Iconic British motor hailed as ‘absolutely fantastic’ by Jeremy Clarkson can be yours for less than £6k
A MUCH-LOVED British motor that boasts Jeremy Clarkson’s stamp of approval can be snared for less than £6,000.
The iconic pocket rocket has been spotted up for sale online, with the vehicle once dubbed an “absolute gem” by the former Top Gear host.
A 2012 Mini Cooper is up for sale on cargurus.co.uk from Whittlesey for £5,695, having chalked up 83,000 miles.
The Mini Roadster convertible has a 1.6-litre engine coming with 190 horsepower.
And if you’re looking for external opinions before registering interest, Clarkson could be in your corner.
Writing about a Cooper S Mini in an article for The Sunday Times, he said he “absolutely loved it”.
Clarkson wrote: “By far the best bit is the engine. It’s a turbocharged 1.6-litre that produces 181bhp, and that doesn’t sound the most exciting recipe in the world.
Best of British: the history of the Mini Cooper
The Mini Cooper emerged in 1961 as the result of the friendship between the British Motor Corporation’s head designer, Sir Alec Issigonis, and John Cooper, the head of the Cooper Car Company.
Cooper, who was also a designer of F1 cars, felt that the original Mini, first produced in 1959, had the potential to be tuned up for the world of motorsport.
The car debuted under both the Austin and Morris brands and was a commercial hit, with over 80,000 Mk I versions sold.
The Cooper was considered an icon of ’60s Britain, particularly after they were used by Michael Caine and his band of bullion thieves in 1969’s The Italian Job.
The original was discontinued in 1971 before being revived in 1990 under the ownership of the Rover Group, following the collapse of British Leyland.
Mini was then purchased as a standalone brand by BMW Group in 2000 when Rover was liquidated and continues to produce the Cooper to this day.
The lineage is set to continue on beyond 2030 in the form of an electric supermini bearing the iconic Cooper nameplate.
“But, after a whisper of lag you barely notice, the torque is immense.
“It feels as if there’s a muscle under the bonnet and you never tire of flexing it.
“The only real problem is that on a motorway — and I’ve noticed this in all Minis — its natural cruising speed is about 110mph.
“Because of a combination of where you sit, the angle of the throttle pedal, the gearing and the vibrations, this is how fast you go when you’re not concentrating. You need to watch it.”
Off the motorway, Clarkson compared the model to an old-school hot hatch, where you can whizz around the streets and bend into corners “at any speed that takes your fancy”.
Sadly, at the time of his testing, he couldn’t quite cash in on the convertible feature because it rained for all of the seven days he drove it around.
He concluded: “This car is worth a serious look. It’s not as well balanced as a Mazda MX-5 but it’s faster and it has more soul.
“In many ways it reminds me of Richard Hammond. It’s small and it’s annoying and it wears stupid clothes. But when you get to know it, it’s a bloody good laugh.”
In a blow for petrolheads, Mini has committed to switching to an all-electric lineup by 2030, so those in search of combustion engines will have to scour used-car markets.
It signals an end to a seven-decade production run, having become one of the UK’s most popular cars since it launched in 1961.
It originally became iconic after featuring in The Italian Job with Michael Caine.