The debate as to what is ‘the world’s coolest car’ is not a straightforward one. If you ask Google, it throws up all the usual suspects, Ferrari this, Lamborghini that.
The thing is though; these cars aren’t actually that cool. Yes we’d all love to have a DBS or an F458 but the reality of it is the only people who can actually afford to buy them are Rockstars and the overpaid princesses of the Premier league. And let’s be honest we all love to hate them. You see in a magazine or a newspaper someone you have an unexplainable hatred towards driving the car you love ruins the appeal of it immediately. It’s heart-breaking I know.
So what other contenders are there?
But there is another angle you could approach ‘the world’s coolest car’ debate with, a more ‘working man’s’ view. Car’s that are; subtle, exclusive, iconic but affordable. But there aren’t many that meet the requirements, maybe the original M3, VW Sirocco, E-type Jag or the early 911’s are contenders but they’re all still a bit on the pricey side.
When I thought of cheap, subtle, exclusive and iconic the answer was an obvious one, the Mini. The Alec Issigonis original that is. To me this car is the epitome of cool, so cool in fact I bought one. Now I’ll try and keep this blog as biased-free as possible, but for around the same amount of money as the Mini the only contender I can think of is the VW Golf GTI Mk1 (I’d like to hear some suggestions). Even if we take money out of the equation, I still maintain that the Mini is a seriously cool car.
There was no other car I was interested in owning other than a classic Mini. 2 years before I even passed my driving test I was scouring the internet for ‘the one’. And almost 16 months later I found it. A 1993 British Open Classic – limited edition model – naturally in British Racing green. It had the deep-dish minilight alloys, spot-lights up front, chrome bumpers and skirts and trimmed with a plush half leather half tweed interior (take my word on the tweed). There wasn’t a cooler car on the road, and I wasn’t the only one who thought it.
Can a Mini really be the world’s coolest car?
People stopped you in petrol stations, car parks even at traffic lights. The amount of attention and looks it got you would have thought you were driving around in an Aston or Lambo but only without the burning feeling of resentment. People could level with you because they could quite easily afford what you had, unlike the pretentious bighead in his F430 spider who we all pretend not to have seen at the junction.
The Mini isn’t particularly fast, economical or reliable but was simply amazing to drive. It’s still voted one of the best driver’s cars and for the money, thrills don’t come much cheaper. There were no electronic driving aids, no traction control, stability management, even safety wasn’t one of its selling points – your knees were the crumple zones – but this is what made it so engaging to drive, keeping the weight incredibly low and having no electronic interference. Such a raw driving experience and having the looks and appeal the Mini does is hard to find nowadays.
And if you’re still not convinced of the cool credentials the Mini has, you know who else owned one? Steve McQueen, Enzo Ferrari and Mick Jagger. Now things don’t get much cooler than that.
Ignition blog 
Did you not look like Mr Bean while driving it