MINI Straightline Archives

Mini has finally answered the question that's been on everyone's mind since they first showed us the Mini Roadster. No, they didn't explain why it is in any way better than the Mini Cooper Convertible, they released pricing information! When the 2012 Mini Roadster goes on sale, it will carry a base price of $25,050. For that you get a 121 horsepower 1.6-liter I4 that makes 114 pound-feet of torque. The EPA fuel economy figures are 27/35. The Mini Roadster is available in two other trim levels, S and JCW. The S retails for $28,050 while the JCW will run $35,700.

For a base 2012 Mini Cooper convertible you can expect to pay $25,650 including destination/delivery. It seems $600 better to me, but if you really want one, the 2012 Mini Roadster goes on sale in late February.

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Categories: Convertibles,MINI

I think it's going to be a long long time before the Mini Rocketman shows up ... as in never. Car Magazine is reporting that Mini has pulled the plug on its mini Mini, the tiny city car previewed by the Rocketman concept at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.

According to Car, it was determined that the investment needed to engineer such a tiny car that satisfied "current regulations" was prohibitive. Correcting problems with stability, handling and crash performance was apparently not worth it. For comparison purposes, the Rocketman concept is a foot shorter than the current Mini Cooper and 4 inches shorter than a Fiat 500.

The Rocketman would've been a 2016 model. Now have fun with that Elton John song stuck in your head all day. I know I will.

(Car Magazine) 

Categories: MINI

 In 2014 Mini is expected to launch the next generation of Mini Cooper. The new hatchback will, no doubt, feature retro Mini style in a package that some will describe as "cute." We don't have a ton to work with from this batch of spy photos, but we do get a shot of the interior which is very, very BMW-like. As in, they yanked the interior out of a 1-series and put it in here. The gauges, stalks, radio and dash layout are so boringly efficient they can only be from a BMW. We're not fans of the giant central gauge in the current Minis, but we dig the toggle switches and the quirkiness. Can Mini get away with being this...bland?

The other possibility here is that this is the interior of the BMW 1 Series GT wearing Mini skin to throw us off the trail / to test on a more developed platform. BMW is relatively mum on the issue, but will certainly be bringing a front-drive sub-1 Series hatchback/wagon thing to market in the next few years. We've heard plans of 13 new FWD BMWs in the next five years and have seen spy photos of a front-drive MPV as well. This interior (see it after the jump) makes sense in a BMW, not so much in a Mini.

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Categories: Hatchbacks,MINI,Spy Photos

The Mini Coupe is one of those cars we just can't figure out. On the one hand it's a small, sporty, 2,700-pound toy with cool looks and decent power. On the other hand, it's more expensive and, at least in John Cooper Works trim, marginally heavier than a Mini Cooper, which offers significantly more functionality.

In our First Drive of the 2012 Mini Coupe John Cooper Works, we said "...none of these things explains why the 2012 Mini Coupe disappoints. It's not about what it does, right or wrong. It's about what it does not do, namely provide you with a single serious reason to choose one over the standard hatchback."

But we weren't ready to give up on it then. We had to get it in our hands and on our track to see if the sporty looks carried over when this thing was really pushed and if it would be enough to warm us to the little coupe. Follow the jump for the full details on the Mini Coupe John Cooper Works.

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Categories: Coupes,IL Track Tested,MINI

 Recently, Mini asked its fans "what six words would sum up the best test drive ever?" for the Mini  The winner of the contest would get to live that fantasy drive. What six words did they pick?

Stewardess, Salt Flats, Paratroopers, sushi, Falconer. Yawn. Three aren't even car related! 

I would've picked: Cobblestones, Mulholland, Monaco Road Course, Nurburgring.

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Categories: MINI,Videos

 Mini and the Monster Energy X-raid Team are sending (at least) 5 Mini All4 Racing cars to compete in the 8,000+ KM 2012 Dakar race. These are the trailers they've built to tease the event, prove the capability of the Minis and generally entertain those of us who like watching cars do goofy things off road.

The first video is a fairly straight, but still impressive look at the cars and their capabilities. The second one, however, is a bit more fun. It's got X-raid driver / freeskier Guerlain Chicherit racing around the slopes of Tignes in France.

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Categories: MINI,Motorsports,Tuners and Modifications

Any reasonable person would have seen this coming: Honda and Mazda created the B-spec race class when they built racecars based on the Fit and 2, respectively, while Ford and Kia showed B-spec versions of the Fiesta and Rio at SEMA earlier this month. Now Mini has announced it will enter B-spec competition in 2012.

