Mini Cooper 2001 test drive - 2006 hatchback

Maximum mini

Almost every fashionable new car market is doomed to numerous attacks by tuningers. Using the excitement, they are in a hurry to offer the most extravagant (and expensive!) Tuning packets, even if the machine is in serial form, perfection itself, which does not need any improvements. And what can I say when the new superstar objectively has a lot of weaknesses?! In this case, the tuningers himself ordered the himself to quickly imagine his vision of what this car could be.

Since the appearance of the new mini on the market, it is simply beyond competition in the attention of not only the general public, but also representatives of tuning companies. Variations that preach his appearance are already countless. But if many buyers of the new Mini want extravagant chips for the exterior, that is, a considerable part of customers who cannot come to terms with very mediocre (artificially lowered manufacturer) dynamic and running characteristics of the baby, including his top options. Dozens of tuningers joined the competition: who pumps out more horsepower from a small motor, who will offer the most aggressive exterior as possible? And as soon as it came to records, the German company Hamann is again ahead of everyone!

Richard Hamann was morally difficult to start re -educating Mini Cooper S. He is a maximalist who dismissively responding to models, even in a serial version of more than 400 hp, a tuninger called Mr. Monster and about which they say that he never has enough power . And here is the introductory stunted 1.6-liter motor, the volume of which is technically impossible to increase, and the mechanical superceter of the EATON of the low-power M45 model ...

But the demand for extreme versions of Mini is very large, customers who are loved in the car are not considered with costs, trying to get everything to the maximum. And Hamann decided to approach the processing of Mini with the same uncompromising standards as he is known for the transformations of BMW sports cars. As they say, the result on the face on such a fun and friendly physiognomy of the machine in the past. Cooper S grinned with a huge (almost to the ground!) Front spoiler, and overgrown with powerful extensors of wheeled arches on the sides. The body crouched for as much as 30 mm (of course, the suspension was completely redesigned), and the wheel arches entirely occupy 18-inch wheels with five-spoke disks of the well-known Hamann PG4 model, which has a laconic, but muscular style. The profile height is only 35%, the width of 225 mm maximum, which is allowed by wheel niches. Several strokes in coloring, decorative stickers and Mini, the appearance of which personified good-naturedness, a spring car and just a cutie, turned into an aggressive, even impudent creature. Watch out, away from the road! As if he warns.

What does the monster boaman racket offer for mechanics, because, as we know, the resources of the Mini motor forcing are extremely small? The method is classic: since the volume cannot be increased, the pressure of the supercharger increases and the control electronics is completely replaced. Hamann stardially set the capacity of 211, 216, 220 hp, in order to constantly maintain the title of the most powerful mini in the world behind the car. Coins tuningers also get 23 hp from time to time, so today the German released a version with a capacity of 226 hp. So far, no one has offered more for Cooper S. The compressor gives a little more than 1 bar (instead of 0.8 in a serial machine), some parts inside the motor had to be changed to more hardy, they put a racing air filter. Twisting 260 Nm instead of 210 nm in the database, and Tuninger notes that the maximum power and thrust on this version are achieved even at slightly lower speeds than the high -speed engine of the serial Cooper S, and this helps a lot.

The reputation of Richard Hamann as the most provocative tuner was not affected. Not limited to the serious reconfiguration of the suspension and the motor, he also offered a radical tuning package for the cabin. It would seem that a serial model is out of competition in style and quality of interior materials. Just not by my standards, says Hamann. Take a look yourself! Yeah...

Large elements of the front panel and about a dozen more interior details are made of varnished carbonate! The quality of baking and grinding carbon fiber can shock even a specialist. You will not find carbon segments that occupy such an area in the salons of most real supercars, Hamann notes. The cost of this brilliant decoration is comparable to the retail price of the standard Cooper S! Of course, such a supercar interior and muscular appearance provoke our test pilot Denis Moren, as they say, take Mini by the horns. You probably remember that a serious test of the serial Cooper S reveal a power deficiency and wide possibilities for finalizing driving qualities. Somehow he will behave the brainchild of Hamann?

Unlike the usual SOOPER S, the engine of which is sluggish to 4000 rpm, the Hamann version begins to show character after 2500 rpm, says Moren. This immediately cheers up. New electronics allows you to almost lose speed when switching. Of course, a set of power, alas, is still too linear, smooth, without powerful bursts of acceleration, which would be great for such a machine. But still, an additional 63 horses allow you to call this copy athletic, which I would never have said about a serial car. In the range of 40006000 rpm, Hamann Mini takes on incendiary agility, the speed grows rapidly, and the won second of acceleration of 0100 km/h (6.3 C verses of 7.4) is subjectively felt as if acceleration has improved two times! The appearance of these emotions is very facilitated not even by the intensity of acceleration, which still cannot create any sportsmanship overloads, but a new sound accompaniment. If the basic version is disappointed and annoyed by the superpowered buzz of the compressor and a strained roar on high notes, then everything is different here. Hamann sports mufflers fill the salon with respect by a deaf powerful bass, and the redesigned boost has such a perky voice that the soul rejoices!

