So after interrogating everyone in the office, I settled on the fact that it is, essentially, the 'cute factor' that the Mini's popular personality is primarily based on.

There was a wildlife show on Discovery the other day, illustrating how not only humans, but animals as well, are drawn to the young of their species and various others (even least suspecting ones) because of the little ones' adorable proportions and mostly delightful characteristics.

Our art director, Dado, made the situation all the clearer when he compared our little baby to a puppy, with those big eyes (huge halogens) and big feet (optional 17-inch rims).

Yet as Dado found out, it isn't always easy to respond to the kind words that are often spoken to you in passing traffic. I was following him to a photo shoot the other day, when an interested gent stopped on the passenger side of the car at a traffic light and complimented him on the car.

Yet as he enquired about its performance, Dado was unfortunately left to practice his sign language skills when he discovered that the left front electric window had ceased working — again.

We have spoken before about how certain niggling technical as well as build quality issues have arisen with our long term Mini, but as the life-cycle of the car has progressed, BMW has worked tirelessly to iron out the niggles and customer complaints off the first batch of Cooper S models to arrive in South Africa, which our baby was part of...

Yet as new co-deputy ed Nathalie pointed out to me, the enjoyment of the Mini experience can easily cause you to turn a blind eye to its pitfalls. However, had one of us had to fork out well over R200K for our high-spec Cooper S, we would likely be quite miffed...

But one of the best sides to our car is that just by driving it, it's almost like instant admittance to a club of avid Mini supporters. Virtually every Mini that drives past — old or new — is sure to flash its lights in approval of your wheels, while you flash back and smile in the know that you sure are having a hell of a good time — a sort of 'thanks for reminding me,' scenario!

Not that you'll need reminding. During its time at Cars In Action, the grey and white hot-hatch, was in serious demand in our offices. It's quite impractical with a tiny boot, minuscule legroom in the back and a manual seat adjustment, which takes some practice in mastering.

With an average fuel consumption of around 11.48 litres per 100km, it's quite thirsty if you get too friendly with the throttle — which you certainly will. None the less, it remained a more than just popular choice around the office, thanks to its grin inducing driving characteristics.

With its direct steering and the wheels placed on the extreme corners of the car, it handles like a go-kart. It's a bit skittish on the optional 17-inch rims — we'd recommend sticking with the standard 16-inch set-up.

Sadly, we have said goodbye to our beloved super Cooper S. Despite it's niggling gremlins, an airbag warning light which felt the need to stay on, a rear grab handle which worked its way loose no less than three times, a faulty digital clock, the rattley sunroof and the afore-mentioned window which won't open come hell or high water when it doesn't want to, we're still terribly sad to see it go...

Were the quality concerns we experienced in our longtermer a once off? As mentioned, quality issues are claimed to be unique to the first few Esses that rolled off the production line. So, the question is, has BMW ironed out the problems in the more recent production models?

Well, watch this space — we may just have worked out a brilliant means of finding all that out soon....