Per class rules, the starting point is a base Mini Cooper hardtop -- no turbo -- making the factory-tuned 121 horsepower. This particular B-spec Mini will be part of a "factory team" and driven by Brad and Robbie Davis.

You can buy a conversion kit with the requisite coil-overs, cage, braided steel brake lines and 15-inch Kosei K1 wheels and lack of seating/carpeting for any 2007-'12 Mini Cooper hatch. Or, you can pay quite a bit more and Mini will build a whole racecar for you. And if you're any good, a contingency program might help you recoup some of the initial cost.

Inside Line: Testing the 2011 Mazda 2 and 2010 Honda Fit B-Spec Racecars

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Categories: Hatchbacks,LA Auto Show,MINI,Motorsports

We've posted quite a few videos and photos of the Prodrive-built Minis that race in WRC, but there's another team of Minis (set up not at all unlike our long-term Raptor) that compete in equally obscure baja-type off-road rallies in Europe and Africa. The team, X-Raid, is based in Germany, clothed in Monster energy drink livery and factory-supported by BMW.

X-Raid will enter five brightly painted Minis (plus three BMW X3s) in the 2012 Dakar rally, which starts January 1, 2012 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and finishes up two weeks later in Lima, Peru. Video of a really angry sounding Mini after the jump.

(X-Raid)

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Categories: MINI,Motorsports,SUVs

It feels like we already saw the 2012 Mini Roadster this summer, but those images were in fact the work of Mark Takahashi. Turns out they were incredibly close to the real thing, as the official images of the production car released this week bear a striking resemblance. The Roadster is a cloth-top version of the Mini Coupe, itself a two-seat version of the standard Mini Cooper hatchback. You'll be able to see this car in the metal if you go to the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January.

Key points on the roadster include a manual-operated soft top that you're supposed to be able to toss over your shoulder a la Mazda Miata (the normal Mini Cooper convertible comes with a power top only) and 8.5 cubic feet of luggage space (measured to European standards) versus the 4.4 top-down/6.0 top-up you get when you're using all four seats in a normal Mini convertible. Although, folding down the Cooper convertible's seats theoretically nets you 23.3 cubic feet, so the utility argument for the Mini Roadster is... that you have to really like the idea of a two-seater with no top.

Sales start in the spring, and you can can count on all three engine options -- 121-hp base roadster, 181-hp S roadster and the 208-hp JCW roadster -- being available right at launch. The new brown interior is called Toffy, not Toffee.

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Categories: Convertibles,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles,MINI

 
The steering wheel is one of the first things you see when you enter a car's cabin, and it's a part of the car that you constantly interface with during the driving experience. The best ones look great and feel even better, working in synergy with the car's themes and motifs to present a consistent message.

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Categories: Audi,BMW,Honda,Lamborghini,MINI,Mazda,McLaren,Mercedes-Benz,Volkswagen,Volvo

Marketing types know the power of a great logo. The best ones present an evocative invitation, one that perfectly reflects the brand's image.

Logos can be especially compelling in the automotive industry. 

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Categories: BMW,Ferrari,Fiat,Lamborghini,MINI,Maserati,Mercedes-Benz,Porsche

 The short list of finalists for the 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year were announced today with only a few surprises.

For NACOTY we have: Audi A6, Audi A7, Buick Verano, Chevy Sonic, Fiat 500, Chrysler 300/SRT-8, Ford Focus, Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Veloster, Kia Rio/Rio5, Scion iQ, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius V, VW Beetle, VW Passat.

NATOTY isn't so simple and has the only surprise of the group with the addition of the Mini Countryman. Other entries in the truck field include the BMW X3, Honda CR-V, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Mini Countryman, Nissan Quest and the Saab 9-4X.

The top three in each field will be announced in December and the winners will be announced at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. I've got solid money in iQ / 9-4X, you?

Categories: Audi,BMW,Buick,Chevrolet,Ford,Honda,Hyundai,Kia,Land Rover,MINI,Mercedes-Benz,Nissan,Saab

There was no new information presented (unless you weren't aware that Mini sales were up 28 percent in the U.S. or that Mini is up 65 percent in Brazil and that it'll be trying its hand at India next year) when Mini showed off the 2012 Mini Coupe John Cooper Works at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show today. It's still the same car we drove earlier this month.

