2015 Mini Cooper, Cooper S Motors See Upgrades
As we've seen in previous spy photos, the styling of the next-generation Mini Cooper Hardtop will be an evolutionary step, keeping the much-loved bulldog appearance. During the i8 early drive, one of the engineers let slip that a version of the powertrain found at the back of the innovative hybrid would find its way under the pseudo-British bonnet of the next Mini. At the time, we were wondering if a slightly detuned version of the 228-hp engine would power the Cooper S. Mini has released early specs on what will power the 2015 Cooper and Cooper S, and while the base engine seems like a giant improvement, the S engine's specs are slightly lower than expected. The current generation of Cooper has a naturally aspirated 1.6 liter I-4 making 121 hp and 114 lb-ft of torque at 4250 rpm. The new turbo three-banger is rated at 134 hp, but the big news is the 162 lb-ft of torque available at 1250 rpm. The engine sounds amazing in the i8, so I'm hoping that same exhaust note can be carried over to the Mini. The current R56 Cooper S is powered by a turbocharged version of the 1.6-liter I-4 that produces 181 hp and 177 lb-ft of torque at 1600 RPM. The new S will get a 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4, an engine now shared with other BMW offerings that gets a slight increase in power compared to the current S to 189 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque, also at 1250 rpm. Both cars will have an overboost feature that will allow bursts of 10 lb-ft more torque on the Cooper and an extra 15 lb-ft on the S. 
Both engines share technology with the rest of the BMW turbocharged engine family. TwinPower turbo technology is BMW-speak for a single, twin-scroll turbocharger. The twin scroll allows for two different ports for the exhaust gasses to spin the turbine, one at lower speed to get it spooling faster and one at higher speed to generate more boost once more exhaust gas volume is available. The turbo is also integrated into the exhaust manifold. The shorter distance from exhaust valve to turbine means quicker spool times, plus big advantages for emissions. Less surface area in the exhaust port means the exhaust gasses don't lose as much heat during cold-start running, allowing the catalytic convertor to reach light-off temperature quicker. Also helping emissions and power is the use of Dual VANOS, basically variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust side as well as Valvetronic, which is a variable valve lift system so complete, BMW is able to use it to throttle the engine instead of a traditional throttle body. Both technologies are used inside an aluminum cylinder head and operate four valves per cylinder. That head sits on top of an aluminum closed deck block. Inside the block are forged connecting rods and crank. The I-3 uses a single balance shaft while the I-4 uses two counter-rotating balance shafts.
If we believe the previously mentioned i8 engineer, the Cooper and Cooper S will continue to use a six-speed automatic and not a DCT. The U.S. market will get the start/stop-function that Europeans have had for a few years. The manual transmission will get a rev-match feature for the people who want to shift themselves without all that trouble of learning to properly heel-toe a downshift. While none of this news is necessarily earth-shattering, it does point to some significant upgrades on cars we're already pretty impressed with. The base Cooper has never had substantial thrust, but the chassis is so good and communicative that you forget it isn't necessarily fast, or even quick or swift. We are sure the extra torque is going to be incredible. Though the Cooper S was always competitive against the hot-hatch class, cars such as the Focus ST and upcoming MK7 GTI are raising the stakes in straight-line performance. We are sure the handling will still be there and the driving experience will certainly be uniquely Mini. We can't wait to see what else Mini has up its sleeve -- or maybe more appropriately, under its bowler hat -- to surprise us at the cars' launch.
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