**The Cooper S3 Mentors: A Review**

As we take a closer look at the Cooper S3 Mentors, it's clear that this car has been designed with performance and handling in mind. Our first impression is of its sporty setup, which provides a comfortable ride without compromising on agility. The adapted dampers are well-suited to absorbing bumps and irregularities on the road, making for a smooth and stable drive.

However, when it comes to maneuvering around town, the Cooper S3 Mentors proves itself to be an easy car to handle. The steering is light and responsive, with a nice balance of ease and precision. The automatic gearbox is generally smooth, but can feel slightly jerky at times. Nevertheless, this is a minor complaint in what is otherwise a very pleasant driving experience.

As we increase our speed, the Cooper S3 Mentors reveals its true character. With a 2-liter engine producing 310 horsepower, it's clear that this car has some serious punch. The acceleration is impressive, with the car reaching 40 miles per hour in no time. And when we finally hit 60 miles per hour, we're surprised to find that the Cooper S3 Mentors can reach this speed in just 4.3 seconds - a respectable performance for a car of its size and weight.

One area where the Cooper S3 Mentors shows its true potential is on the road. The suspension is stiffened to provide a sporty feel, but it's not uncomfortable by any means. The steering is responsive and engaging, with a nice balance of grip and stability. The handling through corners is impressive, with the car hugging the road and staying flat despite the speed.

Of course, no review would be complete without mentioning the sound of the Cooper S3 Mentors in action. While it's not the most pleasant sound to listen to at low speeds, the engine does have a nice growl when you're pushing hard. The exhaust note is clear and distinctive, with the occasional "click" sound as you shift down gears.

**Driving the Cooper S3 Mentors**

To get a better sense of how the Cooper S3 Mentors handles, we decided to put it through its paces on a series of tests. First, we took it for a spin around town, getting a feel for how it handles in everyday driving conditions. The car proved itself to be very easy to drive, with a nice balance of comfort and agility.

Next, we took the Cooper S3 Mentors out to a nearby track or testing ground, where we could see just how well it handled under more demanding conditions. We set up our timing gear and launched the car, watching as it accelerated down the straight and hauled through the corners with ease.

**The Verdict**

So, is the Cooper S3 Mentors a car you should consider? Absolutely. While it may not be the biggest or most practical SUV on the market, it's certainly one of the most sporty-looking. And with its impressive performance and handling capabilities, it's definitely worth shortlisting if you're in the market for a new car.

That being said, there are some caveats to consider. The Cooper S3 Mentors is not without its drawbacks - the ride can be slightly firm at times, and the sound of the engine can be rather unpleasant when driven at low speeds. But overall, we think that these are minor complaints in what is otherwise a very enjoyable driving experience.

