Tag Archives | Mini

MINI Countryman To Recieve Bench Seat Option In the U.S

By on May 10, 2011 in News

By Carl Malek

When MINI first launched the Countryman CUV, it was decided that the U.S spec version would only have a four seat configuration (two bucket seats up front and two in the back). However MINI has confirmed that the rear bench seat option would make its way to U.S bound Countryman’s beginning this fall. The addition of this option would give consumers an alternate seat arraignment if they need to haul more people or cargo than the present four seat configuration allows due to the use of the interior center rail storage system.

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MINI to expand Goodwood Lineup

By on May 5, 2011 in News

By Carl Malek

Whether it’s brilliant marketing or if it’s just a thinly-disguised marketing pitch, many people have opinions about the limited production “MINI Inspired By Goodwood,” Mini’s limited edition luxury model that takes its cues from corporate sibling Rolls Royce.  Despite this vast difference of opinion, the “MINI Inspired By Goodwood” is here to stay.  However, there is word that the Goodwood line could expand its reach to other products in the MINI lineup in the near future.

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World Class Luxury In a Small Package: BMW Unveils The MINI Inspired By Goodwood

By on April 13, 2011 in News

By Carl Malek

Even though the MINI brand is currently seated at the bottom rung of BMW’s brand ladder, the company has always positioned itself as being more premium than mainstream. To help prove that point, MINI has pulled the curtains off the MINI Inspired By Goodwood Package, which will be on display at the Shanghai Auto Show. MINI has had its fair share of special edition models produced throughout the company’s long history, but the MINI Inspired By Goodwood will be positioned as the most expensive model in the MINI lineup.

Starting with a MINI Cooper S hardtop model, the company leveraged its connections with fellow BMW brand Rolls-Royce to bring some of the elegant equipment and features that would otherwise be more at home in Rolls Royce models like the Ghost and the Phantom. Nearly every surface in the new MINI has been covered in the same type of leather that is regularly reserved for Rolls products, and the door handles and dashboard are covered with burled walnut accents.

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Geneva Preview: Mini Rocketman Concept

By on February 23, 2011 in News

By Charles Krome

It may be lonely out in space—that’s my one Elton John reference—but it’s starting to get awfully crowded in the MINI lineup. BMW’s small-car brand is set to debut its Rocketman concept at the coming Geneva Motor Show, and when that car is readied for production, it will join the Hardtop, Convertible, Clubman and Countryman, in both regular and “S” flavors, as well the AWD Countryman, John Cooper Works and MINI E models, with further new products already in the pipeline. And I’m relatively confident the Rocketman will be offered for retail sale in the near-term future. The company’s concepts have a tendency to come alive in some fashion or another, with MINI even exploring ways to bring the Beachcomber to the market—although that idea came a cropper when its doorless design bumped up against safety regulations.

As far as the Rocketman goes, MINI explicitly states in its press materials that the concept marks a bit of a return to the brand’s roots, at least in terms of size. The automaker managed to slice nearly a foot off the length of the standard MINI Hardtop to develop the Rocketman, with the former measuring a bit under 12.25 feet and the latter coming in right around 11.25 feet. That’s still 12 inches longer than the original, but about four inches shorter than a modern-day Fiat 500. It’s also wrapped in a very familiar-looking skin—the Rocketman’s silhouette is nearly indistinguishable from that of the production MINI.

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Detroit 2011: Taking the Kids to Cobo

By on January 17, 2011 in Features

By Charles Krome

For most of the industry, the North American International Auto Show in Detroit already is essentially over. The press conferences are finished, the execs are back in their offices and the auto media is turning its focus to Chicago and Geneva. But for the public, things were just getting started this past weekend, so I made the trip to Cobo Hall one more time, most of the family in tow, to get the real-world Detroit auto show experience. Here are the highlights:

We arrived to little traffic on Sunday, the second public day of the show, about 45 minutes after the doors opened at 9:00. While mom steeled herself for the ordeal with a cup of  coffee, I took our two youngest girls—aged 11 and 8—to the Ford exhibit. They had seen a photo of the new Ford C-MAX mounted vertically on a column to show off its interior, and that was the first thing they wanted to see.

