MINI2

Here’s a cautionary tale for all those of you with MINI loving partners.  If you borrow their pride and joy, try not to get in a smash.  And if the unthinkable does happen, do the honest thing and fess up right away.

The Journal Sentinel has reported on a man who did unfortunately both crash his girlfriends car, and then lie about the incident.  The result.   A girlfriend with a bust fist, and a man under arrest!

After crashing his girlfriend’s Cooper, the 25 year old man in question, runs to the bar where he was due to meet his girlfriend.  Maybe as a result of the rush of blood from the jog, he spins a yarn about being car-jacked and the MINI Cooper being taken.   This news, not surprinsgly causes some upset, and in her rage his MINI owning girlfriend literally hits the wall, smashing up her hand in the process.

The result?  Police are called to enquire about the “theft”, and an ambulance crew arrive to deal with the injured hand.  Unfortunately for our un-named careless driver, the ambulance crew had witnessed the earlier accident and supplied the law enforcement officers with some “corrections” to the tale our mythical car jack victim was telling.

So take heed those who want to borrow your partners MINIs.  Don’t crash it.  And if you do, for everyone’s sake, just own up.

Warning: Some of the worst “spy” photos you’ve ever seen are in the following report!

Anyway, on the 5th July 2007 we drove to the coast in our MINI Cooper S to celebrate our Son’s 4th Birthday. We drive through Oxford on the way and our boy wanted to see the factory where all the “MINI cars” are built. He is also a fan of low-loaders (what four year old isn’t?!) so we took a short diversion to BMW Plant Oxford to show him the factory, and the huge car park(s) full of shiny new MINIs out the back, awaiting delivery to customers all over the World.

As we drove down a slip lane next to the factory, what should appear alongside us on the other side of the fence but a Lightning Blue and Silver MINI Clubman in Cooper S trim! We had the camera, so we grabbed a few (terrible) photographs. It was a strange sensation driving alongside the Clubman, slightly above it and at the same speed. Eventually our traffic queue ground to a halt and off they went…

Later, at the rear of the Oxford plant, we are eventually advised “no photos please” by some Oxford employees as we get out of the car to take a look at all the “MINI Cars”. We took our Son out of the car and showed him all the MINIs. To cap off the short excursion, as we were there a low-loader MINIs in all sorts of colours and trim came out of the gates. Perhaps worryingly we actually seemed more impressed than him at the time.

While gazing through the fence we saw a total of four MINI Clubman, all Cooper S models, and all either Lightning Blue and Dark Silver with contrasting Silver roof and wing mirror caps.

We’ve had our reservations about the Clubman, but seeing it close up (were were literally a few feet away at closest) we have to admit to being won over by the finished product. The one-sided “Club Door” is odd, but the fitment on these cars was tight and neatly aligned, so it didn’t look a mess as some spy photos have suggested it could.

In fact, the car looked very “tidy” and we’re taking a “glass half full” approach to the Clubman from now on. It looks cracking, the balance with the longer wheel base and new roof line and rear seem to suit the larger plastic trim and higher waste of the second generation MINI very well indeed. It has been suggested previously that the design of the second generation MINI had the Clubman in mind from the start (which, of course, it would do), but the design looks very balanced, and somehow appears very small and low, especially “in motion”.

So there you have it, and here’s some of the worst Clubman “spy” shots you’re ever likely to see.

Keep tuned to MINI2 this weekend for much more on the MINI Clubman, and take a browse of our MINI Clubman news archive and our MINI Clubman forum to keep you busy until then!

An interactive MINI advert which appeared on a newspaper internet site has landed MINI in hot water with the ASA (Advertising Standard Agency) in the UK.

The animated promotional banner showed a close-up of a man sat at the wheel of a MINI, driving down the road - including instructions for surfers to “FLOOR IT” using an interactive pedal.

When users pressed on the pedal icon the car in the graphic accelerated until the driver’s face appeared to ripple with the G-Force caused by the speeding.

