Mini Cooper S Convertible vs Audi A3 Cabriolet comparison

Finally, we nail it. The light is perfect, the backdrop is stunning and both cars are exactly where we want them to be. The long drive up to this location has been well worth it. And with the shots in the can, we decide to head back.

What’s also nice is that the sun’s about to set, so we can drive these cars like they are meant to be driven; with their tops down. Yes, we’ve been driving them all day and we’ve covered a significant distance too, but would you flip open the roof if the outside air temperature was a blazing 38 degrees? Exactly.

It’s so hot even now, I don’t expect we’ll be keeping the roofs open for long. Yes, the ambient temperature has dropped and the surrounding air isn’t as hot anymore, but I can still hear the earth ‘hiss’ as the heat dissipates and it still feels like we’re walking around on a hot plate. 
Then we start moving, and immediately, I realise I’m wrong. The temperature of the air blowing in drops as soon as we pick up even a bit of speed, and with the cooler air now flowing in and swirling around us, the experience is just magic. It just is the perfect setting. The sun’s going down behind the hills, the lake is glistening and even the road we are driving on is perfectly manicured and full of interesting twists and turns. It helps no end that both these cars are fast, powerful and an absolute pleasure to drive. Convertibles, they do work, sometimes really well, even in our environment.

Problem is they aren’t very popular here. Sure, classic car owners love them, and we always seem to enjoy the drop-top experience, but public opinion says convertibles are quite unusable in our conditions. And with good reason. Finding the right time to put the roof down, for example, is a serious challenge. Either it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet or too dusty; take your pick. And then there’s the traffic: you don’t want to be pulling the roof down in the middle of that hot, dusty, grime-filled scene. What makes matters worse is that almost all convertibles have structures that are fundamentally compromised in comparison to regular cars. Convertibles are generally created by lopping the roof (and supporting pillars) off and this means the structure lacks the natural strength of a closed tube. And then our broken roads make it worse by transferring huge loads through the chassis which, if unchecked, can give the roof and structure a good shaking. Is it any wonder then that convertibles driven carelessly here soon feel a bit bedraggled and ‘loose’. Then there’s the fact that they aren’t very practical to begin with — the rear seats are a contortionist’s delight, you can’t fit more than a couple of toilet bags in the boot and are these cars even engineered to take on the fury of the monsoons in the first place?

The reality is that things aren’t much better in other markets either. Driving a convertible in Los Angles traffic is almost as bad, with exhaust from 18-wheelers and buses spewing out at you, and California, the convertible capital of the world, is almost as hot as India in summer. Even some of their roads are poor. So, owning a convertible and making full use of it isn’t just challenging in India but everywhere else too.

Into The Wild

But now it’s time to enjoy the cars, as the road we are driving down is only getting better and better. Corners are coming at me thick and fast, and what makes this road even more challenging is that there’s a bit of unpredictability to the flow. I’m behind the wheel of the Mini Cooper S, but even though I’m slinging it through the corners with plenty of verve and high amounts of energy, the Mini’s chassis seems absolutely nonplussed. It’s cool, it’s calm and it’s so collected, it feels like it could be at home, with it’s feet up, listening to violin music.

Looking to amp it up even more, I hit Sport mode, and now, the top-end of the engine feels even more frenzied. There’s a guttural snarl from the exhaust that I love when I put my foot down and the tacho needle shoots up the dial like the engine wants to head-butt the redline and self destruct. And the kick in the top-end is serious indeed; it just shoots forward. Lest you forget, this bumble bee has a colossal 192 horses, kicking and screaming under the bonnet.

In Sport, the steering gets weightier too. And the harder I go around corners, the better it gets. What gives it all that grip is the properly stiffened chassis, the rock-hard suspension and those wide tyres. And once I’m properly on it, it feels like the proverbial British bulldog; it just does not want to let go, once it gets its teeth in. Grip is tenacious, the steering is quick, and I absolutely love flicking it from one corner to the next. However, it doesn’t feel nearly as nice as the Cooper S with the hardtop. The steering isn’t quite as direct, it understeers a bit and it doesn’t have the same sense of agility or balance either. Still, all things considered, the driving experience gets an A+, and that’s huge for a car without a roof.

I swap to the Audi next, and it immediately feels very different. This clearly is more the gentleman’s express than B-road bruiser, the Audi possessing almost none of that aggressive demeanour of the Mini. If that’s an angry bulldog, this is a friendly retriever. Whereas the Mini wears its bonnet stripes with resolve and is hard and sporty, the Audi is more relaxed, supple and light to drive. The steering, in fact, feels like it needs almost no effort from me, and guiding the A3 from apex to apex is accomplished with nothing more that a flick of the wrist. It does sort of manage to string together a set of corners and is reasonably entertaining too, but, because it rolls so much in corners, I soon lose my appetite for fast cornering. And slow right town.

Still, the strong 179hp TSI engine is a delight and has loads of zing in the top-end. And its smooth, refined and cultured. Don’t get me wrong, this is still an entertaining car; just don’t expect it to thrill you like the Mini does. And isn’t as quick either, 0-100kph takes 8.59seconds compared to the Mini’s 6.78.        

