2013 Mini Paceman - Car and Driver
When unveiling the Paceman concept at the 2011 Detroit auto show, Mini touted it as a “totally new category of car” thanks to an “innovative body concept. The front end, in fact, is identical to that mega-Mini five-door. Compared with the Countryman, the Paceman’s roof is lower and hints at the “baseball cap” style of the smaller Mini Coupe, and the rear lights and trunk are entirely different. The garish chrome strip around each taillight recalls that of a Buick Enclave, and the “Paceman” moniker is plastered along the tailgate in a way that makes ’90s Pontiacs seem like paragons of understatement. Thanks mainly to its chopped roof, the Paceman is 1. 6 inches lower than the Countryman and its center of gravity has dropped by an inch. Despite being 44 pounds lighter than its five-door sibling, the Paceman prototype we drove—a Cooper S ALL4 model—felt tighter and more substantial than the flimsy, rattle-prone Countryman. We preferred the slightly heavy weighting of this all-wheel-drive Paceman’s electric power steering to that of a front-drive Countryman provided for comparison. The Paceman is no sports car, and the engine doesn’t provide many thrills, either. Given the additional mass and friction of the all-wheel-drive system, the Paceman can’t keep up with compact performers such as the Volkswagen GTI or a regular Mini Cooper S. We still recommend the all-wheel drive anyway, if only to avoid the. Source: www.caranddriver.com
