Mini Cooper Horsepower  

The Mini Cooper is a small car with plenty of performance in handling and power. In this article, we take a look at Mini Cooper horsepower across the various models offered.

The decision by BMW to revive the Mini Cooper brand was a great day for driving enthusiasts who didn’t have a few hundred thousand dollars to spend on a sports car. The Cooper is all about performance and more than a few people have likened the car to a go kart. As the owner of one, I can tell you it is definitely the funnest car I’ve ever owned.

For such a small car, the Mini Cooper has a lot of get up and go. This is due to a 1.6 liter engine that is used across all the models. In some it is normally aspirated, while others have a turbocharged version. The car was formally boosted with a supercharger, but that was phased out in favor of the turbo in later models.

The base model offered is simply called the Mini Cooper. It comes with a normally aspirated version of the 4 cylinder engine. It produces a rather pedestrian 118 horsepower at 6000 rpm. The car is not fast, but the handling still makes it a fun little beast to drive.

The next step up is the Mini Cooper “S”. The “S” signifies an upgrade in performance. To provide it, the car comes with the same 1.6 liter, 4 cylinder engine, but it is turbocharged. The forced air system cranks up the horsepower to 177hp at 5,500 rpm, which is a significant increase in performance.

The John Cooper Works Mini Cooper is the top rung of performance with the car. This is a limited edition car produced for speed enthusiasts and often has to be ordered directly from the factory. The car is built to race, but is street legal. It comes with the same engine, but uses modified parts, exhaust, valves and turbo to produce a whopping 208 horsepower from the same 1.6 liter engine.

The question of the amount of Mini Cooper horsepower in each model is a bit misguided. The Cooper is never going to be a muscle car. The car is about whipping through winding country roads, not storming to victory on a drag strip. As the owner of a 2008 “S”, I can tell you it has plenty of get up and go while handling like nothing I’ve driven before.

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