I’ve been thinking about getting a Mini Cooper S. As a “consolidation” vehicle, of sorts. Not “consolation,” although sometimes I think it would be. I want to economize, with an all-season daily driver that’s high on the fun-o-meter, but has good economy. And it must be able to get me to and from winter ski hills. And cost a lot less than what I’m paying now for a Boxster S. And I really don’t want to make a mistake.
Lo and behold, I turned up for Yokohama’s introduction of its db Super E-spec tire, which is supposed to be tops in reduced rolling resistance, because science never sleeps — it uses, of all things, orange oil in its compound….
And what do you know. There on the tarmac was a line of Mini Cooper S’es, ready to be flogged on an autocross course.
Orange oil? Minis? Must be my lucky day.
Actually, the E-spec is an interesting product. According to Yokohama, it turns out that orange oil and natural rubber molecules share similar structures. Together, the compound creates a low rolling resistant tire that, in steady-state driving, gives top-of-class economy.
And, in active mode (when cornering and braking) the orange oil properties quickly generate heat, which means better grip. Plus, the manufacturing process uses less petroleum-based oils.
It’s a win, win, win. I flogged a Cooper S that was fit with the tires, and there was a lot of tire squealing, but the Mini was taut.
But I’m not into alternative fuel sources, not yet, anyway. For my purposes, the interesting discovery was the other tire that Yokohama was promoting, the AVID ENVigor, which they claimed is the first in a new category called “Grand Performance.” This is like eating all the cake you want, and losing weight — it’s supposed to provide “pure” performance in all four seasons, under all conditions… hence the nomenclature.
I must say, it was a big step up from the orange julius concoction. Less squeal, more speed, better stopping.
Which led to my question; would a Cooper S John Cooper Works, which comes standard with summer performance tires, work on a set of these?
Did I detect a head tilt from my engineer friend? A deke? A feint? Uh, sure, was the response. Or you could keep your summer tires, and swap out to winter performance tires when the leaves fall.
And what about the Orangina tires? No, the E-spec is really for hybrids, he said, for people interested in eking out the most efficient use of our pump-based natural resources. I checked the brochure. It said “stretch your hybrid’s fuel savings even further.”
Let’s go for another lap.
En-route on the ENVigors, I asked the engineer how he likes the Mini. Yeah, it’s fun, he said. Not much torque steer? No, but my VW GTI has even less, he said. And where do you live? Dallas, he said. Hmm, I thought. No ski hills there.
Would you drive one of these, with the ENVigors, all year round? I guess you could, he said. The core market is four-wheel-drive sporting sedans, but why not?
At which point he started suggesting other car brands and models, all of which I of course had also thought of, and also rejected out of hand, for all sorts of relatively esoteric reasons. How practical is one supposed to be, when economizing?
I told him I like the Mini, I like the feeling of wearing the car, I like its dartiness, I like its tossability, I like its fuel economy, I like its quirkiness.
*Editor's Note: This story was written by Dick
Badler…one of the newest members of the Rocky Mountain Automotive
Press. When not driving or writing about Porsches, Badler contributes to
TFLcar.com.
I persisted. What do most people in my situation do? Do the ENVigors really work in snow? Would I still enjoy the Mini? Do you know anybody in my situation? What did they do?
I said to him that, if you read the ads from Tire Rack, it seems like people run more than one set of tires all the time. Should I plan to do that in a Mini? And will I then be able to impersonate Finnish rally drivers? Or Paddy Hopkirk?