**Conclusion**

Overall, our experience with the Cooper S3 Mentors has been thoroughly positive. It's clear that this car was designed with performance and handling in mind, and it delivers on both counts. Whether you're looking for a fun, sporty drive or just want a practical SUV with some flair, the Cooper S3 Mentors is definitely worth considering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the new cooper four mentor and it's a fast say it that's not a say out but unlike the cupra attacker which is a fast set that's not a say which is based on a saya the four mentor isn't actually based on a say up are you confused do you need to take a sayat and think about it let me explain so this is the most expensive saiya that's not a saiya that say it hasn't done that is a cupra to find out if it's any good in this video i'm going to show you around the car i'm going to take it for a drive and of course i'm going to launch it to see how quick it is from north to 60 miles an hour anyway i'm matt watson and you're watching car wow buying a new car then head to car wow and my team will help you find your next car at a fair price car wow your one-stop car buying comparison site let's start off by talking about the price so the cooper for mentor range starts at just over 27 000 pounds rising to over 40 grand if you want one with a high performance engine which is exactly what i have here obviously now even though this car is brand new you can already save an average of just under 800 pounds off a coupe performance or through car wow now if you want to see much money you can save for a new car i've got a little link up there should be popping out click on that you can go to car wow and check out the latest deals alternatively if you want to do that later after this video or maybe a few months down the line just simply google help me car wow and me and my team will help you choose the right car for you and get it for a fair price from one of our trusted dealers let's talk about the full mentors design because i think this is a really cool looking car it's very very sporty got this roof spoiler very steeply raked rear glass screen and this huge light bar across the back which looks nice when it's illuminated i'll let you have a look at that now one thing i'm not so sure about though is the cupra badge it just looks like some kind of weird forceps that you'd use for medieval torture who designed that on this car we've got some contrasting panel here which does work well against this black paint and lower down still a diffuser a fake diffuser i think but what about these exhaust pipes are these fake let me just check the car wow stick of truth it's very important test this will it go in it goes in oh it goes all the way in sorry they're not fake however we'll come back to that later in the video now down the side this car is actually 10 centimeters lower than the cupra attacker it's only five centimeters taller than a leon can i call it an suv or is it just a big hatchback either way the sporty theme continues here down the side the way that roofline just curves down like that you've got these bold creases over the wheel arches and nice hello world designs they start off at 18's but most cars have these 19s although you do get them in different designs very nice wheels once again we've got contrasting trim here in a light gray and on the door mirrors it's nice let's move around the front i really like the front grille's not too big but it does look aggressive i like these elements here so i can just look sticking his chin on oh come on that's fake there's no fence in there there is actually wait there is on this side but not on that side that's where an oil cooler or an intercooler is it's a bit weird these vents are real though thank god but once again i'm sorry put off by the badger it's even bigger on the front those medieval forceps i don't know why they do that i like the creases on the bonnet though they give the front of this car some purpose let's check out the inside see if it's as good as the outside it's nice really nice interesting design way better than the cupra attacker i think let me just put the ignition on brings me straight onto this huge screen you get this on every version of the four mentor mostly functions are controlled through it actually and it's okay to navigate it's not the best in the world so what cooper have done is taken the same kind of approach as volkswagen because they're obviously part of the same group where there's no real physical buttons everything's done through the screen and certain things are done through this pad here's a slider so it's a bit more difficult to operate than a knob what's even more annoying is some of the heat controls on a slider as well once again not as good as a knob but it looks cool and that's what they're going for here the digital dials look cool as well there's lots of different views so you can get various information up and you can actually control most of the car's functions just using the digital dial so you don't have to look over there ah a lot of steering wheel as well so this is one of the top of the range cars so you get a slightly different steering wheel with the starter button on it like in an audi r8 there's even the driving mode selector on the steering wheel as well which is a great position for it much easier to use than look down here to try and press a button to go into sports mode i like it i do check out the dash design right so you've got this two layer effect going on and on this car we've got stitching and we've got blue like leathery bits about the place there's something slightly did i say it sex club about the interior know how i know that anyway it does look cool and interesting maybe it's like the bronzy like flashes about the place i like the way that they have like mimicked the grille in the air vent design then you can do this into console which is quite high really so it does keep you separate from your passenger which gives the car really sporty feel the plastics here are a little bit scratchy and they'll scratch your lower down but other than that generally quality is very nice throughout this car what is a bit odd is the seating position so you know i said like the actual car isn't that tall compared to something like a layout it's not much taller and when you sit in it it doesn't feel like you're on top of it you feel like you sat more in it now you might be put off by that if you really are after that raised driving position of an suv but there is still plenty of adjustment in the seats these are the highest specification seats so they're electric and they're like bucket seat design but look see i can go pretty high then and i've still got a decent amount of headroom there as well there's lots of adjustment in the steering wheel as well look at this oh lots of reach and up and down nuss speaking of up and down nurse if you want to go really low for a more sporty field you can actually get really quite low in this car you can see that look how low i am so now it's just like being in a normal hatchback not an suv let's talk about practicality if you look here you'll see there's two cup holders that's quite a deep cup holder oh god i can't get my little can out there but they thought about that you've got a smaller one there that's really good if i get my big bottle i'll be able to prove to you that the door bins they are big as well and the glove box that's a reasonable size i'm going to fit the big bottle in there hey go away people oh and underneath here you've got a little bit of extra storage but more importantly there's your 12-volt socket there if you wanted i don't know plug something old into your car some old sat nav or something nothing you're going to need it because you got him built sat nav and apple carplay and android auto as well here you've got a wireless charging pad for your phone then there's a couple of like little storage areas here and this one specifically shows you a picture of the key like you're supposed to put your key there and it does just about fit but not with all these silly fobs that we've got with that key have you seen this look a little gear selector it's just like on the golf actually if you have the automatic version otherwise you have a normal gear knob there overall i really really like the inside of this car it's really nice and the seats are comfy it's all very cool very modern just a few fiddly bits with infotainment system if it wasn't for that it could be 10 out of 10. let's check out the space in the back seats look at that lots of knee room and look at this despite that sloping headroom's really good now they've managed that by keeping these seats low so you do feel like you're a little bit more in a squatting position than in the atteca cooper where you sit a bit more like upright like that which is better for longer journeys but it's a small complaint really and the foot wells there big look at that you can stretch out under the seat in front it's roomy let's try the middle seat see what it'd be like if you had to be the person in the middle once again decent headroom this seat isn't too uncomfortable either that's all right and there is a hump in the floor but those big foot wells do mean that there's plenty of room for everyone's feet and i must point this out look at these mats these feel posh you know what like the leather in the doors though it gets a bit cheaper back here look at that scratchy plastic on there it's not soft and yielding like in the front let me just have a quick look at the armrest i hate it when they do this you end up putting your arm in there it's just not comfy you just don't use it as much and obviously like if you need to carry longer items you've got some through loading it's a shame that the seats don't split fully in the middle so there's only so much you can actually fit through there another thing that's a bit annoying are the openings for the ice fix anchor points because you have to like merge and jab the seat base prongs through there it's much easier when you've got those covers which just fold down and when you're trying to fit a big bulky rear-facing seat in here you do have to move the front passenger seat forward but once you have got the seat into place and everything's located there's plenty of room to maneuver and deal with the baby very very comfortable and we've got a bit of extra practicality with some pockets there and decent-sized door bins if you bear with me i and you shouldn't have put that in the glove box oh there you go loads of room one last thing i want to show you is that you can get climate control back here as well and there's two usbc's there for charging mobile devices let's go and check out the boot oh yeah so the capacity is 450 liters now by comparison a mercedes gla's boot capacity is 495 liters and if you'd like to see my full in-depth video review of that car put a little link it should be popping out in the top right corner of the screen click on that you can go check out that review there's also a link to it below the video anyway the boot is a nice square shape and there's enough room for five carry-on luggage cases underneath the low cover there's a touch of a load lit which means that you do have to lift things over that ever so slightly but it's not actually a problem there's decent practicality in here so you've got some storage here there's hooks to hang things off so when you're getting on coins really quickly you can attach your shopping bags to there they won't fly about all over the boot and there's some tie down points here as well underneath here you have a space saver spare wheel with a bit more storage around it which is handy and i like this look you can fold down the rear seats using these levers here in the back and then you have a continuously flat floor the seats don't lie completely flat but they're flat enough so you can slide things to the front like that which is good what's not so good though is that if you go for the four wheel drive version you have a slightly reduced boot capacity because of the rear differential it reduces the boot capacity by 30 liters that brings down to or 509 things about this car normally when it's dark your cars heater controls are illuminated so you can see them but these touch sensitive buttons aren't backlit at all so you can't see them when it's dark on this particular car with a four wheel drive system the low cover doesn't fit underneath this volt-ish floor it's a false-ish it doesn't really add any extra depth see these bucket seats are great if you're sat in them in the front but if you're in the back they're so wide they really do block your view out of the windscreen while the high performance versions of the foramen tour have proper exhaust pipes the plug-in hybrids in lesser versions have what's known in the brochure as believe it or not simulated exhaust pipes and this is what they look like they look despite the fact there are some little retaining clips to the seat belts when you're not using them when you fold down the rear seats that's still just slides slightly that way and then when you put the seat back it's trapped so they're pointless it's not all negative though here's five good things about this car or two litre turbo versions of the four mentor get adapted dampers as standard and rather than just having a normal and a firm sporty setting you get all these different options look you can change the stiffness between that many different settings which is one two three four five six seven eight nine ten i've lost camp well you get the idea the brakes you get on this car are pretty good however vz3 models so the model above this one in the range gets brembo brakes for added stopping power this led strip light isn't there to just look good though it does look good it's also connected to the blind spot monitoring system so if there's a kind of blind spot and you try and change lanes and you're at risk of driving into it that will flash to warn you like a proper off-roader the four mentors doors cover the sill so you don't get muddy trousers when you get in and out also it has an off-road mode so that sets up the car's four-wheel drive system the stability control the suspension and the hill descent control for off-roading have you got three children all quite young well you've got ice fix anchor points on the front passenger seat so there's room for three child seats in this car now let's talk about the four mentors engine range so it kicks off with a 1.5 litre turbo petrol with 150 horsepower then there's a two liter turbo petrol with either 190 245 or the one in this car 310 horsepower and this 310 horsepower version comes only with an automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive the other models available as front-wheel drive and with manuals as well you can pick and choose which one you want there's also a plug-in hybrid which has a 1.4 liter petrol engine combined with an electric motor and combined you have 204 horsepower and that's supposed to give you pretty decent economy though they haven't released the figures for it just yet the question is though which engine trim and gearbox combination should you go for well you know what i'm going to configure my ideal combination here using the carbide configurator and if you want to see what that combination is and the offers i've got back from our trusted dealers just click on the pop out banner up there that link will take you to our configurator and you can check out what i've just specced up alternatively there is a link below the video to do that as well okay now it's time to see what the cooper for mentor is like to drive now at the end of this segment i'm actually going to launch it to see how quick it is from naught to 60 miles an hour but first let's start off sensibly what it's like in town so i've got this car in its comfort mode and the suspension is nice it deals with bumps well this car does have a slightly kind of sporty setup to it but it's not uncomfortable these adapted dampers are good visibility wise it's fairly decent obviously you're sitting up higher than a normal hatchback but it's not dead high these pillars create a bit of a blind spot but they're not too bad the view out the back it's only okay but for maneuvering around town the steering is nice and light and this automatic gearbox is generally all right when you're maneuvering like parking it does feel a little bit jerky but other than that it's quite smooth easy car to drive around town now when you get up to higher speeds let's see what this car does so i'm going to get to 40 mile now just cruising along come on let's get to 40. there we are and i'm going to floor it ready gearbox took a wee while to kick down but there's 70. i'll tell you what this 2 liter 310 horsepower engine has got some punch and when you're getting a higher speed this car feels solid feels stable you do notice a bit of wind noise and road noise more than you get in an audi sq2 as for economy well he's supposed to be able to get about 31 miles per gallon out of this car and i'm averaging just over 28 miles per gallon which is not bad considering the performance it's got speaking of which let's see what it's like when you want to have some fun so i'm going to put it into cupra mode which is the sportier setting so it added a bit more weight to the steering sharpened the throttle response made the gearbox more responsive and it stiffened up the suspension though while it does feel stiff and it stops it leaning so much in bends it doesn't feel uncomfortable even now i'm impressed with the setup on this and blimey this grips and stays flat through the bends that is impressive through there i'm not doing 81 round this corner it's just not phased at all let's try the gearbox and i'll put it into manual mode that's all right it's not the quickest but it's by no means the slowest you can have some fun with this what about the noise i have to slow down a bit because at the moment i can just hear wind and road noise the sound isn't great the engine just goes but occasionally you get the odds from the exhaust when you shift down there clear a bit oh yeah this is fast this is quite a car you know suvs are never as fun as the hatchbacks on which they're based to drive so this isn't going to be quite as sporty to drive as a cooper leon but as these suvs go it's pretty good i mean look round here good job cooper your car is fun now let's see what this car is like from north to 60 miles an hour so it's supposed to do it in 4.9 seconds but i'm going to see for myself by launching it and timing it using my specialist timing gear here i'll just stick that up on the dash like that now i'm going to put the car into its spoiler setting which is cupra and then i'm going to put the stability control into sports mode normally on some volkswagen group cars you have to go into a menu in the infotainment system takes ages this has a button that's easy to access just down here there we go launch that hooked up well what are you doing what 4.9 seconds my ass 4.3 seconds that is wicked wow so then what's my final verdict on the cooper for mentor should you avoid it should you consider it should you shortlist it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well i reckon you should shortlist the cooper full mentor it might not be the biggest most practical suv but it's one of the most sporty looking i like it i hope you all enjoyed the video if you did please give it a like if you click on that window there you can watch one of my favorite drag races if you click on that window there you can watch a group test between some suvs and if you click on that box there you can go to car wise to see how much money you can save on new car thanks for watchingthis is the new cooper four mentor and it's a fast say it that's not a say out but unlike the cupra attacker which is a fast set that's not a say which is based on a saya the four mentor isn't actually based on a say up are you confused do you need to take a sayat and think about it let me explain so this is the most expensive saiya that's not a saiya that say it hasn't done that is a cupra to find out if it's any good in this video i'm going to show you around the car i'm going to take it for a drive and of course i'm going to launch it to see how quick it is from north to 60 miles an hour anyway i'm matt watson and you're watching car wow buying a new car then head to car wow and my team will help you find your next car at a fair price car wow your one-stop car buying comparison site let's start off by talking about the price so the cooper for mentor range starts at just over 27 000 pounds rising to over 40 grand if you want one with a high performance engine which is exactly what i have here obviously now even though this car is brand new you can already save an average of just under 800 pounds off a coupe performance or through car wow now if you want to see much money you can save for a new car i've got a little link up there should be popping out click on that you can go to car wow and check out the latest deals alternatively if you want to do that later after this video or maybe a few months down the line just simply google help me car wow and me and my team will help you choose the right car for you and get it for a fair price from one of our trusted dealers let's talk about the full mentors design because i think this is a really cool looking car it's very very sporty got this roof spoiler very steeply raked rear glass screen and this huge light bar across the back which looks nice when it's illuminated i'll let you have a look at that now one thing i'm not so sure about though is the cupra badge it just looks like some kind of weird forceps that you'd use for medieval torture who designed that on this car we've got some contrasting panel here which does work well against this black paint and lower down still a diffuser a fake diffuser i think but what about these exhaust pipes are these fake let me just check the car wow stick of truth it's very important test this will it go in it goes in oh it goes all the way in sorry they're not fake however we'll come back to that later in the video now down the side this car is actually 10 centimeters lower than the cupra attacker it's only five centimeters taller than a leon can i call it an suv or is it just a big hatchback either way the sporty theme continues here down the side the way that roofline just curves down like that you've got these bold creases over the wheel arches and nice hello world designs they start off at 18's but most cars have these 19s although you do get them in different designs very nice wheels once again we've got contrasting trim here in a light gray and on the door mirrors it's nice let's move around the front i really like the front grille's not too big but it does look aggressive i like these elements here so i can just look sticking his chin on oh come on that's fake there's no fence in there there is actually wait there is on this side but not on that side that's where an oil cooler or an intercooler is it's a bit weird these vents are real though thank god but once again i'm sorry put off by the badger it's even bigger on the front those medieval forceps i don't know why they do that i like the creases on the bonnet though they give the front of this car some purpose let's check out the inside see if it's as good as the outside it's nice really nice interesting design way better than the cupra attacker i think let me just put the ignition on brings me straight onto this huge screen you get this on every version of the four mentor mostly functions are controlled through it actually and it's okay to navigate it's not the best in the world so what cooper have done is taken the same kind of approach as volkswagen because they're obviously part of the same group where there's no real physical buttons everything's done through the screen and certain things are done through this pad here's a slider so it's a bit more difficult to operate than a knob what's even more annoying is some of the heat controls on a slider as well once again not as good as a knob but it looks cool and that's what they're going for here the digital dials look cool as well there's lots of different views so you can get various information up and you can actually control most of the car's functions just using the digital dial so you don't have to look over there ah a lot of steering wheel as well so this is one of the top of the range cars so you get a slightly different steering wheel with the starter button on it like in an audi r8 there's even the driving mode selector on the steering wheel as well which is a great position for it much easier to use than look down here to try and press a button to go into sports mode i like it i do check out the dash design right so you've got this two layer effect going on and on this car we've got stitching and we've got blue like leathery bits about the place there's something slightly did i say it sex club about the interior know how i know that anyway it does look cool and interesting maybe it's like the bronzy like flashes about the place i like the way that they have like mimicked the grille in the air vent design then you can do this into console which is quite high really so it does keep you separate from your passenger which gives the car really sporty feel the plastics here are a little bit scratchy and they'll scratch your lower down but other than that generally quality is very nice throughout this car what is a bit odd is the seating position so you know i said like the actual car isn't that tall compared to something like a layout it's not much taller and when you sit in it it doesn't feel like you're on top of it you feel like you sat more in it now you might be put off by that if you really are after that raised driving position of an suv but there is still plenty of adjustment in the seats these are the highest specification seats so they're electric and they're like bucket seat design but look see i can go pretty high then and i've still got a decent amount of headroom there as well there's lots of adjustment in the steering wheel as well look at this oh lots of reach and up and down nuss speaking of up and down nurse if you want to go really low for a more sporty field you can actually get really quite low in this car you can see that look how low i am so now it's just like being in a normal hatchback not an suv let's talk about practicality if you look here you'll see there's two cup holders that's quite a deep cup holder oh god i can't get my little can out there but they thought about that you've got a smaller one there that's really good if i get my big bottle i'll be able to prove to you that the door bins they are big as well and the glove box that's a reasonable size i'm going to fit the big bottle in there hey go away people oh and underneath here you've got a little bit of extra storage but more importantly there's your 12-volt socket there if you wanted i don't know plug something old into your car some old sat nav or something nothing you're going to need it because you got him built sat nav and apple carplay and android auto as well here you've got a wireless charging pad for your phone then there's a couple of like little storage areas here and this one specifically shows you a picture of the key like you're supposed to put your key there and it does just about fit but not with all these silly fobs that we've got with that key have you seen this look a little gear selector it's just like on the golf actually if you have the automatic version otherwise you have a normal gear knob there overall i really really like the inside of this car it's really nice and the seats are comfy it's all very cool very modern just a few fiddly bits with infotainment system if it wasn't for that it could be 10 out of 10. let's check out the space in the back seats look at that lots of knee