And the ad finished with the words:

NOW WITH EXTRA OOMPH THE ALL NEW MINI ONE MINI COOPER MINI COOPER S AND MINI COOPER D

The ASA said it accepted that the ad was only shown to people who clicked on the pedal and not those who were just browsing the site and also took into account the fact the ad was “surreal” and that a Mini could not get up to the speeds shown in the graphic.

However, it added:

We nonetheless considered that the ad encouraged users to interact with it and cause the man to be shown travelling at excessive speeds.
We considered that the ad made speed and acceleration the predominant message and could be seen to encourage speeding.

The ASA ruled the ad had breached the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) code clause 10.1 about safety that states ads should not “encourage or condone unsafe practices”.

And the ad was also deemed to breach three motoring codes.

Ad agency Glue London, responding to complaints on behalf of BMW, claimed marketing campaigns were

aimed at people who enjoyed the Mini’s sense of fun and cheekiness.

And maintained that

speed and acceleration were not the predominant message of the ad,

but that it was intended to

generate interest in the launch of the new MINI range and to promote the new MINI engine, which had improved emissions and fuel consumption.

In May of this year The Car Connection posted pictures sent in by a reader in L.A. of two disguised MINI Coopers, one an S, one a regular Cooper.

At the time it caused a little stir, what were two disguised vehicles doing out and about when the new MINI is already on sale. They were not MINI Clubman test cars, they looked for all you could see pretty regular. Much head scratching took place in the MINI Community (see this thread on the MINI2 forums for some of the conjecture at the time)…. But then they were all but forgotten.

Until now. MINI2 member ogeneo spotted and photographed the very same MINI Cooper S shown in the original Car Connection photographs (still showing on their site), on the Southern California Pacific Coast Highway.

Which once again begs the question, what is this car all about? What are MINI doing with this test Cooper S (apart from pulling off tail pipe trim!)?

Strange goings indeed!

So we’ve seen the outside, we’ve seen the inside once through the windows, and then through the doors. But there’s still questions nagging many would be MINI Clubman owners and interested MINI enthusiasts.

For example on the MINI2 forums some members took to calling the suicide door a “courtesy door”. Well, you may be intrigued to know the “suicide door” has been dealt a less deathly name thanks to the bods at MINI, it’s called “the Club Door”, and there’s some very nifty mechanics involved in arranging the third rear seat safety belt, which is exclusively for smaller passengers (those weighing less than 50kg) but we’ll come to that later.

Obviously, extra MINI means extra weight. Our sources have revealed the Clubman Cooper Diesel weighs in at 80kg more than it’s hatchback brother, the Cooper S puts on 75kg in Cooper S form, whereas the base Cooper at 1220kg also gains 80kg. These are all based on a 75kg driver and 90% tank of fuel.

In terms of performance, the Cooper is .7 seconds slower in the 0-62mph drag, whereas the Cooper S and D are impressively only half a second slower, this despite the extra bulk. This means the Cooper S remains under 8 seconds 0-62 mph, even in with an automatic transmission.

Speaking of size, the Clubman wheel base and overall dimensions are, of course, larger than the MINI. The track remains the same, but the wheelbase is universally increased by 80mm to 2547mm. The great news here is the luggage capacity is also increased by 100 litres to 260 litres, and with the seats folded this increases to 930 litres, a full 250 litres more than the hatchback.

Also revealed to MINI2, the Clubman will include an adjustable load base which sounds like a useful piece of kit, sitting on the floor of the boot area, above the tool kit and optional compact spare tyre. All this seems quite an improvement considering the car still looks small in regular traffic, as this YouTube video demonstrates.

Our latest information also confirms that both barn doors open “fully”, including the area surrounding the rear lights (the c-pillars remain in place) to give as wide a load area as possible. This should also mean no more cursing and grazed knuckles if and when you need to change a light bulb!

While at the rear of the vehicle, the Clubman will also be available with a factory fitted tow hitch and power point with detachable ball head, as well as beefed up rear springs to deal with load-lugging duties.

When the first interior spy shots appeared, it lead to some debate and confusion over the central “seat”, how could the anchorage points work, and wont that “lump” be a little uncomfortable?

