Mini Crossman News And Photos

[ViscountCharles]

A lot of people *think* that they need 4-wheel drive. I mean, that 8.45am run to the school gates demands a heck of a lot of grip; some mornings, they might have up to two kids and a small dog in the back and still need to do 20mph. No ordinary 2WD car can be expected to cope with stuff like that.

[Step_7]

Quote: Originally Posted by ViscountCharles (original)

I mean, that 8.45am run to the school gates demands a heck of a lot of grip;

Oh, I don't know - here's one I saw when I was dropping off my kids at school. You wouldn't manage that in a "normal" car now would you........

[dalboyne]

Quote: Originally Posted by Step_7 (original)

Oh, I don't know - here's one I saw when I was dropping off my kids at school. You wouldn't manage that in a "normal" car now would you........

Fair one - at least 2 of the wheels have gone off-road, and up a massive sloped kerb too May even have parked in a pile of dog poo.........

[~Marcus~]

Well, it's differrent. At first I thought this was a big mess but its actually grown on me a little from some angles. There is something very wrong about the side view and the "surprised frog" headlamps though. I hope they tone it all down and tidy it all up before it goes into production. And I hope they aren't planning to alienate UK buyers once again with an assymetric layout that is not designed for us. Be interesting to see how the production version looks - the Clubman was quite different from the concept.

[Mini-Trainer]

Official: new Mini 4x4 conceptÂ*-Â*Car News | MSN Cars UK

It's Cross-eyed and pig ugly!!

Rams

[ViscountCharles]

Quote: Originally Posted by Step_7 (original)

Oh, I don't know - here's one I saw when I was dropping off my kids at school. You wouldn't manage that in a "normal" car now would you........

That's the closest thing to off-road action that those cars see in their whole lifetime.

[OJM]

Quote: Originally Posted by ViscountCharles (original)

That's the closest thing to off-road action that those cars see in their whole lifetime.

That and going in for a service

[Paul]

I've realised what those lights remind me of now, the Nissan Micra!

[dalboyne]

Quote: Originally Posted by Paul (original)

I've realised what those lights remind me of now, the Nissan Micra!

Getting worried about you Paul! Today you have been reminiscing about Daewoo, and now the Micra? Are you OK - maybe you need to go lie down in a darkened room.....

[choccy20]

check out the mini crossover that was shown at the Paris motor show

Stunning Mini Crossover Concept 4x4 - Auto Trader UK - News and Reviews Hub

[YorkshireMiniClub]

Hey Everyone,

I personally think that the inside looks like it could have been altered with something like Photoshop but then I could be a bit cenacle. I must admit I personally like the door hinge allowing the door to open without having to move the internal fuel tank.

MINI do seem from time to time hell bent on killing what is essentially at the moment a great brand if they keep it up they will become like any other car company with two many models and not the custom to sell them.

I also read they are going to start building some models in Europe as their Oxford plant is to small. Almost certain that I had read somewhere that BMW were not expecting production of MINI’s to be anywhere near what it is currently. If someone would like to elaborate further on this I look forward to reading further.

Thanks.

Chris Smith
Founder - Yorkshire Mini Club.

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by mab01uk (original)

Hildebrand said the design is a “pre-communication that MINI could do these things”...“In a concept car you always use different design languages to try things for the future. It has its own message, its own values,” he explained.

There is a lot I would like to say at this stage about Heir Hildebrand's communication skills, not to mention his use of Plain English, probably even including recent evidence of his design talent, but feel it best not to in an open forum

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by YorkshireMiniClub (original)

I also read they are going to start building some models in Europe as their Oxford plant is to small. Almost certain that I had read somewhere that BMW were not expecting production of MINI’s to be anywhere near what it is currently. If someone would like to elaborate further on this I look forward to reading further.

To cut along story short, the MINI was always intended to be built at the, much larger, Longbridge site. When Rover and BMW split MINI production was moved to the Cowley site.

The Cowley site is a fraction of its former size after the previous owners, BAe, sold around 2/3rds of the site for inductrial and retail development.

The original estimate for production volumes was around 100,000 cars a year. The last time I saw production figures they were around 250,000 cars a year! The Cowley plant is now pretty much at maximum capacity, with the paint shop (only ever designed for much lower volumes of Rover 75's) proving to be the biggest bottleneck of all.

Tigger.

[Rakey]

images of the new X1 concept are in AutoExpress today, which is supposed to be sharing the same platform as this

[Paul]

The X1 is all over the net already (official photos). It's 'orrible if you ask me!