Thanks for the article, Paul. Now the grilling begins, I guess! Could I start with a personal one on the tinted windows; one aspect that offends...? Did you get any feeling/info on why they've done that? Is it necessary for some reason that escapes me? Is it something that might be a try out rather than a must stay; can I hope that it might go?
...Brynster, those tinted windows aren't Factory fitted ones, I've said before that I bet they're only there to hide the interior as it isn't finished. You can easily make out the JCW seats in it, but from Pauls article it wil ony have the Recaros
Thanks Paul (and those who've answered my heartfelt plea re. the dreaded tints). Sorry to harp on. It's just that I want to love it - but that feature's the one main thing that's stopping me. It would be like adopting a three-legged orphan. (Apologies to all three-legged orphans.)
Unfortunately, apart from DSC and Aircon (in some markets) there's no boxes to be ticked or unticked on this one. And they are listed as part of the spec.
Just read your article Paul, thanks for the update from misano.
First off, it would seem to me that the car shown at Misano is almost definatly not the finished product - more like, as you said, a mock up. This is in itself both dissapointing and yet reassuring - there is scope for change here on at least cosmetic details....
Very dissapointed about the brake ducts being fake. Honestly, if that ends up being true, I just like to thank the designers for their sheer bloody stupidity.
Same goes with the rear wash/wipe.
I can understand the issue of 18" wheels - we know its wrong to put them on a racer - but joe public is demanding ever increasing sizes - so at least they say they have found lightweight wheels - although that must be tempered by the fact that they are the lightest they could find for a set price - pretty sure they won't be as light as some other more expensive aftermarket wheels.
The issue of the window tinting is bugging many people - I guess its been done to add some needed privacy to the back area now the seats and rear parcel shelf are gone - if so, this could have been achieved with a rear cover.
i think when we see this car on the road, most of us will be excited by it. I also think that there will be many people who are "in the know" that will say its a pretty pointless special edition thats easily out performed by aftermarket modders. It will be interesting to see what other tuners/indeviduals do to copy the style.
Its interesting that they got the extra power out of the intercooler area - I've recently realised myself how poor this part of the car is - having just taken off my BBR Venturi - the immidiate drop in power availability at higher speeds shows how in-effiicent the standard intecooler is.
Cheers, let the postings roll....
Wheres Max when you need a considered opinion....????
I was there and saw it. I thought it looked good. Just not a radical two seater cabrio Like I had hoped for. The car will sell out in my opinion. I would take one now!
I sent the pics to Motoring File on the day of the reveal. I'm sure the tinted windows are just to hide the interior that is not complete.
The MINI United event was a blast. My favorite was a taxi ride in the Works Challenge race car. YESSSS that was awesome. I had spent all of Friday morning on the track in a MINI drivers training and got to drive a Cooper S around many times hitting 165 kmh on the long straight way. But the Challenge car hit 200 kmh on the same straight way and slammed on the brakes within 50 meters of the corner taking us down to 80kmh for the corner entry. Now that was so incredible. This was the best MINI event I've ever attended. It was extra nice being a VIP.
Wonder why they've changed the front bumper then The rear bumper looks to the untrained eye like a stock S bumper with painted plastic inserts in, so why not leave the original S front bumper on, and do likewise... unless there is more trickery we are not aware of
Thanks Paul for your article it was very informative. The car is not exactly what I expected but I dont think it completely ghastly. The only thing i completely hate over everything else is the rear wing, its just too big and kevin like. Something like a carbon aero spoiler or JCW Spoiler would have been adequate. The colour scheme is not desperate, really like the wheels and as for anthracite dials with red needles yes please!
Its certainly growing on me, and I think in the flesh probably looks pretty good....and at £22k lest we forget is excellent value with all the goodies it has on it...
Sometimes when you first meet a person you can be unattracted to them, but the more you look, the more the interesting little bits you didn't notice before start to intrigue you....
Thing is, when they finally start delivering this car, the press will be full of details of the replacement Mini.... will those people that order it now then regret what they've done...????
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The rear bumper looks to the untrained eye like a stock S bumper with painted plastic inserts in, so why not leave the original S front bumper on, and do likewise... unless there is more trickery we are not aware of 
