I worked with a guy that had a cooper when they came out and got in the queue for the S straight away.

He had the cooper about a year I guess, then got his Cooper S in that baby blue colour with all the leather chilli pack etc. After 2 weeks of having it he had some stuff done to it and had the rolling road print out at 212 bhp with 220something lbs of torque.

It was pretty fooking quick and an absolute laugh.

Not overly keen on the build quailty though, bits kept falling off although they were both pretty reliable and if you buy new the warranty is second to none.

If its for your missus its worth it for the warranty alone and the piece of mind for you