MINI Roadster (2012 – 2015) Review

The idea of a two-seat MINI Roadster soft-top was great – all the fun of a MINI in a sportier package. It didn’t quite catch on as hoped, but it makes for an interesting and able rival to the Mazda MX-5 and its sister car, the Fiat 124 Spider, as well as the Audi TT Roadster. Even hot hatches such as the Renault Clio RS are in its sights. Read on for our full MINI Roadster review.

With the MINI Countryman and the sporty MINI Coupe, MINI’s model range was expanding fast.

And although there was already a MINI Convertible model in the line-up, the brand decided to add a more focused two-seater MINI Roadster.

It’s not much good if you have children, but where the rear seats used to be is a larger, more practical boot.

The MINI Roadster is similar in style to the MINI Coupe, but while the latter has a fixed metal roof, the former came with a folding fabric one.

It can be raised or lowered in eight seconds at speeds up to 20mph, so you really can do it at traffic lights. It doesn’t affect the 240-litre luggage area, either. 

The canvas roof is lighter and less complex than a metal one, which means the MINI Roadster is lightweight and has a low centre of gravity, so none of the famed MINI handling is lost. 

The MINI Roadster is fun to drive on country roads and offers good performance, with an entertaining exhaust note, precise steering and head-turning looks. It’s offered with a selection of petrol engines ranging from 122PS in the MINI Roadster Cooper to 211PS in the MINI Roadster John Cooper Works. There’s also a 143PS diesel.

Much like the rest of the MINI range, there were hundreds of customisation options, covering everything from the caps on the mirrors to little lights behind the door handles, as well as plenty of colours, stripes and various different alloy wheel designs.

As a used car, the MINI Roadster is an intriguing sports car alternative to the more obvious Mazda MX-5, and it has a loyal band of followers in the MINI community.

Fancy a new MINI Convertible? Read our review here.

The MINI Roadster was pitched as a sports car, and the brand singled out the Audi TT Roadster and the Mazda MX-5 as key rivals.

In terms of driving enjoyment, it doesn’t disappoint.

The gearchange is satisfying and the steering direct and well weighted, which inspires confidence through bends. Over smoother roads, the MINI Roadster is extremely composed and doesn’t feel flustered.  

It’s not perfect, though. Over rougher, more uneven surfaces, the MINI Roadster is bouncy, which isn’t great for comfort. This problem is less pronounced in the diesel model, though, with its heavier engine.

With the roof down, it’s easy to hold a conversation, even at motorway speeds. There is wind noise, but it’s far from intrusive and at B-road pace the MINI Roadster is a perfectly serene environment.

The exhaust note sounds good and it’s enhanced when the ‘sport’ button is pressed. Sport mode also weights up the steering and sharpens the throttle response. 

The MINI Roadster is available with a 2.0-litre diesel engine or a 1.6-litre petrol, the latter of which is available in three outputs – 122PS, 184PS and 211PS.

The sweet spot is probably the MINI Roadster Cooper S model, which provides plenty of enjoyable and usable performance.

Peak torque is 240Nm, available between 1600-5000rpm, plus there’s an overboost facility to push that up to 260Nm for overtaking.

It makes for quite exhilarating pace and the exhaust even pops and crackles when you back off, adding to the experience – particularly with the roof down.

The diesel engine gives the MINI Roadster a completely different character. It’s quiet and refined, save for a little bit of clatter at start up, while it delivers a healthy 305Nm of torque between 1750 and 2700rpm.

Keep it in the power band and it surges forward, but without the same exhaust note it feels much more grown-up. It will be better suited to long-distance touring. It’s the most efficient engine in the range, too.

All cars come with ‘Minimalism’ technology, which reduces fuel consumption by way of a stop/start system, brake energy regeneration and a shift indicator. 

Every MINI Roadster comes with four airbags as standard, plus ESP traction and stability control. It also has ABS anti-lock brakes.

The MINI Roadster makes a feature of its twin roll hoops, which are for real-world safety as much as style.

No towing capacities were quoted for the MINI Roadster, largely as it was never expected that any owners would want to use it for hauling.

As a result, the MINI Roadster is not rated to tow any sort of trailer.

A minor niggle is the seat height, which is a little high for a sports car, even at its lowest setting.

