One In Europe Only

[Pglenning]

Is it true the ONE is only on sale in Europe?

[AidenL]

Seems so......not in US anyway......

[Marts]

Did Japan get it as well?

[slegorreta]

Some ones were imported independently, but BMW is not selling it and published that it won't sell it due to the high requirements of the main city's altitudes over sea level.

Cheers!

[Peter S]

MINI One is on sale in Japan, but I've only seen one (in red). All the rest have been Coopers.

Peter

[cooper4us]

The MINI ONE models are about $2K to $3K cheaper (In US Dollars) than the MINI Cooper model sold in the US that retails for about $16,850 in basic form.

The problem with the MINI ONE is that it is terribly underpowered for most North American driving conditions. The 90HP version of the 1.6L Pentagon engine simply does not cut it here. The 115HP barely makes it in the US as well, but it is a more suitable engine variant.

I wish we could get the MINI Diesel model here, though.

Another reason why BMW did not bring the ONE model to North America is their intention to position the MINI brand as a more exlusive, if you will, "Premium Small car" marque, which in itself is a brand new car market segment here. The US only gets 20K units out of the 100K units produced for worldwide distribution.

This implies no Basement bargain models such as the MINI ONE and just a more reduced ownership base to keep the car interesting and exclusive and more "Individual". BMW/MINI are simply trying to avoid the mistakes made by VW with the New Beetle and Daimler-Chrysler with the PT Cruiser....they flooded the market with these cars and therefore their originally intended exclusivity, halo factor and resale value was adversely affected. Today you can get a New VW Beetle or PT Cruiser in the US at invoice price or with cheap financing/leasing factory subsidized deals. This is exactly the damaging trend that BMW wants to avoid for the MINI brand.

Hot hatches such as the MINI are making a big comeback in our SUV, MINIVAN and SEDAN ridden car continent.

[KenL]

Please don't "dis" the ONE - it's a great car. The spec is very similar to the Cooper. I'm happy with the performance even though mine is not even run in yet. Many people on here have said that the ONE is a similar drive unless you drive high up the rev range. So in normal day to day driving you shouldn't notice much difference.

I would expect the performance to suffer with CVT and AC on though and I know how important that is in the USA.

KenL.

[cooper4us]

No, I am not dissing the Cooper ONE at all. All I am saying that the 90HP 1.6L engine in it is too underpowered for North American driving conditions. I am sure this model has adequate power for European driving. I have been to Europe several times before, so I am well aware of the differences between driving environments.

Yes indeed, both A/C and CVT are a must here in Hot, muggy and sunny Florida. Traffic here is of the bumper to bumper kind and given year around hot temperatures having a car here without A/C is considered to be insane.

I have a CVT on order. I was very impressed by the car's performance and this is why I ordered one. I drive stick shift cars (I have had 2 a Honda Accord and an Acura Integra)but I no longer do so. Automatic transmissions of late are so well engineered, smooth and efficient that the need to mesh gears in urban driving is almost a thing of the past.

But I don't want to go into the USA vs. Europe driving mentallity debate....

[KenL]

Quote:

Originally posted by cooper4us
Automatic transmissions of late are so well engineered, smooth and efficient that the need to mesh gears in urban driving is almost a thing of the past.

I haven't driven a CVT so have no idea how smooth they are. In theory they should be smooth as it's just one gear isn't it?

I have driven a lot of cars in the states on visits and I even stayed in Hawaii for 1.5 years. In my experience of the american cars I driven the auto boxes are pretty poor with surging changes. I remember driving Chevy Cavalier, GrandAm, Olds Alero and they all had poor auto boxes IMHO.

Cheers, Ken.

[cooper4us]

I also have a 2001 Chevrolet Impala LS Full Size sedan and the car came equipped with a 3.8 Litre OHV V6 rated at 200HP abd a 4-speed automatic transmission. This GM automatic beats mostly every other Japanese automatic slushbox that I have driven in recent memory. Smooth as silk, precise shift points, does not hunt between gears and fast downshifts when meshing the gas pedal in the Expressway for passing.