Enjoying this exciting accompaniment, you quietly discover that on the speedometer more than 200 km/h. The basic Cooper S develops such a speed painfully and for a long time, and this is as if playing. I recalled the words of Riharad Hamann: when accelerating from a place to 100 km/h, a natural shortage of a low -speed traction engine does not allow you to win for more than a second with a small one, but when accelerating to 200 km/h, our mini is already faster than the serial already at 3.5 s! After all, the power increase gives a win in maximum speed, and it is clear where additional resources are hidden. The gas pedal is on the floor, in front of the multi-kilometer section of the autobahn and ... after some time on the dial of a funny, similar to the old alarm clock, the arrow crosses the mark 250! Such a speed for a miniature car is a huge achievement. Excellent, because Cooper S is not able to squeeze even up to 220 km/h. I recall that at 200 km/h, the instability of behavior is felt on the serial car, vertical fluctuations are annoyed. In this regard, Hamann tuning is simply inimitable for new suspension components, a reduced clearance and serious clamping force guarantee first -class stability. This mini behaves as confident as a large sedan on the motorway.

As you know, Hamann earned the greatest authority precisely thanks to the competence in the field of landing chassis. The suspension of the tuned mini is very good: in vihii, a small car simply ignores the rolls, it seems that he does not want to roll into a millimeter. It is with this that the Cooper S chassis reminds of cards by its behavior, says Moren. BMW marketers insisted on this comparison when starting a serial model. But experts asked them whether they went someday on the map or not! Richard Hamann turned the desired into the actual one: without suffering from the rolls and other parasitic suspension reactions, Mini gains excellent stability and maneuverability. The magnificent adhesion of the wide sports tires ContisportContact with the roadbed, the new suspension settings that completely change the nature of the rotation. The owner of the usual Cooper S simply would not understand that his own car is at the basis of his own. Farewell, the vagaries of the serial mini chassis! The version from Hamann can be thrown to storm any of the most insidious turn, and the car will pass it on an ideal trajectory without problems! In handling and obedience, I would even compare this version with the car of the younger formulas.

But these praises would be incomplete, if not for the combination of remarkable stability from ... you will probably treat it with distrust! excellent comfort. Yes, even with minimal moves and clearance, more rigid springs and sports shock absorbers, but Mini chassis filters bumps better than a standard suspension. No unpleasant stiffness, only confident stability, and at the same time, no rise, no vertical vibrations, as on the standard Cooper S. know-Hau Tunger! Many are perplexed how I achieve such a combination of the incompatible, says Richard. I know that it all depends on natural flair. When you gain a hundred settings options, experiment with countless combinations of suspension and stiffness of springs, you will find an optimal ratio that will surprise you yourself!

Of course, the power of power has small disadvantages: 226 hp. On the front axle inevitably lead to the phenomenon of Torque Steer. Gas at the output of the turn, and as if someone invisible pushes the steering wheel to the position directly. Representing Cooper S, BMW was very proud that this moment was not manifested, Moren is malicious. Naturally, just the power of a serial machine is not enough to occur! Hamann Mini is amazing in the piloting on dry asphalt, but the pushing rain again reminds: now there is real power, which means real burrows. In corners on a wet road, either the front or rear axle breaks down. I even chose to leave the DSC turned on, although it completely extinguishes the motor, but without it, this miniature monster in the rain becomes too violent!

The angry appearance may be liked or not, but in all other parameters, the top modification of Cooper S by Hamann is so more perfect than the standard model that the questions like why did BMW do the same? Or why buy a serial car, if there is one? They haunt. The main argument here is financial, and the price puts everything in its place. Together with the divine beauty, this sample costs ... more than 65 thousand euros, three times more expensive than the usual Cooper S. For this money in Germany, you can buy the beauty BMW M3 and to her in addition ... mini! However, even to those who are not going to bring their love for Mini to madness, there is no reason to refuse to install Hamann components separately, which is quite a pocket. We would recommend tuning the chassis first of all, although singing abilities also cannot leave indifferent. In the current form, the absolute mini from Hamann serves as a model of what the desire of a real professional for maximum perfection is capable of.

Ivan Vesnin

Source: Avtopanorama magazine