[jpfahrstar]

Well, I finally saw the new MINI in person on Wednesday! There were 3 cars on display: blue, silver and red. The red and silver cars had the 16" Minilite style alloys. The blue car had the 17" wheels. I still prefer the 16" wheels.

All three cars were locked so that we couldn't sit in any of them. The silver car did have the windows rolled down so that you could lean in for a better look. The silver car also had the sunroof and optional navigation system with the speedo and tach situated behind the steering wheel. The sunroof was pretty nice but it would add too much weight for my liking.

I was very disappointed that I couldn't sit in it and try one on for size. They wouldn't open the hood either to take a look at the engine. They did open the trunk for a look at the back end. The fellow said there were too many people to open the car fully. Yes, the crowd was big.

I left liking the car as much as I thought I would. It's time to get in line and put a deposit down.

JP

[BruceK]

They wouldn't open any of the cars on display?! What jerks!

That's the kind of thing you'd expect for a one-of-a-kind custom built multi-million dollar show car - not a mass produced car they plan to sell at less the $18K. