The MINI Cooper S has just been named best hot-hatch in the annual What Car? awards. This is the third year on the trot the MCS has claimed the award, with the British publication stating, “just as brilliant as ever, the Mini is still the headline act in this categoryâ€.
That in itself, though, is not such a big surprise as the MINI has been widely praised since BMW relaunched the brand in 2001. However, what might raise a few eyebrows is the news that CleanGreenCars.co.uk has named MINI the cleanest car manufacturer. In addition to this, the Cooper S was previously named Green Sports Car by What Car? in their 2008 awards.
CleanGreenCars reached their conclusion by calculating the average CO2 emissions of each car sold during 2008 and compared the data against 2007 figures. The result being the average CO2 emissions from the MINI fleet is 137.24g/km, an improvement of almost 7%. MINI is marginally ahead of Fiat, with 137.32g/km, and next best, Peugeot with 140.16g/km.
With more frugal diesel models to be added to their range, MINI can expect their average emissions figure to lower even further.