Saw these pics in Autocar, they say that the new mini will have protruding back lights like the original mini and an extended rear to make the boot bigger. Also, the boot will become a clamshell and wrap around the rear window. Also, new locating arms mean new suspension! All sounds very exciting to me :D

:mad: I'llbe buying a used obviously... I don't like any of the new photos I have seen floating around here :mad:

All sounds very guesswork to me, but those are very interesting pictures.

That is horrible.

Get the Mk 1s while you can folks, the Mk2 is a stinker.

Should be good for residuals on the earlier prettier cars mind you.

heavily disguised front & back end. do those locating arms also suggest 4wd?

Just been reading up on this myself.
It looks like a mule made up around a butchered current mini. Some heavy disguise on it too so I don't think you can get too much idea of styling from this or any of the other pics we've seen.

With the car 18 months away it will be some time before we see any cars without a disguise.

I agree that the mule is disguised, but reading the text with the first pic, it says

"a little extra length has been grafted in behind the rear wheels in an attempt to improve the car's dire boot space."

I think in the finished article the rear end will be less ugly, more smooth lines and more in keeping. However, it will have a fat ar*e! and will not look as nice as ours.

I agree that the mule is disguised, but reading the text with the first pic, it says

However, it will have a fat ar*e! and will not look as nice as ours.I agree completely!!!!!!!!!!! Buy a new one before they change it and hang onto it.

Yeesh, just a mule, no worries. I read somewhere, maybe here, that the overall length will not change but by a couple of centimeters. BMW engineers have agreed upon that already as it wouldn't be a MINI anymore and compromise the integrity of the car itself. So I wouldn't be too worried about any drastic size changes, even it they mention the boot getting bigger.

I say, if you need a bigger boot, then let them bring out the MINI Wagon and buy that!!! ;)

I agree: If they lengthen it by much at all it loses it's "MINIness". It's not meant to have 3 kids and groceries on board. It is a nice little sporty car, but with all the fun of a 2-seater but more practicality. They better go easy with the changes!

Heres another pic, you can see the underneath a bit better, horrible exhausts, but, its just a prototype!!

CRIMES CRIMES arsest the responsible for this if they whant space by a bmw 1 series but leave our beloved mini ALONE !!!! :mad:

Its got old style rear lights

Its horrible

The mini will probably follow the lifecycle that the Mustang did. starting off at its best, slowly getting worse and worse over the years, and then start to get better, because, IMO the new Mustangs well nice!!

Like most autocar/autoexpress articles, the pictures are interesting/good (not the photoshopped nonsense they come up with, but the spy shots that some poor so and so works really hard to get) but the words are mostly nonsense and made up tto make an article out of the images. I wonder if this isn't a MINI hatchback test at all, but part of testing for something a little larger, the first of the new body types (apart from Hatch and Convertible) will be a "larger" MINI, we've all but had that confirmed, I wonder if they're playing/working on some ideas in this car? That said, it looks more like they're working on how the rear would be packaged in a larger version of the MINI, hatchback, 3 door, 5 door or otherwise.

How can you have a big MINI? Thats just wrong!! Theyd have to call it a Maxi, good old Austin Maxi eh :D

Traveller:

http://www10.plala.or.jp/minimile/public_html/03518c2911.jpg


Van:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/bobleroi/ScrapBook/CarsMotoring/BV.jpg

Pickup:

http://mini.demon.co.uk/history/001stu/pickle_plan.jpg

Estate:

http://www.davidakroyd.com/outside_humt.jpg

Take you pick, it's all been done before....


:D :confused:

PickUp!!!

Gimme the van! That's where it's at! :cool:

Like most autocar/autoexpress articles, the pictures are interesting/good (not the photoshopped nonsense they come up with, but the spy shots that some poor so and so works really hard to get) but the words are mostly nonsense and made up tto make an article out of the images. I wonder if this isn't a MINI hatchback test at all, but part of testing for something a little larger, the first of the new body types (apart from Hatch and Convertible) will be a "larger" MINI, we've all but had that confirmed, I wonder if they're playing/working on some ideas in this car? That said, it looks more like they're working on how the rear would be packaged in a larger version of the MINI, hatchback, 3 door, 5 door or otherwise.
totally agree, I think the spy shots are really great, helping to let us know that MINI have some really exciting plans instore for us.

