2025 Mini Cooper S Hardtop First Test: Does Mini Give a Shift

Gimme Control!

We’re not being hyperbolic when we say the 2025 Mini Cooper S Hardtop, without manual control, leaves the driver little say in how the car performs. Look at its performance on our figure-eight skidpad. The shorter wheelbase should bring more agility and quickness relative to the longer and heavier four-door on this combined evaluation of acceleration, braking, and grip. It does, with a 25.7-second and 0.72-g average performance edging ahead of the four-door’s numbers. But getting there is frustrating and inconsistent, mostly because the shifting behavior over which you have no control is inconsistent.

On one pass, the 2025 Cooper S would find the right gear but only for the left-hand turn. On another, it would find the right gear for both turns. Then on the next run it wouldn’t find the right gear until you stomped on the brakes or throttle to convince it to shift down, disrupting the car’s momentum. Every Mini Cooper—and any with an S badge or higher—should have some sort of manual transmission control, full stop. Instead, you select drive, neutral, reverse, and park via a small rocker-switch-type tab on the dashboard.

Sport Mode Should Be for All

A Sport drive mode surely cures all ills, right? It helps, adding the tighter steering and (automated) shift controls you want when driving hard; it enables launch control to function and allows you to adjust the stability control between Sport, Sport Plus, and off settings. It would help, though, if activating Sport mode and messing with the electronic aids were easier. Drivers must fiddle their way into the Go-Kart Experience mode on the central touchscreen.

Adjusting stability control isn’t as clear to anyone new to BMW or Mini products, requiring a touch to the central gauge screen just below the speedometer display where it says “DSC.” But that’s only after first entering the Go-Kart Experience menu, and it really kills the idea that you can experience some of that fun driving experience in any of the other Experience modes. Even just being able to put the stability control into Sport Plus in the standard modes would be helpful and really liven up the driving experience without bringing along the sportier mode’s heavier steering and harsher shifting.

There Is Some of that Cooper Magic in There …

Despite all of that, there’s still some fun to be found in the 2025 Mini Cooper S. The point between cornering grip and brake balance isn’t hard to find thanks to not overly grippy tires and the howling they let out as they approach their limits. Once you find those limits, balancing the Mini on them is also easy thanks to a decent power level, good throttle response, and a clever brake-based limited-slip function that keeps the inside front tire from spinning wildly. Just hope the transmission is in the gear it needs to be in during such maneuvers.

Away from our test facility and on many of our favorite roads, the 2025 Cooper S is still a blast to drive around the canyon and curvy spots we enjoy in more powerful cars. You notice the inconsistent transmission less out in the real world, where typically no two corners are similar enough to highlight the issues we saw on our symmetrical figure-eight course.

Driving around town, the 2025 Cooper S hardtop’s smaller size leads to a much more favorable city driving experience without compromising highway performance. Even long drives aren’t much of an issue for two large dudes and luggage as long as you’re comfortable piling stuff into the diminutive rear seats and footwells (if there’s room left). The engine doesn’t drone, there isn’t much in terms of wind and road noise, and the suspension is compliant enough to live with daily. It’s markedly more refined than Minis of yore.

If you’re unconcerned with the way the 2025 Mini Cooper S performs in racy environments, it’s a great commuter car with more features to enjoy over the base model. If you’re concerned about your lap times and autocross experience, you’ll want to wait for the John Cooper Works model. Or hope that Mini comes to its senses and offers the JCW Style package for the hardtop that includes the paddle shifters ...