The Impala is huge by European standards. The car is 200.0 Inches long by 73.0 inches wide. But it is very nimble, handles great, has capacity for 5 (Or six depending configuration) and a deep 18 cubic feet "Boot". Gas mileage is amazing....22 MPG in the city and 32 MPG in the Highway at 70+ MPH (Engine only turns at 2K RPM in overdrive). Quality and reliability has been fantastic also.

The GM automatics on those cars you drove here in the States are older slushboxes and not as refined as the ones found in GM's full size cars. Also keep in mind that GM produces (Or used to) the 5-speed automatics for the BMW 3 series, Z3 and 5 series cars. These slushboxes are made in Strausbourg, France.

So our now on order MINI Cooper will be a great addition in our garage.

Enjoy your MINI ONE!

By the way, what color is it? What equipment/options you have in it? How many miles? Have you had any problems with your MINI?

[KenL]

Quote:

Originally posted by cooper4us

By the way, what color is it? What equipment/options you have in it? How many miles? Have you had any problems with your MINI?

My MINI ONE is only two days in my possession and 100 miles so a long way to go. So far (touch wood, fingers crossed etc) no faults. It's Pure Silver all over as ONEs can't be ordered with a different coloured roof. 15" 8 spokes, single CD player and SALT pack.

A pic can be found at http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=11147

I'm sure you are right about the quality of some US cars auto boxes. Unfortunatley my work will only stretch to cheaper rental vehicles which aren't too great IMHO.

Ken.

[cooper4us]

Nice color choice!. I guess the ONE models look better in Red, Silver or Black. Not many Cooper buyers here in the US opt for the color matched roof in their cars....since the MINI ONE is not even sold here, why they would fear having their Coopers looking "Too conventional"? But again Pure Silver is a nice color nevertheless!.

We ordered our Pepper White/Black Roof and mirrors Cooper with the CVT, Standard in dash CD player, Multifunction steering wheel with Cruise Control, 15" 8 spoke wheels (It was a toss up between the std 7 hole design and the 8 spokes), standard black leatherette seats with silver gray interior door panels and no chrome accents for the bumpers, just the standard painted front and rear bumpers.

We did not order any of the available packages which are 1)Premium, 2)Sport and 3)Cold weather packages.

In North America, MINI does not use the "Salt", "Pepper" and "Chili" names for their option packages. I like those names, I wonder why they marketing people didn't leave them as is?

It would be cool if they offered a right hand drive version option for sale in the US...that would be really nice!.

Well, congratulations on your new car! Any upcoming "Motorway" trips? Last year we went to Oxford, Stratfford, Windsor, London....we had a great time! You guys have a very nice, friendly and beautiful country!.

[KenL]

Pepper White is a nice colour. A dealer in Edinburgh had a fully specced Cooper which looked really nice. That's the only one I've seen over here.

White cars are really popular in the States but not so over here. I don't know why as I think they are really easy to keep looking clean.

As to putting miles on mine I'm doing a couple of trips totalling 250 miles or so over the weekend. I'll be staying off the motorways and keeping to the fantastic country roads over here.

[Anthony27]

I'd like to make a short remark on One and CVT box combination. In theory, it's the "slowest" version of the car.

In practice, it's not just extremely smooth (completely seamless acceleration) but also very nimble. Throttle response is admirable. I often leave more powerful (and heavier) cars behind at the lights just because of the way the CVT box "bites" when you start. It is so different from a conventional autobox that it's really worth a closer look (and a test drive) from those who have tried other automatics in small cars and disliked them (like me).

I know Cooper owners are going to grind their teeth when I say it, but my subjective feeling after test-driving a manual (stick-shift) Cooper and a CVT One back to back was that the CVT One was nimbler. Obviously when I pushed it above 5,500 rpm the Cooper showed its extra horses - but how often does the normal driver push it that high on the average drive ... ?

Anthony27

[Victor Wong]

The ONE is sold in Malaysia. My order just cleared customs and is on the trailer arriving tonight. Another 4 days of paperwork and checks...arggh just can't wait.

Something you guys should know...I'm paying approximately 21,000 Sterling Pounds for the car...with very few options. An obscene amount goes into tax. You should count your lucky stars with what you can get for 11,000 pounds in the UK .

But what the heck...you only live once...