room and look at this despite that sloping headroom's really good now they've managed that by keeping these seats low so you do feel like you're a little bit more in a squatting position than in the atteca cooper where you sit a bit more like upright like that which is better for longer journeys but it's a small complaint really and the foot wells there big look at that you can stretch out under the seat in front it's roomy let's try the middle seat see what it'd be like if you had to be the person in the middle once again decent headroom this seat isn't too uncomfortable either that's all right and there is a hump in the floor but those big foot wells do mean that there's plenty of room for everyone's feet and i must point this out look at these mats these feel posh you know what like the leather in the doors though it gets a bit cheaper back here look at that scratchy plastic on there it's not soft and yielding like in the front let me just have a quick look at the armrest i hate it when they do this you end up putting your arm in there it's just not comfy you just don't use it as much and obviously like if you need to carry longer items you've got some through loading it's a shame that the seats don't split fully in the middle so there's only so much you can actually fit through there another thing that's a bit annoying are the openings for the ice fix anchor points because you have to like merge and jab the seat base prongs through there it's much easier when you've got those covers which just fold down and when you're trying to fit a big bulky rear-facing seat in here you do have to move the front passenger seat forward but once you have got the seat into place and everything's located there's plenty of room to maneuver and deal with the baby very very comfortable and we've got a bit of extra practicality with some pockets there and decent-sized door bins if you bear with me i and you shouldn't have put that in the glove box oh there you go loads of room one last thing i want to show you is that you can get climate control back here as well and there's two usbc's there for charging mobile devices let's go and check out the boot oh yeah so the capacity is 450 liters now by comparison a mercedes gla's boot capacity is 495 liters and if you'd like to see my full in-depth video review of that car put a little link it should be popping out in the top right corner of the screen click on that you can go check out that review there's also a link to it below the video anyway the boot is a nice square shape and there's enough room for five carry-on luggage cases underneath the low cover there's a touch of a load lit which means that you do have to lift things over that ever so slightly but it's not actually a problem there's decent practicality in here so you've got some storage here there's hooks to hang things off so when you're getting on coins really quickly you can attach your shopping bags to there they won't fly about all over the boot and there's some tie down points here as well underneath here you have a space saver spare wheel with a bit more storage around it which is handy and i like this look you can fold down the rear seats using these levers here in the back and then you have a continuously flat floor the seats don't lie completely flat but they're flat enough so you can slide things to the front like that which is good what's not so good though is that if you go for the four wheel drive version you have a slightly reduced boot capacity because of the rear differential it reduces the boot capacity by 30 liters that brings down to or 509 things about this car normally when it's dark your cars heater controls are illuminated so you can see them but these touch sensitive buttons aren't backlit at all so you can't see them when it's dark on this particular car with a four wheel drive system the low cover doesn't fit underneath this volt-ish floor it's a false-ish it doesn't really add any extra depth see these bucket seats are great if you're sat in them in the front but if you're in the back they're so wide they really do block your view out of the windscreen while the high performance versions of the foramen tour have proper exhaust pipes the plug-in hybrids in lesser versions have what's known in the brochure as believe it or not simulated exhaust pipes and this is what they look like they look despite the fact there are some little retaining clips to the seat belts when you're not using them when you fold down the rear seats that's still just slides slightly that way and then when you put the seat back it's trapped so they're pointless it's not all negative though here's five good things about this car or two litre turbo versions of the four mentor get adapted dampers as standard and rather than just having a normal and a firm sporty setting you get all these different options look you can change the stiffness between that many different settings which is one two three four five six seven eight nine ten i've lost camp well you get the idea the brakes you get on this car are pretty good however vz3 models so the model above this one in the range gets brembo brakes for added stopping power this led strip light isn't there to just look good though it does look good it's also connected to the blind spot monitoring system so if there's a kind of blind spot and you try and change lanes and you're at risk of driving into it that will flash to warn you like a proper off-roader the four mentors doors cover the sill so you don't get muddy trousers when you get in and out also it has an off-road mode so that sets up the car's