Back To Civilisation

Soon, we’re on the faster and straighter roads of the expressway, and it’s the Audi that feels more at home here. The more comfortable suspension setup and the sightly better cabin insulation allow it to feel more relaxed at speed and overtaking slower traffic is executed with less apparent effort. All I need to do is plant my foot on the floor, get the tacho needle to stand up to attention and allow the smooth motor to slingshot me past. It’s a breeze.

We swap cars again at the next gas station, and again, the Mini’s more hyperactive demeanour comes to the fore instantly. It’s always straining at the leash, waiting to have a go, waiting to dart this way or that, and it just doesn’t allow me to relax. What’s also not nice is that the stiff suspension is quite revealing. On the highway, I can clearly hear the wheels go ‘thwack-thwack’ as they run over the expansion joints, and once we get off the cemented roads and encounter urban craters in the city, the suspension shows its hard edge again. Craters are handled with only a hint of compliance and the Mini crashes through some of the larger ones quite hard. The suspension is so stiff, lumps in the road are hopped over, so the ride feels both hard and busy. The only way I can skirt around this is to drive as fast as I can and enjoy that genuine go-kart feel you get from behind the wheel.

The A3 isn’t nearly as fun, but it feels the more grown-up and refined of the two, and the suspension is supple enough to make driving in the city more comfortable. This is clearly borne out the next morning, as the A3 feels well up to tackling Mumbai’s city steets, gliding over most of the bad bits as we drive across town for our next photo stop. Still, after a bit, I’m soon craving some action, and jump back into the Mini.
 

Inside Out

Seeing them stand cheek to jowl under the swaying palms in Bandra, otherwise known as Bollywood hills, I also instantly see the disparity. Although both are convertibles, both have two doors and both use transversely located direct-injection, turbo-petrol engines, these cars are as different as chalk and cheese. The Mini, to begin with, is a hatch, and the A3 is a sedan. Whereas one is clearly designed to be a boy racer, with stripes, loud exhaust and a ‘rock n roll’ demeanour, the other is a sophisticate, that looks at doing everything with class and panache. While the Audi has sharp lines and chrome highlights all over, the Mini’s design is sure to be the more timeless of the two due to its retro look; its lines harking back to Sir Alex Issigonis’s original.

On the Mini, the retro theme is also carried over to the inside. The big dial in the centre is no longer a speedo and you get Mini’s version of iDrive, but the insides too remind you of the ’70s. The large steering wheel, the toggle switches finished in chrome, the red start stop button; they all give it real character. And in this new car, there’s a bit more space in the front and a bit more width too.

It can’t compete with the Audi for fit and finish, however. Some of the plastics on the Mini are hard and there are some not-so-nicely put together bits. This just isn’t the case on the Audi, where craftsmanship and attention to detail are just as good on many of its more expensive cousins. Every single surface you touch is beautifully built, the fit is millimetre perfect and finding a comfortable driving position is really easy too.

The Audi also wins the battle for space in the back. Getting into the back, especially with the canvas roof up is extremely difficult, but once you are in the back, you are quite comfortable. Yes, you are cocooned and the backrest is a bit too upright, but the view out is stunning and the experience feels quite unique too.

There’s even less space in the back of the Mini, though it is up on the earlier car, and getting in is just as difficult. But here too, a 15- or 20-minute ride is likely to be reasonably comfortable. Headroom in the back with the roof up is a bit of an issue, as it is on the Audi, but in both cases, it’s just about manageable.

What is a pain in the Mini is reversing with the hood down; it’s nigh on impossible. Unlike the Audi, there’s no lid to tuck the hood under and that means, it just sits there, blocking your rearward view. All you can see now, if you turn around and look back, are double-decker buses, and the mirrors on either side are quite tiny too. The reversing camera does help a bit, but even then, reversing with any amount of confidence is seriously tough. 

The Audi is easier to reverse and the front seats are better, but its air-con system struggles to cope with the heat. It takes an age to cool the cabin, even with the blower on full, and that means you have to endure the loud fan for up to fifteen minutes at a time. Not nice.

The A3 though, has the larger boot at 320 litres. The Mini has nothing more than a glorified glovebox, which, at 215 litres, is less than many hatchbacks. And that goes down to 160 litres with the roof partially tucked in there; so clearly, if you want to drive out for a weekend, you’re better offftossing your bags in on the back seats.

Both cars have active rollover bars that pop out as soon as the car detects it is about to roll over. And both have hoods you can open and close on the move, as long as you aren’t going quicker than 50kph in the case of the Audi and 30kph in the case of the Mini. The two are matched on the time taken to open and close their tops, at 18 seconds; quite useful.

Let’s Flip

The primary job of a convertible is to be fun. It has to thrill you, it has to entertain you and it has to put a smile on your face. It has to be practical too, but that’s a secondary requirement. Yes, the Audi A3 is a good convertible. It is comfortable, smooth, refined and comes with a gem of an engine; but it’s a bit dull. The Cooper S, on the other hand, isn’t as refined or as spacious and doesn’t ride well either, but it’s an absolute riot; a natural-born entertainer. It’s great with the top down, darts around like a go-kart when you drive it hard and is so much fun in so many different ways, it often has you laughing out loud. It’s even considerably cheaper and better value for money; and that certainly helps.