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NAIAS Preview: MINI Paceman Concept

By on December 22, 2010 in News

By Charles Krome

This is the kind of rerun I like seeing: Last year, the MINI brand introduced the Beachcomber concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, then used that dramatic show car as a launching pad for the MINI Countryman production vehicle. This time around, the automaker is showing a concept that’s a bit more conventional, but it, too, will certainly lead to a sellable product in the near future: Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the MINI Paceman.

MINI is of course being coy about production plans, but as even the press materials indicate, the Paceman is a natural addition to the lineup. It looks like a mash-up between the Countryman and the MINI Coupe concept from 2009, and it offers a mix of those vehicles’ capabilities and design cues. There’s a lot of emphasis on the Paceman’s ability to deliver a dynamic driving experience, and the car borrows the Coupe’s “floating roof” treatment—called a “helmet roof” by MINI—but at the same time, the company goes out of its way to bolster the connection between this vehicle and the Countryman: For example, it’s noted that the Paceman’s “MINI Countryman roots give this new MINI concept study an ideal platform for the MINI ALL4 permanent all-wheel-drive system.”

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Hey, There’s a Cool Car: Second-Gen Ford Probe GT

By on October 5, 2010 in Features

By Charles Krome

Somewhere in an alternate universe, this car is thought of in nearly the same terms as the 1963-1967 C2 Corvette: In that place, both represent second-generation vehicles that transformed their predecessors from “me too” wannabes to full-on, award-winning sports cars that would be followed up by a long, ongoing run of high-performance progeny.

Here in our world, on the other hand, the second-generation Ford Probe, produced from 1993-1997, was a one-hit wonder that morphed into the “modern” Mercury Cougar before being put out of its misery in 2002, a victim of America’s addiction to low fuel prices.

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First Drive: 2011 Ford Fiesta 5MT

By on June 7, 2010 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

I’ve long been a fan of Honda’s subcompact Fit, which offers excellent fuel economy, a surprisingly flexible and spacious interior (at least given its footprint), an inexpensive price point, and a significant fun-to-drive on-road experience.  The only knocks on the Fit from my personal standpoint has been its somewhat odd-looking design (which was improved greatly when it changed to the current generation) and a powertrain that doesn’t generate excitement.

Ford’s entrant into the US subcompact market – its first one since the unloved Aspire – is the all-new Fiesta.  Based on our first drive in the Fiesta, it takes nearly everything that is good about the Fit and improves upon it further.  It also adds a significant amount of technology that the small Honda doesn’t touch, at least not in its current generation, yet manages to do so for about $1,200 less when accounting for equipment differences, according to TrueDelta.  Forgetting for a moment that the Fiesta includes more equipment than than the Fit does, the Fit comes in at about $500 less in terms of MSRP than does the Fiesta.  The billion dollar question:  is America ready for a premium subcompact?

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Mini Will Get 3-Cylinder Engines

By on May 6, 2010 in News

By Chris Haak

Cars sold under BMW’s small-car brand, Mini, will roll with three-bangers under their little hoods with their next-generation models, according to a report in MotoringFile.  Fortunately, we can expect much better than 55-horsepower Geo Metro powerplants from Mini.  According to the report, the three cylinder engines’ power outputs should be similar to today’s four cylinders.

This means that the base Mini Cooper will have a roughly 120-horsepower three cylinder, and the Mini Cooper S will have roughly a 180-horsepower three cylinder engine.  This news comes not long after Ford announced its own boosted three-cylinder, which is intended to replace naturally-aspirated four cylinders, so we may be witnessing he beginnings of a new trend in automobiles.

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BMW Plans Front Wheel Drive Car

By on March 18, 2010 in News

Say it ain’t so!

By Chris Haak

BMW’s Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management at the German automaker, has confirmed that his company will sell front wheel drive BMWs in the smaller size classes in the future. His quote:

[The small car] segment is expected to grow further. And we will take advantage of this opportunity. We are exploring the possibility of developing a joint architecture for the front and four-wheel drive systems of these cars. In other words: There will be front-wheel drive BMWs in the smaller vehicle classes in the future.

Dr. Reithofer also quickly went on to add that “BMW will continue to be a sport-inspired brand. We at the BMW Group continue to deliver maximum performance, tackle new challenges and sharpen our competitive edge.

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