It is convertible season, and the refreshed 2025 MINI Cooper S soft top is ready to take you places. This little car is perky, peppy and cute.
The essence of a convertible car should be its fun factor, and the MINI delivers. It’s quick, handles like an overgrown go-kart and looks the part. It’s a standout in a small market where few sporty drop tops exist, although it has a couple minor drawbacks.
Built in Oxford, UK, the Cooper S convertible’s MSRP is $46.990.
Powertrain: For 2025 the MINI gets a new 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, replacing the old 1.5-litre powerplant. The new unit adds both horsepower and torque, making 201 HP – up by 12 – while torque rises to 221 from 207 pound-feet.
The convertible is no lightweight, weighing in at 1,427 kg. Nonetheless, it wrings the power out of the small engine effectively, managing a zero to 100 km/h run in 6.9 seconds, and turning in a top speed of 237 km/h.
Exterior: This mildly refreshed MINI is gorgeous. With its cute MINI face, redesigned bug-eye headlights and rounded corners, it’s got all the MINI DNA in all the right places. And then, with the soft-top lowered it just gets better. It looks even sportier and more fun with its roofless profile.
Our tester was painted in Sparkling Copper Grey Metallic, a $600 option that is totally worth the price. In the sunlight this paint shimmers with a coppery undertone, but in the shade it almost looks matte. As a bonus it hides dust extremely well.
The soft top can be used in two ways. It stops halfway open like a sunroof or fully retracts, folding into the space behind the rear seats. MINI says the top can be operated at up to 30 km/h in just 18 seconds, but when we tried, it wouldn’t operate at any faster than 17 km/h. In keeping with MINI’s whimsical nature, the car has a top-down counter that records the amount of time the roof is open.
Interior: Aside from the round screen, the MINI’s interior is quietly elegant, if somewhat impractical. The dash and doors are clad in a light-coloured textured material that seems certain to attract – and hold – dust and dirt. In a convertible, where particles in the air are free to enter and settle, this seems a tad misguided.
Our tester was equipped with the “Favoured Style” package, a $2,000 option that adds a heated sport leather steering wheel, and sport seats clad in the recycled Vecsin upholstery. The seats are super comfortable, and with two massage settings they can either soothe you or keep you awake.
The rear passenger seating should have been removed and used as a cargo platform. There was absolutely zero space behind the front seats for legs. Even a car seat would be a tight fit back there. MINI could have cut costs and weight in the convertible by making the car a two-seater.
Infotainment: There is so much going on with the MINI’s OS 9.0 operating system, it can be a distraction from the drive. The giant (9.4-inch) circular central info screen is the car’s brain and hub, controlling and displaying everything from navigation to climate control and essential system information.
The only data presented directly in front of the driver is on a small head-up display that pops up out of the dash. It can show speed, navigation and assisted driving information, but on our tester the spot to show the speed limit remained blank for the entire week. Some things that should be there are not, like turn indicator activation. It’s only shown on the central screen, meaning the driver has to turn their head to see if the indicators are on.
While it can be a lot of work to dig through the MINI’s menus to find controls, you can also add your own shortcuts to the home screen. Getting to the massage seating controls, for example, requires quite a bit of menu surfing, which can be eliminated by simply adding that function to the shortcuts. MINI’s virtual assistant also lets you make calls, control the HVAC system and perform navigation functions.
Drive: The Cooper S convertible is designed for spirited driving and doesn’t disappoint. It corners on rails as a MINI should, with excellent steering feel.
Preloaded anti-roll bar mounts on the axles and selective tuning for the steering and stability control systems are the tech secrets behind the feeling. The tester was also fitted with the adaptive suspension, a $600 option that adjusts dampers and handling to improve responsiveness and comfort based on road conditions and driving style.
The sole significant oversight on this car is the decision to not add paddle shifters. With the dual clutch transmission, and its sporty character the car should give drivers the ability to shift when they want to.
As it is, in Drive, there is a bit of turbo lag which takes away from the fun of a quick acceleration. You can counteract this to some extent by toggling the gear selector past “D” to the “L” setting, which gives you a more aggressive shift map. It’s a stealthy sport mode.
At highway speeds with the top closed the convertible is a bit noisy, as you’d expect from a soft top. The solution is to put the top down and embrace the wind.
Conclusion: The 2025 MINI Cooper S convertible is a load of top-down fun. It’s zippy with the new power plant and looks sporty and cute at the same time. It just begs you to take it for a long drive on a warm summer day with the sun on your face and the wind in your hair.
If you overlook the lack of cargo space and a useful rear seat, it could be the ideal warm weather ride. And, if you wouldn’t miss the ability to shift gears while enjoying the ride, the Cooper S convertible should be a contender in your search for a drop top toy.
2025 MINI Cooper S Convertible
Price as tested: $54,190.00
Freight: per dealership
Configuration: Front engine, front-wheel drive
Engine/transmission: 2.0-litre/4-cylinder turbo/7-speed DSG
Power: 201 hp, torque of 221 lb-ft
Fuel capacity: Premium 44 litres
Fuel economy ratings (L/100 km): 8.5 city; 6.1 highway; 7.4 combined
Warranties: 4 years/80,000 km
Competitors: Fiat 500e Cabrio, Mazda MX-5, Porsche 718 Boxster
Website: MINI Canada