The biggest problem, though, is the visibility when the roof is in place – there’s just a small rear window to peer through, and no over-shoulder visibility at all, which can make oblique junctions and lane changes tricky.

Nonetheless, the MINI Roadster has a comfortable interior with plenty of character.

Switches for the windows, roof and various other minor controls are reminiscent of old aircraft buttons, which is an interesting juxtaposition against the modern infotainment screen, if specified.

The roof is raised and lowered electrically in eight seconds, but it must be locked or unlocked from the windscreen manually.

When retracted, it folds neatly behind the seats, with no impact on the fairly generous load space of 240 litres. Refinement is acceptable when the roof is in place, but there’s more wind noise than you’d get in a car with a folding metal roof. 

There’s a decent-sized glove compartment, storage behind the seats and a through-hatch for golf clubs, skis or snowboards.

There are also cubby holes under the centre stack, cup-holders and usefully large door pockets.

Anyone familiar with the MINI hatch of the same period will recognise the interior of the MINI Roadster.

It’s got the same ‘pod’ rev counter and oversized speedo. Everything feels solid and well screwed together, but there are some areas that feel a little dated now, with harder plastics where you might expect to find soft-touch materials.

The MINI Roadster comes with MINI Connected Services, which was the company’s take on hooking up your smartphone to the car.

It’s not a patch on current Apple CarPlay or Android Auto systems, but it does let you access some functions via the 6.5-inch screen in the middle of the central speedo.

You also get DAB radio and Bluetooth, plus an Aux-in port.

You can find decent MINI Roadsters from £4500 with 75,000 miles on the clock, but we’d look to spend £1000 more for a car that comes with plenty of additional kit specified when the car was new.

This larger budget will cover most petrol models and the diesel, but a MINI Roadster Cooper S or MINI Roadster John Cooper Works will add £1000 and £4000 respectively to that for an 11-year old model.

Go for a car from the end of the car’s production life and prices tickle up across the range by around £2500, which gets you a motor that’s covered less than 30,000 miles since new.

When the MINI Roadster was launched, it came with fuel economy ranging from the frugal MINI Roadster SD turbodiesel’s claimed 62.8mpg all the way to the still decent 38.7mpg of the potent MINI Roadster John Cooper Works model.

Our Real MPG data shows the MINI Roadster John Cooper Works pretty much achieves its target, while the MINI Roadster SD offers 52mpg in normal driving. The MINI Roadster Cooper claimed 49.6mpg and delivers a true 37mpg, while the MINI Roadster Cooper S was touted as offering 47.1mpg and achieves a real 40mpg.

When it comes to paying road tax, the MINI Roadster Cooper is easiest on the wallet from the petrol range thanks to its 133g/km carbon dioxide output. This means you pay £190 per year at the time of writing, while the MINI Roadster Cooper S will cost you exactly the same annually with its 139g/km emissions.

The diesel MINI Roadster SD emits 118g/km and pays road tax of only £35 per year, which is much more appealing than the petrol-powered MINI Roadster John Cooper Works’ levy of £305 due to its 169g/km.

Servicing costs for the MINI Roadster will match those for any MINI variant with the same engine.

Getting insurance cover for the MINI Roadster needn’t be costly, as the MINI Roadster Cooper sits in Group 19 with the 1.6-litre petrol engine.

Go for the MINI Roadster SD diesel version and that rises to Group 24. The more potent MINI Roadster Cooper S and MINI Roadster John Cooper Works models sit in groups 32 to 37 (out of 50), so you’ll pay more for their premiums.

The three trim levels start with the MINI Roadster Cooper, which comes with a DAB radio, Aux-in, active rear spoiler, air-conditioning and a sport button.

There’s also dynamic stability control (DSC), heated washer jets and mirrors, parking sensors, roll-over hoops, sport stripes and a tyre pressure monitor.

The MINI Roadster Cooper S and MINI Roadster Cooper SD models come with the same equipment as the MINI Roadster Cooper, but with the addition of sports seats.

Opt for the MINI Roadster Cooper JCW and you get the same equipment as the MINI Roadster Cooper S and MINI Roadster Cooper SD, but with the addition of an Alcantara steering wheel, aerodynamic styling kit, uprated brakes and twin exhausts.

MINI also offered a dazzling array of options and packs for the MINI Roadster, and while these accoutrements are welcome, don’t pay any extra for them on used models.