Road Test: Mini Hatchback Cooper S Shnitzer 3dr

Shhh... Can you hear that? It's the sound of legendary Mini designer, Sir Alex Issigonis, turning in his grave after seeing the limited edition Schnitzer Mini Cooper S. But you can't blame him seeing as he originally had reservations regarding a faster version of his creation, needing some arm-twisting by John Cooper to put his namesake into production. And that was with just 55bhp. The Schnitzer has an extra 145.

But then Issigonis was a bit of a fuddy-duddy. When designing the car in the Fifties, he didn't leave space for a radio because he never listened to them in cars. This version is as far from Issigonis' concept as you can get, but that doesn't stop it from being a fabulous piece of kit. Sir Alex would definitely have a coronary over the looks. With the fitting of the Schnitzer's styling pack including tinted windows, five-spoke 17-inch alloys and suspension so low it only just clears the tyres, it looks like it belongs in an awful gangsta rap video. However, with the exception of a Schnitzer gearknob and handbrake handle, the interior is standard Cooper S.

Unlike the performance. Schnitzer has adjusted the supercharger, modified the engine management and fitted its own twin exhaust to give the car 200bhp over the standard's 163bhp, meaning it will reach 62mph in 6.9 seconds and is good for 140mph. Now these may not be much more than the standard car's figures, but where Schnitzer has concentrated all of its energies is with the torque. The car boasts 181lb ft compared with the S's 155 and it shows; there's oceans of power that will still make the diddy car accelerate hard, while the mid-range power is fantastic, having a 50-70mph in fourth gear figure of 5.4 seconds. And the power is delivered immediately making it a very addictive drive. It also makes the car feel bigger, like it's a genuine grand tourer with performance to match.

Since Schnitzer has lowered the suspension by 55mm and fitted sports suspension, the handling is out of this world. Chuck it into a corner at any speed and the car will firmly stick to the asphalt with no hint at all that it's going to snap away from you. This does mean that the ride is extremely hard, although Schnitzer says it can fit slightly softer suspension for people who don't want to feel like they're at a track day every time they nip to the newsagents.

In fact, while the car shown here is one of only 250 complete conversions Schnitzer is bringing into the country, it's offering different stages individually. This means you can take your Cooper S (and not a One or Cooper) and ask for the engine upgrade (at £3,480), or the styling pack (an extra £2,440) or the handling pack (for £1,655), meaning you can choose what bits you want and ignore the bits you don't, while all conversions carry a BMW approved warranty. So I'd stick with the basic engine upgrade and keep the discreet style of the standard Cooper S. However, if you want the full monty then one of the 250 fully built examples will set you back a cool £22,950 and while it makes the most of an already excellent package, it's still quite expensive, especially when you consider the Ford Focus RS is £20,100.

But it's still a fabulous conversion and while it's not a car Issigonis would have approved of, even he didn't get it right all the time. Anyone remember Sir Alex's swansong, the 1969 Austin Maxi?

Paul Walton