Mini Roadster's Detroit debut

Next month's Detroit Motor Show will see the world premier of the Mini Roadster, an open-top two-seater with the promise of plenty of luggage space for a small car at 240 litres.

It has a soft-top manually operated roof that Mini insists can be quickly opened and closed. It will be unveiled on January 14 but the pictures already show off a low, lean machine (although your correspondent is still seeing a comb-over with the roofline - any debate on this is more than welcome in the comments section below). But it is still unmistakably Mini with the trademark round headlights, side indicator surrounds and vertically stacked rear lights. New touches include a steeply raked windscreen and stepped boot extending behind the passenger compartment.

Engines will range from 121bhp to 181bhp to the mighty 208bhp powertrain under the hood of the John Cooper Works Roadster. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard and the six-speed automatic is offered as an option on the Mini Cooper Roadster and Mini Cooper S Roadster. To keep things aerodynamic, the active rear spoiler will activate when the car hits 50mph.

Safety features include a reinforced windscreen frame, two stainless steel rollbars, front and head-thorax airbags, three-point seatbelts with belt force limiters and tensioners, and a tyre defect indicator. Electric power steering and Dynamic Stability Control and a torsionally rigid body add to the reassuring ride - while still being pretty high on the fun factor.

As soon as it’s launched in the UK, we will do our best to take this one for a test drive - although hopefully in better weather than we're getting today.

www.mini.co.uk

















By Georgia Lewis

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