four-wheel drive system the stability control the suspension and the hill descent control for off-roading have you got three children all quite young well you've got ice fix anchor points on the front passenger seat so there's room for three child seats in this car now let's talk about the four mentors engine range so it kicks off with a 1.5 litre turbo petrol with 150 horsepower then there's a two liter turbo petrol with either 190 245 or the one in this car 310 horsepower and this 310 horsepower version comes only with an automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive the other models available as front-wheel drive and with manuals as well you can pick and choose which one you want there's also a plug-in hybrid which has a 1.4 liter petrol engine combined with an electric motor and combined you have 204 horsepower and that's supposed to give you pretty decent economy though they haven't released the figures for it just yet the question is though which engine trim and gearbox combination should you go for well you know what i'm going to configure my ideal combination here using the carbide configurator and if you want to see what that combination is and the offers i've got back from our trusted dealers just click on the pop out banner up there that link will take you to our configurator and you can check out what i've just specced up alternatively there is a link below the video to do that as well okay now it's time to see what the cooper for mentor is like to drive now at the end of this segment i'm actually going to launch it to see how quick it is from naught to 60 miles an hour but first let's start off sensibly what it's like in town so i've got this car in its comfort mode and the suspension is nice it deals with bumps well this car does have a slightly kind of sporty setup to it but it's not uncomfortable these adapted dampers are good visibility wise it's fairly decent obviously you're sitting up higher than a normal hatchback but it's not dead high these pillars create a bit of a blind spot but they're not too bad the view out the back it's only okay but for maneuvering around town the steering is nice and light and this automatic gearbox is generally all right when you're maneuvering like parking it does feel a little bit jerky but other than that it's quite smooth easy car to drive around town now when you get up to higher speeds let's see what this car does so i'm going to get to 40 mile now just cruising along come on let's get to 40. there we are and i'm going to floor it ready gearbox took a wee while to kick down but there's 70. i'll tell you what this 2 liter 310 horsepower engine has got some punch and when you're getting a higher speed this car feels solid feels stable you do notice a bit of wind noise and road noise more than you get in an audi sq2 as for economy well he's supposed to be able to get about 31 miles per gallon out of this car and i'm averaging just over 28 miles per gallon which is not bad considering the performance it's got speaking of which let's see what it's like when you want to have some fun so i'm going to put it into cupra mode which is the sportier setting so it added a bit more weight to the steering sharpened the throttle response made the gearbox more responsive and it stiffened up the suspension though while it does feel stiff and it stops it leaning so much in bends it doesn't feel uncomfortable even now i'm impressed with the setup on this and blimey this grips and stays flat through the bends that is impressive through there i'm not doing 81 round this corner it's just not phased at all let's try the gearbox and i'll put it into manual mode that's all right it's not the quickest but it's by no means the slowest you can have some fun with this what about the noise i have to slow down a bit because at the moment i can just hear wind and road noise the sound isn't great the engine just goes but occasionally you get the odds from the exhaust when you shift down there clear a bit oh yeah this is fast this is quite a car you know suvs are never as fun as the hatchbacks on which they're based to drive so this isn't going to be quite as sporty to drive as a cooper leon but as these suvs go it's pretty good i mean look round here good job cooper your car is fun now let's see what this car is like from north to 60 miles an hour so it's supposed to do it in 4.9 seconds but i'm going to see for myself by launching it and timing it using my specialist timing gear here i'll just stick that up on the dash like that now i'm going to put the car into its spoiler setting which is cupra and then i'm going to put the stability control into sports mode normally on some volkswagen group cars you have to go into a menu in the infotainment system takes ages this has a button that's easy to access just down here there we go launch that hooked up well what are you doing what 4.9 seconds my ass 4.3 seconds that is wicked wow so then what's my final verdict on the cooper for mentor should you avoid it should you consider it should you shortlist it or should you just go right ahead and buy it well i reckon you should shortlist the cooper full mentor it might not be the biggest most practical suv but it's one of the most sporty looking i like it i hope you all enjoyed the video if you did please give it a like if you click on that window there you can watch one of my favorite drag races if you click on that window there you can watch a group test between some suvs and if you click on that box there you can go to car wise to see how much money you can save on new car thanks for watching\n"