@Qaaaaa Haha it's not bad! Gutless compared to the "S" but still plenty of fun. As far as why that... My guess is that loaners fall into there lap via clients being "done" with xyz car. They've got the cooper, an E46 wagon, an E61 wagon, and E39 528, and an X3 of some variety. The E46 and E39 are over 300k miles! The coopers are cheap in the used market and used to be REALLY cheap, so my guess is that someone brought that in, received a 4-digit quote and said keep it, haha.
Most of the Euro indes here have a bunch of cool loaners like this. The Porsche shop I use has big old E class turbodiesel wagon, a cabriolet, and an old A8.
Another Bimmer shop I used to use and still will in a pinch, had tuned 335 loaner that Mrs. Tripper scored a triple digit speeding ticket in...less than a mile from the shop after the owner said, "be careful with this loaner...it is REALLY quick."