Mini is busy testing the new Mini Convertible ahead of its launch in late 2015 – and these spy photos capture the Cooper S hotshot during a shakedown test at the Nurburgring in Germany.
The latest scoop pictures confirm the Mini Convertible Mk3 will retain the fabric soft top of its predecessors. No folding hard tops here – the Mini simply doesn’t have packaging space to stow away a rigid roof.
The test drivers here have – quite sensibly on the Nordschleife – kept the roof up, so we cannot yet see how much better executed the folding roof is on the latest 2015 Mini Convertible. Previous iterations have left the canvas roof protruding when folded, so we’re hopeful a neater solution has been engineered.
Mini Cooper S Convertible: the spec lowdown
The go-faster convertible Mini will use the same 2.0-litre petrol engine as the Mini hatchback. It’s a four-cylinder engine, rather than the three-pot used elsewhere in lowlier Minis, and musters a strong 192bhp.
In the Mini Cooper S hatchback, that engine is quoted at 0-62mph in 6.8sec and we’d expect the Convertible to be close behind.
Click here for the full story on the new five-door Mini hatchback, which is expected to become the best seller in the Mini range.
What else we know about the 2015 Mini Convertible
The fabric roof on the cabrio sticks with a glass window in the back, visible in our spy photos. It sticks with the three-door bodyshell, too; thank goodness no five-door soft-top is planned.
Cooper S styling traits are carried over: a pair of centre-exit exhausts poke out through the rear valance, while the front end is distinguished by a bonnet scoop and a lower spoiler peppered with extra cooling vents.
Chunkier alloy wheels of up to 18 inches, fatter tyres and a lower ride height complete the makeover for the 2015 Mini Convertible Cooper S.