school
of four-door continental coupes. Seating four, the Paceman’s rear
passengers are sealed in with minimal legroom and a rakish roofline.
Individual
rear chairs are divided by Mini’s ‘centre rail’
(think: Sushi bar conveyor belt) which will entice Mini owners into purchasing
clip-on phone and sunglass cases to spruce up the interior. Upfront though, you
get fairly cushy seats mounted behind your usual familiar Mini dashboard and
instrumentation.
An added dose of
practicality and convenience, now that window switches are at the 'usual'
location
Does it
still go like a good and proper hot Mini? The answer is a resounding yes. Under
the massive bulging bonnet we get the familiar 1.6-litre forced induced
4-potter from all the other Cooper S models, developing more of the usual
184bhp with 260Nm from 1,600 – 5,000rpm.
Though the Paceman has gained 75kg over the Cooper S hatchback, this
is still a thoroughly hot hatch, scrambling forth at low revs on that huge wave
of torque on to 100km/h in a mere 7.8 seconds. Floor it into the red and the
engine responds with a satisfying throaty roar all the way to a top speed of
212km/h.
For those
looking for go-kart handling, the Paceman is not it.
With its high ride height and chunkiness, not even the chassis engineers at
Mini could engineer out its drawbacks, thus, the Paceman
doesn’t handle as well as the brand’s best.
This is the same
engine found on most of the Cooper S variants
However
credit has to be given for the Paceman’s Sports mode, which strangely in this
model is actually quite liveable. Usually in other
Minis, toggling the Sports setting feels like removing the car’s power assisted
steering altogether, but in the Paceman, Mini has
gotten it just about right, increasing the resistance without having the driver
“hulk out” just to turn the wheel. On a side note, leaving the Paceman in Sports mode also means you get to relish in the
random exhaust pops and burps while puttering around.
Ride
quality is a bit of a drab though especially on the Cooper S version of the Paceman that gets massive 18-inch wheels. The car does get
a little jittery over large imperfections and gets a bit unsettled when shown
some B-roads. This might boil down to the sports suspension, which might be
more at home on smooth track tarmac than everyday weather beaten streets.
Those
looking to go a little tail happy would be glad to know that yes you still can
do it in the Paceman. Holding down the chrome
traction control switch for five seconds disengages it and stability control
for some tail-happy fun and the Paceman will swing
its tail out without violent provocation. But unlike the standard Mini Cooper
S, after disengaging this and going at it once, I promptly left the Paceman with all its stability controls switched on for the
period of the test-drive.
This throttle-like
handbrake lever is unique to the Paceman and its five-door
brethren
Cabin-wise,
Mini’s interior architecture has been largely unchanged since 2007, though in
the Paceman it’s been recycled again, Mini has
finally heeded some of the constructive comments that have been floating around
since the brand was resurrected. The electric window switches are finally
located on the doors rather than tucked down somewhere in the lower half of the
dashboard. Though the enormous centre speedo still
sports the peculiar square infotainment screen, there’s now a digital speedo
readout located in the rev-counter that’s located right in-front of the driver.
Niche cars
will always only appeal to a certain car buyer and in this sense; the Paceman will appeal to those that crave for that Mini
styling language but require extra space and the attitude of a crossover minus
the addition of four doors.