I can't wait till we see more and more factual spy pics and get more and more factual information like that we get from MINI2, rather than the drip feeding made up stories that the press are adding to the pics, as that only adds to the panic responses;)

IMO I think the new MINI will be even better than what we have now:D

Like most autocar/autoexpress articles, the pictures are interesting/good (not the photoshopped nonsense they come up with, but the spy shots that some poor so and so works really hard to get) but the words are mostly nonsense and made up tto make an article out of the images. I wonder if this isn't a MINI hatchback test at all, but part of testing for something a little larger, the first of the new body types (apart from Hatch and Convertible) will be a "larger" MINI, we've all but had that confirmed, I wonder if they're playing/working on some ideas in this car? That said, it looks more like they're working on how the rear would be packaged in a larger version of the MINI, hatchback, 3 door, 5 door or otherwise.

The latest spy shots certainly show a mule based on the current car and as Paul says these could be test vehicles for the additional models in the line up, such as the new countryman. However,it's just possible that in order to comply with the forthcoming pedetrian impact legislation, the design team had to extend the front of the vehicle forwards and the resultant visual imbalance has being addressed by also extending the rear. The extra bootspace might be just a bonus of this.

Unfortunately the smaller the car the greater the impact of the new safety legislation, but the danger with the Mini could be the loss of its established character and the 'rightness' of the form. A reactive bonnet (hood) could be one solution but this will no doubt have been considered already - I hope it was not dismissed purely on the grounds of costs.

The potentially sad fact is that the vehicle packaging we've all come to expect in terms of passenger comfort and together with the regulatory safety requirements could make it impossible to retain the snub nosed appearance of the current car. I have to agree with some of the other respondants that the current Mini might be the smallest and cutest we'll get - I do hope not.

I think its safe to say the 2007 Mini will have a more angled rear like the original Minis. Not only will the sloping rear allow for a larger trunk/boot but it should radically improve the crumple-zone in the rear that will protect back seat occupent from a rear end collision.

While the test-mules look sick Im sure the final product will look nice:

http://www.bournemouthminiclub.co.uk/ClubsCars/Waynes/WayneSide-lg.jpg

It would be interesting if the window pillars get painted body color like the the original as well.

with todays trend towards small utility cars i think the traveller is a cast iron certainty

Remember that MINI is a "brand" not a car so it makes sound business sense to offer more models. Some people would love a MINI but just can't do it with the small boot and cramped rear seats.

Remember that MINI is a "brand" not a car so it makes sound business sense to offer more models. Some people would love a MINI but just can't do it with the small boot and cramped rear seats.

Yup, remember the MINI brand will be goin up against Mercedes SMART brand. MINI is already ahead in looks, I can;t think of a single SMART car that looks good. The closest is the Brabus Smart Roadster (I think that is the correct name). Thats costs nearly as much a Cooper S and only develops a little over half the power from its 700cc engine.

There is a company in italy that will convert your MINI into an estate for £7000. I read about it a couple of years back, but I cannot find any pics. Anyone know where some are?

www.classicdriver.com/uk/magazine/3300.asp?id=11976

I hope those shots at the beginning of this thread don't show the rear as it finally will be. I don't want a Wolseley Hornet !

The idea of the pillars being body colour does sound good, but some of the striking features of the new mini are the white roof, siling face, small size and "all round glass". If we look at the new mini as a stand alone car, and not as a replacement for the old mini, then some of these changes that are being made do seem more sensible. It would be fitting for the MINI to be small after all, it IS called mini, but, on the old mini mk1, the rear window was too small, so on the Mk2, they made it bigger. Put into new MINI terms, the Mk1 minis boots too small, so on the Mk2, theyre making it bigger.

Mini only needs an extra 13 inches to be large enough to enter WRC and by increasing the front and rear overhang in the 2007 model it should be big enough to compete.

They dont have to make the roadgoing mini longer, they could just do what Peugeot done and make 200 normal 206's with massive ugly bumpers for the homoligation rules

Just posting them Peugeot 206 GT pics made me think... so I got my pens out and voila :D COME ON MINI, MAKE IT!!!