The answer apparently lies in another bit of unique packaging MINI have devised for the Clubman. The Clubman does have three rear seats, but as stated previously the rear seat is for lightweights only. The buckle arrangement seems a little complex, locking away in it’s mount in the roof, it pulls down, into one buckle, then across to the other creating a three point middle harness. The odd thing is it seems the buckles for the main seatbelts remain almost in their “regular” MINI location, putting them between the mounting points for the middle belt. Could be an uncomfortable ride?!

We hope that’s given a little further insight into the intriguing world of the MINI Clubman. Coupled with the previously shown photos and videos we’re very close to a complete picture ahead of the official public unveiling at the Frankfurt Motorshow in September. All that really remains to be seen is how well the Clubman actually drives and handles. Rumour is that it’s a winner in that department, but we’ll just have to wait and see a little longer yet…

A member of a German MINI forum has spotted and photographed a MINI Convertible out and about in testing.

As you can see, the new MINI Convertible follows a very similar design to the outgoing Convertible model, the boot will once again be hinged at the base, although the design of the hinges will apparently be less “chunky” than the previous incarnation. The roof once more is a folding fabric top, and the rear high level brake light is still shown integrated into the rear chrome trim strip.

These shots, when combined with these earlier photographs pretty much reveal all there is to see externally of the Convertible roof when closed. Now we just need to see it from inside, and, of course, peeled back!

Magna International is negotiating with BMW to build a sport-utility-vehicle version of the MINI, industry sources in Europe said yesterday.

The vehicle is known internally as the Colorado and Magna’s Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, would assemble about 65,000 of the vehicles annually a source in Detroit said.

In addition, Magna Steyr is in the running to assemble a roadster for Volkswagen AG, which would add another 20,000 vehicles to production at Graz, the same Detroit source revealed.

This news comes Today from the Canadian Globe and Mail publication, and ties in with our report from February that the MINI 4×4 could be built in Austria. Whether or not the sources quoted are reliable and hold any genuinely new information is anyone’s guess.

BMW denied on Wednesday a report in Germany’s manager magazin that its cult brand MINI, which was just recently revamped, was struggling to make a profit.

BMW makes money with the MINI,

a spokesman for the premium carmaker is quoted as saying by Reuters.

Manager magazin wrote in an advance copy of its Friday edition that some at BMW are in favour of producing a MINI SUV due in 2010 on a joint platform with the A-Class made by BMW’s arch rival, Mercedes-Benz.

The article claimed the reason for the unofficial talks with Mercedes over joint production was the current difficulty BMW faced pulling MINI back into the black, and that the brand would be close to posting a loss even if MINI’s Oxford plant were to produce at full capacity.

The introduction of the new MINI in 2001 was a resounding success for BMW, which last year expanded its Oxford plant to rev up sales of the second generation model, rolled out in November 2006, to around 240,000 units come next year.

BMW has repeatedly stated in the past that it made money with each MINI sold - a feat made even more impressive by the fact it had to invest in building a totally new car and reviving a discontinued brand.  Analysts have also expected the new, revamped MINI to expand its profit margins further.

Mercedes meanwhile suffered year after year of heavy losses at its Smart brand to prop up sales of now defunct models like the ForFour, and the booming demand for the MINI played a key role in propelling BMW past Mercedes to take the crown as the world’s largest premium carmaker.

This weekend the MINI Challenge moves to the Nurburgring in Germany, where it will feature as an official support race for the Forumla 1 Grand Prix of Europe.

The racing MINIs will be on track Friday (Qualifying Session 12:50 - 13:20) Saturday (First Race, 8 Laps or 25 Mins, 09:50 - 10:20) and Sunday (Second Race, 8 Laps or 25 Mins, 11:05 - 11:35) in support of the official Formula 1 race.  More details can be found on the F1 Website and MINI Challenge Website.

All in all it should make for an excellent weekend for MINI fans and race fans alike!

Photographs of the open suicide door on a right hand drive model MINI Clubman. Thanks to lilcoopr and timc.

Not much we can say that you can’t see, so we’ll just get on with the photos, shall we…