This car was my daily driver (lease car) from January 2006 til August 2008, while I was working for Aebizz E-Consultants (there were two other lease cars, but neither was “honoured” with a page on this site). This car was succeeded by the Red Cooper.
I have used the white (at first BRG) Cooper for a few years as my daily
transport, but from May 2005 until August 2008, I had a job that came with a company
car. The white Cooper got a well-deserved rest in a dry garage, and
after having driven a anonymous French box for a few months (tough if
you’re used to drive a Mini every day), my very own Mini Cooper
arrived. The new model made by BMW, that is. It took me a while to spec
one. I was close to ordering a Pepper White Cooper, but then the Lease
Company’s offer showed that there was a rather big premium for getting
a “white” car, because its resale value would be bad. Come on guys,
Pepper White may be one of the most fashionable colours on a Mini! (Incidentally, while shopping for the Red Cooper, I once more looked at a PW new Mini, and, who would have expected… PW is one of the most sought after colors and the cars are snatched away almost as quickly as they become available… Great prospecting, Athlon Car Lease!)
Anyway, back to the car at hand. It is a Mini Cooper Checkmate. BMW resurrected an old Mini special edition name (Rover used the same name for a Mini 1000 in 1991, which was “Cooperfied” from the factory, with a white roof – it was black, with Flame Red and Racing Green models from the same line-up – I’m sure you can guess what colours those came in).
The 2006 Checkmate is a little different. For one, you could order it only as a Cooper or Cooper S. I had mine ordered in the colour Space Blue, which was exclusive to the Checkmate here in Holland. The Checkmate package consisted of most options that I also specced for the PW Mini I wanted to get, and the colour was also a welcome change, because I wasn’t too crazy about any of the other colours available. The only changes I had made to the standard Checkmate package were S-Spoke wheels instead of Flame Spokes, automatic aircon, and a John Cooper Works Soundkit.
Engine
- 1598 Tritec engine
- John Cooper Works Soundkit ECU programming
- John Cooper Works Soundkit air filter
- John Cooper Works Soundkit exhaust (catback)
- 120 bhp (as measured on a rolling road)*
*: It should be noted that although this seems like a nice little increase over the 115 BHP BMW claims, which one might attribute to the JCW Soundkit, a standard 2006 Cooper Park Lane that was along for the same rolling road session got to 119 bhp, so in the blink of an eye, what seemed like a 5BHP boost over standard was reduced to only 1. However, it should also be said that with the Sound Kit, the car seems to be a bit more lively than its standard brothers and sisters. It just won’t really show in cold hard numbers.
Gearbox
- Standard manual gearbox (Getrag 5-speed)
Brakes
- Standard disk brakes all round
Suspension
- McPherson front struts
- Z-link back suspension
Wheels/tyres
- Silver Mini S-Spoke wheel
- Michelin Pilot Exalto 205/45R17 tires
Exterior
- Space Blue
- Silver roof
- Silver wing mirrors
- Silver bonnet striping
- Silver checkers on A-panel
- Chrome grill, bumpers, boot handle
Interior
- Silver cloth and blue leather upholstery
- Mini Sports seats
- Space Blue interior panels
- Blue and grey leather sports steering wheel
Blog
In addition to finding all news about the Checkmate on my frontpage mixed with all other stuff happening in my live, I’ve collected everything about this car in a blog of its own.
