Your journey isn’t always about the need for speed. Stopping power, fuel consumption, reliability and safety sit high on the list, as does style and practicality, but what about the impact on the environment. Design teams, like the people involved in the making of the Mini Roadster, follow stringent regulations to produce a car that comes under the requirements for CO2 emissions. Fuel economy also plays a big part on how a modern vehicle limits its impact on the environment. With the move by automobile manufacturers to downsize engine capacity to keep emissions low, now’s a good time to take a look at a car like the Mini Roadster – particularly if you want a car that offers amazing performance and cabriolet style.

The new Mini Roadster isn’t a big car. Its unladen weight is a trim 1260 kg. Modern materials and clever design has ensured that the 3734 mm Mini Roadster is as light as a feather and as current as they come. Of course, keeping trim ensures that the fuel consumption is going to be kept a little lower, too, so it’s a win-win situation. Take a look at the Mini Roadster CO2 emissions. At 149 g/km, this high performance cabriolet is amazingly environmentally friendly! When you consider that BMW have enabled this fire-breather to nudge 230 km/h and tick off the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 7.0 seconds flat, the Mini Roadster might be the eco-friendliest, hot roadster around! The new Mini Roadster offers an impressive combined fuel consumption of 6.4 litres/100 km. In fact, it’s hard to nudge this little roadster much beyond 7.0 litres/ 100 km because the engine is a gem. Probably the sweetest 1.6-litre, petrol Turbo-engine that you can buy, the torque of the Mini Roadster engine is brilliant. A healthy 260 Nm of torque pulls very hard from a flat, long 1730-4500 rpm. This punch is impressive because the eco-friendly Mini Roadster boasts a core twin-scroll turbocharger.

You’ll be fooled though; to look at the MINI Cooper S Roadster looks nothing like a tree hugger’s car. Racy looks and an aerodynamic shape give the Cooper S Roadster much more appeal then a Kia Soul or Toyota Yaris. In fact, the sharp-shooting Mini Roadster sits on the road with a wide stance, and whether the black soft-top is open or closed the dynamic looks promise agility and pace. A wide track width, a longer wheelbase, short overhangs and a low centre of gravity make the Mini Roadster go wild on the corners. Somewhere under the sexy looks sits the fuel tank, which isn’t large. I can think of many sports cars with bigger fuel tanks than the 50 litre tank capacity of the Cooper S Roadster. A maximum range of over 800 km is also noteworthy. The MINI Cooper S Roadster is a born athlete with excellent road holding and extremely impressive performance and economy; not something you’d be able to say of every other roadster on the road. Not even the Mazda MX5, BMW Z4 or Lotus Elise could brag about being more sustainable on the environment than the funky Mini Roadster.

Yes, the Mazda MX5 is the benchmark Roadster for the same sort of money. But I know which one I’d prefer!

The current Mini Roadtster models include:

• Roadster S
• Roadster JCW

For any more information on the Mini Roadster or, for that matter, any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quote requests out to our national network of Mini dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!

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