[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

I've heard so much about the removal of the clamshell bonnet.

When I went to see the car built at Oxford the clamshell appeared to make the car a lot easier to assemble and greatly reduced the number of parts. I asked the tour guide about the potential loss of the clamshell design and if deleting it would make the car any easier to build. His reaction? "First we've heard of it!"

Like StevePSB says, it's just conjecture. Put another way, in the absense of facts, parts of the motoring press (no names mentioned, but you know who I mean) will just make it up for something to fill their magazine with.

Tigger.

PS at no point in this thread was the name "Au***x*r**s" mentioned and nothing should be infurred ( )

[minisoopercooper]

from what i have heard from reliable sources the bonnet - and indeed teh whole car - will look much as it does now - the biggest difference in the bonnet is the fact that the headlights will be seperate and not part of, as they are now.

[Doctor Frost]

Just what the mini needs .....a bigger speedo.

[Jnr_Seahorse]

Interesting range of opinions! Personally I think it looks awesome!
Can't wait for '07
JS

[Squire]

eeewwwww what the hell is going on with the rear end of the new mini.....thats shocking, looks ugly as hell, it better not stay like that

[galled15]

Quote: Originally Posted by Squire

eeewwwww what the hell is going on with the rear end of the new mini.....thats shocking, looks ugly as hell, it better not stay like that

I agree the rear end in this design is terrible, the interior i could live with and get used to but that rear end has got to go. I really hope that these prototypes stay just that prototypes.

[RVW]

YUK At least British Leyland/Rover call them what you will took 40years to kill off the mini.
Looks as if BMW will manage it in 7

[phill400]

I totally agree with Texas, the rear door concept looks rubbish.....

I like the look of it but for me it will be a case of how it is finished and if it is put together. Wonder how i put my £500 sony head unit into that dash then??

[genghis]

Couldn't tell by the interior photos. Does anyone know if the R56 is going to come standard with a start/stop button?

[font=Arial]

[dklug1]

What's going on with the rear of that car?!?!? Not to mention the front and the Mazda RX-8 back doors? If I wanted a four door car I would go and buy one. Also, it's just not cute any more. The interior is strange, but I could live with it if I had too. I guess when my MCS comes in Aug. I will be holding on to it for quite sometime.

[maxXximus05]

Ummm... TBH, every change in there is disastrous. The whole look of the car is worse.. It looks like it has gone through a mid life crisis not knowing whether its a compact car or sedan. The RX8 doors makes the car look longer while the overall shape tries to keep the car compact... The curves of the car doesnt make it look any more mean or elegant. It just looks like the car is on steroids! I reckon the designers were either drunk off their titties or high off their nuts when they designed this...

With the interior, well, the only parts i do like is the new gear knob and the Mini design A/C controller. The other parts dont seem to flow..

On another note, i wonder how the handling of car is I suppose it might be better as the car does look longer and wider...

All in all, I realli do hope this isnt the final design.. I was looking forward to the new mini design and all but this just totally puts me off.. Im glad i bought my 2005 MCSC!!
Thus, therefore, in conclusion, i conclude!

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Please bear in mind that the Mazda RX8 type rear doors are only a work of complete fiction and can be safely ignored. I find it really annoying that there are magazines out there that will make up anything (or just buy in poorly photoshopped rubbish) and then cynically publish it. From the above comments, the damage that these ficticious "photographs" do to the manufacturer's reputation is pretty apparent

As for the rear styling, again ignore it. Although it looks pretty genuine, it is only a development mule with stick on disguising panels and it tells us very little about how the final car will look.

Tigger.

[dangerous1]

HATE IT!!!!
The new MINI was originally designed to continue on from it's original icon. I think that BMW did a good job...for now.
The 2007 proposals make the mini look like some offering from the Japanese, a car that's trying to be something it isn't.
The interior looks hideous and as for the rear of the car....what the f*** is that all about?

Long live the current incantation!!!

[Marysmin1]

Quote: Originally Posted by dangerous1

HATE IT!!!!
The new MINI was originally designed to continue on from it's original icon. I think that BMW did a good job...for now.
The 2007 proposals make the mini look like some offering from the Japanese, a car that's trying to be something it isn't.
The interior looks hideous and as for the rear of the car....what the f*** is that all about?

Long live the current incantation!!!

I'll second that, dont like it infact it doesnt look like a Mini, more like a Megane Noooo!

[cooper-minx]

Just looked at suggested website. Don't like these piccies at all!
Why spoil a winner? I know car designs have to change but I don't like the front, rear or especially the potential interior, which actually looks very sparse.
Very disappointing if this will be the real item!

[hoodypo]

I bought my MINI cause several reasons: (Not all of them and still learning why)
It is super cute! I get stopped, asked, complimented every day I'm in it. (WV/KY/OH)
It is English, not Japanese (long live the whale, NO WHALING). YUK Japanese!
It is not American in looks. (love my country hate SUV's and the 'road bullies')
It has superior gas mileage with some push to it!
It is the best retro car ever!
It is very solid.
It is a beautiful color.
As far as aesthetic reasons it is beautiful and always will be beautiful so the old version, pre-2007 MINI, I see is going to be a classic. No fear as with Jap and American and many Euro cars of the MINI going to be out done. YEAH!
The Cabrio roadster pics I have seen are marvelous and lustfully mouthwatering! Here are the Pics I have. This car I would appreciate/not particularly envy (not true of the later emotion) if I didn't have one. I love my MINI as it is.
Please no MX-8 doors I have had more expensive cars beside mine and my MINI got and often gets more attention than those cars. Been told it is prettier than Boxsters', even Audi's, I don't think it is prettier than, Austin Martins myself at all, LOL (gasping with a humors turn of the head) but good god MINI don't copy after Japanese produced cars. Stay MINI the one and only. Please......... Yeap the rear end is ugly sticking out like some ugly american gas guzzler.

[cct1]

Like Tigger wrote earlier, don't bother making any inferences about the exterior--it's a friggin' test mule. The interior shots are nice, to get an idea of where things are probably headed, but if you're looking at the exterior and trying to gleam something meaningful from those pictures, forget about it. The rear end of the 2007 will look nothing like this car. There is all sorts of junk on the car purposely there so that you WON'T know what the final product is going to look like. Everyone wants to know (Me included) exactly what the 2007 Mini exterior is going to look like, but the final refinements probably aren't in place yet anyway, but I think it's pretty safe to say that the 2007 will look more like the 2006 than it will the test mule. Personally can't wait to see a 2007 (and revisit this thread once a "real" 2007 is released).

[raptor]

Can somebody explain to me the logic in all the changes? I mean, the current version is awsome and for 5 years now you still have to preorder the car for the mostpart. I assume sales increase year to year so why change a good thing? I really bums me out because I have finnally found a car I really like and now they went an changed it. I guess I will be keeping mine for a long time.

[Paul]

Just to restate (as when those images have been posted before) those roadster shots are completely fake, and do not represent a real MINI at all.

[sol9001]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paul Mullett

Just to restate (as when those images have been posted before) those roadster shots are completely fake, and do not represent a real MINI at all.

lets hope so. i could see why bmw might want to expand the range a bit and add 4 doors. but lets keep the 3 door the way it is. short and low.

why make changes to what is out there? at least in the american market you have to have something new every 6 months. look at vw, sales are dropping like crazy and mainly because they failed to change the models in 5 years.

ps. i am british and i remember seeing all kinds of weird and wonderful mini's out there. my neibour had a panel van mini me and my friend would climb on the roof and bounce up and down on it.