well i still havent driven one, not even after standing around waiting for some sort of service at the local BMW dealership for almost an hour.. so i cant comment on if they drive well, handle, are a pleasure to drive, or anything else for that matter. but lets face it nearly every new car is going to be more powerfull and handle better etc than cars built years ago.
the thing is it isnt a mini. its a bmw with a mini badge
if i had enough money i could buy the rights to the name nike and stick it on the side of my pet elephant, but stampy will always be an elephant, and never a running shoe.
its sad to see the mini name sold out.
personaly i think its as bad as drawing a hitler moustach on Winston Churchill

im no expert but i recon bmw havent kept the mini spirit !!!! isnt the mini ment to be a small little car not a big one . the first time that i had seen them i thought ahh yeah a new mini kool but then i saw the bloody size of them .. what do you people recon

The Mini was sold out by Rover a long time ago. When BMW took over Rover they asked what plans Rover had for the Mini - NONE was the answer - it would be sold in ever decreasing numbers until put out of existence by compliance rules.

BMW were horrified that such an icon could be treated so shabbily by Rover.

BMW resurrected the Mini as the MINI, yes it is bigger it has to be to meet modern compliance standards. Has BMW kept tpo the spirit of the original - it depends what that means - if it means Issigonis's original then no - but neither did British Leyland - the true spirit of the Mini would be a car with an 850cc engine, top speed of 110Kmh 0-100 in 35 seconds - no radio - no windup windows - nothing to detract the driver from the road
How many of you configure your Minis in the true spirit of the original? - if on the other hand it means producing a car that is more fun to drive than anything else on the market, then the answer is YES, BMW have done a brilliant job of keeping the mini/MINI tradition and spirit alive. Am I qualified to make that statement? Well I have owned 2 Minis a 1275LS and an S with a 1275 motor so I know how much fun they are. I am on my second MINI first a Cooper(50,000Km travelled) and now a Cooper S (30,000Km so far) so I know how much fun they are too.

I have not spoken to one MINI owner who does not have great fondness and respect for the classic Mini. Many MINI owners have owned Minis and many still do. In the USA where Mini sales stopped in 1967 the release of the MINI has seen a resurgence in interest in the Mini and that can only be good for the long term viability of the Mini with more cars being saved from the scrap and more suppliers of spare parts.

i doubt BMW cheifs would have given a crap about the mini if they didnt see there was money to be made from milking the name of the most popular car in history.. Im not saying its a bad car, and yes i did read the article..it just wont ever be a mini to me..

you couldnt have said it better

i took a cooper for a test drive had it up on two wheels drove it like i stole it i just felt like any other hot hatch i have driven sorry but it just did not feel like a mini to me
makka

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Anonymous moderation means the agro that is built up towards the mods isn't aimed at an individual (fewer "Makk" attacks). Less stress for mods means less moderator "retirements".

couldn't agree more. In fact Rover designed the Metro as its replacement, even though the concept never took off. The market demanded production of mini and they kept doing so, even though they were losing money on it. BMW bought rover for two reasons. The range rover and the mIni. Both represented market segments that they were not well represented in. It was a business decision. it was intended to make money. that's what businesses do. they sold rover for $1 or something, but kept the good bits. later in the developement of the rangerover they sold land rover, (to ford) and with it went the 80% complete design for the nicest car i've ever driven. (the new rangerover) the only thing left was MINI.

It's produced at the morris plant in Oxford. BMW owners will tell you that this is a vastly different car to anything that munich make. Its definately british, and it 100% Mini. The 'spirit' of the original has been kept 100%. right down to the rattles in the dashboard. Anyone who thinks they don't like the car but hasn't yet driven one is kidding themselves. Everything you love about your mini is in the new one, except at higher speeds.

to say that it feels just like any other hot hatch is probably partially acurate. the other hot hatches have been trying to emulate the Mini for years. now they are getting closer. the design cues are simple. Wheel in each corner, lots of grunt, stiff suspension and east west. you build that and your emulating the MINI.

I read another post in here that the car is not as nimble as the old one. Bollocks. just because the tyres don't fold under and make horrible squeeling noises deosn't mean its not nimble. As you say the original one had 848cc, and 145 crossplys. sorry, but i would struggle to enjoy driving that through the national park.

People just don't like change. Anythiing different is wrong. (Then there's also the people who hate them think they can't afford them, but that's nothing more than sour grapes.)

Some people said the same thing about the Clubman. Its not a mini. well guess what, it is a mini, and so is the new MINI. It may not be your own personal favourite version of the mini, thats your chioce.

But it is mine.

MM

P.S. I love my clubman too. I would own another round nose if i thought i had the time for it.

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^^So now we're getting spam of a different kind ..FFS!

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Anyway I don't mind the MINI personally, hey it's not a mini and certainly no replacement for my car, it's not meant to be. I think it remains faithful to the original though, they could have stuck the mini name on alot worse.

And it has raised the value of the originals too.

I think you will find that rover did have plans for a replacement mini, the metro was a design in the 80's, by the late 90's they had other plans, just not enough funds. Most of the original rover design team worked on the new design..

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Starlet Conversion:
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User has been reported to poeee. as all posts from gospel are crap. advets.

I was walking past the tv a few weeks ago and some documentary was on, was saying BMW was actually involved with mini way way back. Not sure how true it is though as Ive never heard of it before or seen any mention of it in history of the mini dvd/s ive watched.

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1965 Riley Elf
1974 Ex Army Moke
1997 Rover Cooper
2002 JCW Cooper
2003 JCW Cooper S

bmw bought rover in like 1994, so thats like saying most rover coopers are not real minis, it had to chane, just cos it looks different, do u think all ford falcon people have a cry when the new model comes out every two years>?

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Potato

Only if they bought an EA Falcon

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Too many cars, and too little time.

its BS that they couldnt make it any smaller, look at the smart for one.
the coolest thing about minis is their size

yer nothing beats the old school mini

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