I had parked the MINI Cooper S Convertible and had not walked more than ten yards from it when my phone rang. At the other end of the line was a colleague who was sitting in a MINI Cooper S Convertible, and what he wanted to do was discuss the MINI Cooper S Convertible. I had no idea these things could dominate your life to quite this extent.We didn't need to talk about the basics; the cheeky looks, the almost complete lack of room in the rear, the boot which could be used as a not particularly spacious hamster cage, the high level of standard equipment compared with other MINIs. The conversation centred on handling.Handling is a bit of an issue with this car, because it's pretty quick. The Cooper S with the proper roof already packs quite a punch, producing 163bhp, but the Convertible - weighed down by various strengthening components to prevent it folding in half - has had its supercharged engine tweaked to bring the output up to 170bhp in an effort to match the straightline performance of the standard S.In both cases the engine is mated to a six-speed gearbox, as opposed to the five-speed unit found in the naturally-aspirated versions. This is a marketing ploy pure and simple, because the S doesn't need six gears. It pulls like a turbo diesel from 2000rpm (the supercharger making a noise which is pleasantly evocative of the transmission whine in an original Mini) and is still doing so at 7000, well beyond the point where any turbo diesel would be gasping for you to change up.The extra shifts are not much of a problem, however, because although the gearchange is a little notchy, the clutch action is superb. You would need to be awfully clumsy to move from one gear to another in a less than elegant manner.In the case of the properly-roofed Cooper S, the rapid acceleration is matched by super-sharp handling. Over-sharp, if anything. I would love to drive one on a race circuit, but for road use it seems a little too frenetic, a shade eager to catch you out if, for example, the road goes over a crest and turns at the same time.In this respect I reckon the Convertible is the better car. Of course, it doesn't handle quite as precisely - that was never going to happen from the moment the MINI people decided to chop off the roof. But it still handles astonishingly well. Even though I can never be fully comfortable driving any MINI (the steering wheel isn't sufficiently adjustable for me to able to put it where I want it), I had a great time with this one.Cars with properly sorted suspension need less steering wheel input than cars without. In the Cooper S Convertible it sometimes felt as if I hardly needed to turn the wheel at all. You think of where you want to place the car on the road, and there it goes. Fingertip pressure points the car at the apex of the corner, and you relax this pressure as you reach the next straight almost without considering the matter.What's more, the compromises in the chassis mean that the Convertible is less likely to reach a level of cornering which will send the back end skipping out of line. Or at least it never did so with me, and I used up half a tank of petrol trying - and failing - to coax the chassis into precisely this kind of behaviour.I should add here that my colleague shares my concerns about the handling of the standard Cooper S, and reckons that the Convertible has the same problem. For me, though, the Convertible is the more appealing car, and probably the safer one too.I doubt I'd buy one, though. I prefer a roof over my head to start with, and I also like being able to see what's happening behind me on certain occasions, like when, you know, reversing and stuff. That's not really an option in a MINI Convertible, certainly when the roof is up, because there is no rear three-quarter visibility whatever, and the small rear window is almost entirely obscured by the roll hoops and headrests designed for the safety and comfort of the back seat passengers, if only the back seat were big enough to take any.When this window is dirty, as becomes almost immediately the case in bad weather, just about the only option is to use the door mirrors as a guide when reversing, which may be okay if you're driving a van or a lorry but is not such a good idea in something as short as a MINI.So I prefer the ordinary Cooper S for its rearward visibility but I think the Convertible handles more securely. Oh well. Frankly, I still reckon the best MINI in the range is the diesel, but I've been subjected to enough joshing about that opinion for one lifetime; so I'll probably keep it to myself in future. Engine 1598cc, 4 cylinders Power 170bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 32.1mpg / 211g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 7.4 seconds Top speed 134mph Price £17,595 Details correct at publication date
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