To recap: 208 horsepower from a 1.6-liter inline-4, same as the JCW hatch. The suspension tuning, too, is from the JCW hatch, though the Mini coupe sits lower. The transmission is a six-speed manual and the estimated price is $31,900.

So there was nothing new, but this was my first time seeing the car in the metal and while it'll never be pretty, the backward-hat roof line is far less offensive in person and the car does have a subtle, unique feel to it.

After showing off the John Cooper Works Coupe, Mini announced that the Paceman would be ready by next summer. You'll remember that Mini OK'd the Paceman, the 7th Mini model, for production back in January.

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Categories: Coupes,Frankfurt Auto Show,Future Vehicles,MINI

Smaller doesn't always mean cheaper. We get it. But we can hope, right? Our dreams of a cheap Mini were dashed back in June when Mini announced the pricing on the 2012 Mini Coupe. The base mini Mini was priced at $22,000 and, for the top-tier JCW, $31,900.

And that's without the army of personalization that goes into every Mini. (You don't expect any self-respecting Mini driver to not personalize it, do you?) Now, thanks to Mini and the new online configurator we can figure out exactly how much those tweaks add up to and how much we'd blow on ours.... Hint, it's a lot.

Check out the configurator here.

Categories: Coupes,MINI

Call me a snob, but I am all about the Tumi luggage. It's an awesome blend of style, function and needless expense. And that, as we all know, is a combination for a loyal fanbase willing to buy virtually everything you produce. See: Apple. (Though when I travel I use my Samsonite stuff because it breaks less...don't ask.)

But will that brand loyalty inspire people to buy a car?

Tumi and Mini have collaborated on two special edition Clubmans with -- you guessed it -- matching Tumi luggage. The cars were designed specifically to appeal to the Chinese market. The cars feature Tumi inspired exterior designs and interiors made from Tumi-spec materials. One is based off of Tumi's Alpha Bravo line while the other is inspired by Alpha Tumi Collection. Both feature Tumi's monogrammed patch on the dash.

It's a neat collaboration that makes sense and will certainly sell in China, but could also catch on here.

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Categories: MINI,Miscellaneous

There's no better way to convince people that a car is sporty than by racing it. Successfully. So, to show off the new car, Mini ran two John Cooper Works Mini Coupes at the 24 hours of Nurburgring.

The duo completed the trial, racking up over 5,600 kilometers total. This is their story as told through race footage by Mini.

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Categories: Coupes,MINI,Motorsports

 The Mini Coupe hype train just keeps on rolling. We've barely settled into accepting the Coupe as a valid member of the Mini family (google, however, keeps trying to correct searches for Mini Coupe to Mini Cooper) and they're springing a racecar on us? Fair enough. That's an easy way to win us over.

This one, the JCW Coupe Endurance, has a tweaked version of the 1.6-liter turbocharged motor that comes standard, but makes 250 horsepower and 243 pound-feet of torque allowing a top speed of around 149. The car also features racing suspension, rollcage, racing buckets, HANS, a pneumatic jack and the same goofy center-mount speedometer we all love so much in the real car.

As a car, the Mini Coupe still confuses me, as a racecar, though, I'm in. Now where's the rally version?

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Categories: Coupes,MINI,Motorsports

Our man Takahashi has gone ahead and had his way with the press photos of the Mini Roadster by adding the details we've recently seen on the just released Mini Coupe. This gives us the closest view we're likely to have until official photos of the Mini Roadster are released. And this is something I can actually get behind. The Coupe, while offering what we hear is spectacular handling, is just goofy to me-- the Roadster could be a quirky, fun toy.

The Mini Roadster is expected in March or April of 2012 while the Coupe is set for a fall release with the same engines as the Coupe, highlighted by a 208-horsepower 1.6-liter turbo in the John Cooper Works edition.

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Categories: Coupes,Future Vehicles,MINI

"With the right wingman, there's action around every corner. Say hello to your partner for everyday adventure into the unknown - the new MINI."

Or at least, so says the new video posted by to the Youtubes today. The new Mini Coupe is the less practical, more fun sibling to the already fun and relatively practical Mini Cooper. As always, it's good to see cars in motion....except this time I just keep watching it over and over again wondering what exactly I'm looking at and why.

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Categories: Coupes,MINI

In addition to revealing the "fastest accelerating Mini ever" today, Mini went ahead and dropped pricing for the U.S.-spec model. It starts at $22K, but of course, that's for a Mini Coupe with the weakling, normally aspirated 1.6-liter engine that makes all of 121 hp.

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Categories: Coupes,MINI