2007 Mini COOPER S

NEWS & REVIEWS The Mini isn’t so mini anymore. The new 2007 Cooper is going to be 2.4 inches longer, largely to meet more stringent European safety standards. Seems that cute little nose needs more space to crumple in a crash. But it’s given Mini’s parents, BMW, the chance to give the whole car a freshening. So it’ll come with a new lineup of four-cylinder motors, developed together with Peugeot and Citroën. The ’07 Cooper S gets a new turbocharged 1.6-liter four banger instead of the previous supercharged unit. Max power goes up from 168 horseys to 175, while the torque climb from 162 lb-ft to 177. But it comes with a particularly cool feature called “overboost”. Stomp on the gas and max torque is briefly boosted to 192 lb-ft. It’s like adding a squirt of nitrous, or a Starbucks triple espresso, into the system. And you thought the last version was a blast. It goes on sale next spring. PHOTOS: click photos to enlarge