Marking its fourth generation, the MINI Cooper once again embraces its small-car heritage, only this time it trades the sheet metal over your head for a power-folding soft top that lets the sky in. The 2025 MINI Cooper S Iconic Convertible keeps nearly all the cheeky character and tech you get in the latest hardtop, but adds a British Flag–adorned roof, a bit more open-air drama, and just a touch of old-school convertible uniqueness. It is still very much a MINI, only now with the option to feel the sun and wind working just as hard as the turbocharged four-cylinder under the bubbly hood.

Performance and Driving Character

The MINI brand has always been about extracting big fun out of a small package, and that theme continues with the Cooper S Iconic Convertible. Power still comes from a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine good for 201 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque, routed through a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission to the front wheels. There is no manual on the menu for 2025, but the dual-clutch gearbox is quick to respond and happy to snap off shifts when you lean into the throttle.

Like the coupe, the Cooper S Convertible feels stronger than its numbers state on paper, pulling eagerly from low rpm and gaining speed with a satisfying urgency. Select the playful Go-Kart drive mode, and the car sharpens its responses and livens up its attitude, encouraging you to carve through traffic or just drive like an idiot as they do in the Italian Job movie. The convertible is a tick slower than the hardtop off the line, with 0 to 60 mph landing about 6 seconds flat, but in the real world, it still feels plenty zippy for something this small.

Riding on 18-inch wheels wrapped in low-profile 215/40R-18 rubber in Iconic trim (19-inch optional shown in photos), grip is plentiful, and the Cooper S remains confident when you start to push it. Steering remains light just off center and quick enough to give the car that tossable, darty feel that has long defined MINI. There is still a touch of torque steer if you floor it out of a side street or slight turn, as the front tires will search for traction. Such is part of the MINI charm, and purest will love it.

Where things change compared to the coupe is in the structure. With the roof chopped off and the necessary bracing baked in, the Cooper S Convertible tips the scales at around 3,150 pounds, a noticeable bump over the hardtop. You feel that extra weight in the way the car reacts to quick transitions and in how it rides over rougher sections of pavement. There is also a bit of cowl shake when you cross sharper expansion joints or patched sections of road, a subtle shudder through the windshield frame that reminds you that you are in a soft-top. It never feels sloppy, but the hardtop is the more buttoned-down option if absolute chassis tightness is your priority.

That said, the basic ride quality is still quite good for something this small and this short in wheelbase. It can get busy over repetitive undulations, and the rear end occasionally gives a quick rebound over larger rises, but the trade-off is a car that still dives eagerly into bends and feels nimble darting through city traffic. With the top down on a warm evening, the whole experience leans more toward pure fun than clinical precision anyway, and in that environment the convertible absolutely delivers.

Fuel Economy

With a bit more weight to haul around and the extra aerodynamic penalty that comes with a fabric roof, the Cooper S Convertible does not quite match the hardtop on fuel economy. The 2025 MINI Cooper S Convertible is rated at 26 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, and 30 mpg combined, which lands you a couple of mpg behind the Cooper S coupe’s EPA figures.

At times, you can still see mid-30s on the highway cruising at reasonable speeds with the top up, and you might nudge closer to the official 36-mpg highway rating if you are gentle with the throttle. Drop the top, keep it in Go-Kart mode, and enjoy the turbocharged engine’s torque, and you will watch those numbers dip. The familiar 11.6-gallon fuel tank remains, so range is slightly shorter than in the coupe, but still perfectly acceptable for a small city-friendly runabout.

Interior and Technology

Inside, the convertible carries over almost everything that makes the new Cooper S cabin such a conversation piece. The traditional gauge cluster in front of the driver is gone, replaced by a head-up display, and the star of the show is the large 9.4-inch circular OLED touchscreen in the center that handles infotainment and a surprising amount of vehicle information.

The interface still feels like a MINI-ified remix of BMW’s iDrive, with bright graphics, clever animations, and a playful approach to menus. It is fun to look at and very customizable, but the learning curve remains steep. Simple tasks such as diving into radio presets or hunting down some commonly used features require a few too many taps and swipes. Fortunately, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration help bypass some of that complexity when you just want to stream music or run your favorite navigation app. Still, not logging into the MINI setup leaves you with a guest profile that resets some of your initial settings upon each vehicle startup, which is extremely annoying. You can’t even auto-fold the mirrors without logging into the system and setting up such a feature.

Front seat space remains a strong point considering the smallish size of the MINI Cooper S. The front heated sport seats in Iconic trim are supportive and surprisingly accommodating for taller drivers and passengers, with enough adjustment to find a relaxed driving position. The rear seats, as before, are best reserved for kids or very tolerant adults for short trips, or just an extra space for storage, as you must contend with a tiny trunk. That is simply the reality of the MINI’s footprint.

Where the convertible diverges more dramatically from the coupe is in cargo and noise. Trunk space shrinks to about 5.2 cubic feet, which is notably less than the 8.9 cubic feet you get in the hardtop. You can still squeeze in a couple of small duffel bags or a thoughtfully packed grocery run, but road trips will require a bit of planning and probably some clever use of the folding rear seatbacks. Fundamentally, you’re often reminded that MINI really means MINI here.

Noise is also turned up a notch. Even with the fabric top in place, there is a bit more road and tire sound creeping into the cabin and more wind noise rustling around at highway speeds than in the coupe. It is not harsh, but if you are sensitive to noise on long drives, you will notice the difference. On the flip side, put the top into its first “ragtop” style position, where just the forward section over the front seats slides back like a massive power sunroof, and you get a nice breeze without committing to a full top-down experience. Press and hold the switch again, and the whole soft top folds away neatly for full open-air motoring.

The soft top itself is a highlight. The Union Jack pattern embroidered into the fabric gives the car an extra bit of British flair that you can appreciate from across the parking lot. It is one of those details you do not need but absolutely appreciate every time you walk up to the car. Add in the usual MINI touches like physical flip switches for drive modes and ignition, customizable ambient lighting, and those pixelated tail lamps, and the Cooper S Iconic Convertible delivers the same dose of cuteness and personality as the hardtop, just with a better view of the sky.

Safety

On the safety front, the Cooper S Iconic Convertible carries much of the same tech you find in the hardtop. You get a comprehensive driver-assistance suite that includes forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and lane-keeping assistance, blind spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert. Most models can also be equipped with adaptive cruise control and an active driving assistant system that lightly steers and maintains distance in traffic, which is a nice convenience on longer highway stints, as found on my test vehicle.

A 360-degree camera system with multiple viewing angles, equipped on my test vehicle, is welcome in a small convertible, where the rearward view with the top up can be a bit challenging.

Price

One of the appealing aspects of the new MINI Cooper S lineup is that you can still get into the MINI-fun without completely breaking the bank, but the convertible does carry a slight premium over the hardtop. The 2025 MINI Cooper S Convertible starts at $37,200 before any fees or options, and my nicely equipped Iconic-trimmed test vehicle tests out at $42,895, which includes a $995 destination charge.