The Mini Paceman just got a refresh, and just like the last one, I'm sure we'll find it to be absolutely detestable okay. And good news, for people that like their cars to have the word Mini on the front and yet look like oversize steroidal pillows everywhere else, it looks pretty much the same.
Weirdly, if you look back at our review, you'll actually find that a lot of people like the way the Paceman looks, for some reason. Unlike the delightfully boxy Countryman, which is pretty much downright lovely, and the regular Cooper and Cooper S, which is so splendid one of our own went out and bought one, the Paceman's aesthetics really are love-it-or-hate-it. Unfortunately, I'm in the latter camp. But, whatever, I'm never going to buy it, I guess.
For the people that do like it, however, the looks have gotten more a bit more adult. Sure, there's still the odd body cladding traipsing along the sides and around the wheel arches, which you thought was cool on the Pontiac Aztek, but the headlights have this kinda smokey-look to them, and I'm really digging the black surrounds. And there's supposed to be some new anthracite-looking trim on the inside, but because this is just a refresh and not a total re-design, it looks a lot like every other Mini you've been in over the past few years.
The Cooper S engine is up six horsepower to 190, and the JCW version is up 10 to 218. Which is all fantastic, except it'll continue to cost about the same (ours was over $40,000, as tested). All of the engines produce fewer carbon dioxide emissions, which is genuinely awesome. Yay, Earth.
And the ride's supposed to be quieter, so.
Yeah.
Oh! In Mini's press release they included this weird picture of a Paceman in the background with a dude hilariously up close to the camera in the foreground, possibly to make the big beast look, um, "small." It's pretty funny.
He looks weirdly photoshopped in, in his high visibility jacket, and I have no idea what he's doing there. He's not in any other picture. He looks like this guy I used to work with, named Tom, if Tom liked to look strangely off into the middle distance at nothing in particular, not even the car he's supposed to be selling.
Hi, Tom.
Here are some more pictures. Don't worry, Mini. I will not say they are of the car's ugly face, because that would be mean. I am being nice, tonight. I will not say that.
Photos credit: Mini