Still more MINIs on the way.... Coupe pantent drawings are out.

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I already had issues with the proportions of the snout of the previous generation car. This one is just ridiculous. That thing makes the Paceman look like the Mona Lisa.

MINI should find a way to maintain brand identity without slavish devotion to a styling ideal that no longer fits the cars they are building.
 
YSSMAN
I'm interested to hear more about that turbo three-cylinder, especially compared to the unit that we'll be seeing in the Fiesta soon.
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Bit punchier, I'd imagine. Fiesta's lump is nice but still feels like a small car engine. MINI's power output starts above that of the most powerful 1.0 EcoBoost and goes up from there - BMW already had it in a prototype 1-Series with around 170 horsepower or so. It's the same lump that's in the i8 as well with 2xx horsepower or thereabouts.
niky
I already had issues with the proportions of the snout of the previous generation car. This one is just ridiculous. That thing makes the Paceman look like the Mona Lisa.

MINI should find a way to maintain brand identity without slavish devotion to a styling ideal that no longer fits the cars they are building.
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This. So much this.
 
That's definitely part of it, but there's only so many ways you can play around with the basic shape in the first place. If you call a car a MINI and make it look vaguely like a Mini, then you've painted yourself into a corner as far as being original goes. You can essentially tweak a headlight or a grille here or there but otherwise you're buggered as far as coming up with something new is concerned.

The only reason VW got away with it with the new Beetle (different from the New Beetle) is because the New Beetle didn't really look like an old Beetle. The new model looks more faithful to the classic car.

Fiat will have the same trouble replacing the 500, I suspect. Irrespective of regulations, they've obviously designed the car they wanted to design in the first place and can now only fanny about with small elements of it for the rest of eternity. The 500L is already proof enough of how any changes to that design whatsoever just don't work.

And let's not even get started on how Porsche has based so much of its history on the 911 that it can't even make non-911 models look too different.

Of course, all of the above still sell in decent numbers. Ultimately, people who aren't really fussed by originality or have no eye for aesthetics will buy the new MINI in vast numbers. It's a convenient little cash cow for BMW.
 
They do change them occasionally, and as with regular safety regs there's a few degrees of achievement in that discipline - a five-star pedestrian safety car is looked upon more favorably than a three star one, for example. So if the previous MINI got a certain rating, they might have altered this one to get an even better rating.
 
I can't believe anyone looks at pedestrian safety when it comes to choosing a car - and I'm firmly of the mindset that anyone who worries so much they're going to mow someone down that they have to pick a car to make it as comfortable an experience for them as possible should have their driving licence revoked.
 
Well quite, but that's a whole different kettle of fish. The manufacturers are pretty much constrained by what the EU says they need to achieve should you plough through a bus queue of nuns.
 
It can be done without a Barbara Streisand schnoz. (I still love you, Babs)

Given that the MINI is, at heart, a premium car that costs more than other cars of the same size, it shouldn't be that difficult for BMW to design a nose equipped with a Jaguar-style airbag or popping hood to meet regulations without growing.

Contrawise, MINI could produce a pretty front end with smaller three-cylinders pushed back over the front axle. They can do this for the new MINI Mini that slots underneath the hatchback in the next model generation... as the next MINI Hatchback after this will be Countryman sized...
 
John Cooper Works concept to be unveiled at Detroit Auto Show.
Mini-JCW-Concept-1%25255B2%25255D.jpg


Mini-JCW-Concept-2%25255B2%25255D.jpg


More pics
 
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That's marginally less unappealing than the regular one.

Mainly due to what appears to be a DeLorean-style brushed metal body.
 
In my opinion, it looks even more fugly than the standard one! BMW/MINI, you have completely lost the plot.

If I see someone driving this new generation of MINI, I will literally loose all respect for them. They've bought a fugly car! In fact, even the New, New Beetle looks better than this!
 
Wheels are hideous and it still looks scared. Slightly less scared with the black outline on the grill, but still scared. Meh.
 
Really not a fan of the modern trend of giant grills that look like someone just hacked part of the front-end off.:yuck:
 
Spotted: The world's biggest stop sign.

I'd really like to see the exterior dimensions on this thing, it looks as big as a Ford Focus.
 
Probably more sensible than the original Clubman. Glad to see it's kept the "club doors" a the back.

Prefer the proportions of the current one though. Part of me wishes they'd just have ditched the daft half-door of the current model and otherwise kept it similar. Just a two-door wagon.
 
This is the problem with making Mini an entire brand: they've penned themselves into a corner, in much the same way Porsche has with the 911 cues on everything from an ungainly full-size hatch to a crossover. There's no real room for growth, and anything that's too different from the established identity (like, say, horizontal taillights) just looks off.

Not that that's the only problem with this, of course. It's gigantic, it has the awkward vent aft of the front wheels BMW has seen fit to saddle the 4-series and newest X5 with, and we haven't seen that much chrome on the front of a car in 60 years. The Mini badge being off to the left on the back looks poorly planned out too, though I realize the club doors make complete symmetry impossible.
 
I think it's funny how quickly the brand went from "quirky retro premium hatch allowing BMW to get around emissions laws" to "transparent and laughably ungainly attempt to spread costs around for the BMW FWD car." Even GM took longer than that in their quest to make Saturn pointless.
 
SlipZtrEm
The Mini badge being off to the left on the back looks poorly planned out too, though I realize the club doors make complete symmetry impossible.
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Didn't any of the designers go to beauty school? There's a proper place to put beauty marks...

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I think I'm starting to see a possible way forward for MINI... perhaps by completely severing the relationship between the headlights and the grille. At this point, evolution is definitely required, and the longer they stick to the past, the worse it'll get when they break it.
 
Re: Clubman. I LOVE that front look. The back? AAAAAH! KILL IT!

It's those lights. It would look great with the R56 tails.
 
Don't forget this is still a 'Concept' car... the shape is what it is, but I'd expect some of the details to change for production.
 

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