Auto News 5

Can lightning strike the same spot twice? For Michael Jackson, the G. W. Bush administrations, or Scion, the answer is an unequivocal no. To check how the Mini Cooper S weathered the automotive-evolution storm, we ordered a second-generation edition and fed it into the Automobile Magazine staff rotation for four seasons of use, abuse, criticism, and candor.

With all the talk of fuel economy these days, you might be fooled into thinking that 25 mpg on the EPA's highway test is impressive for a mid-size car. I don't think it is. 25 mpg is, however, an impressive result for a 4700-lb vehicle that can carry eight passengers in quiet comfort. When it comes to hauling people and stuff, the minivan was a better alternative twenty years ago, it was a better alternative to all of those big, ungainly SUVs people insisted on driving, and it's still a better alternative today.

While the electric model was busy stealing the show, something was noticeably missing at the 2009 Los Angeles auto show: a drop-top Mini. That's because the wraps on the all-new 2009 Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S Convertibles weren't pulled off until just now.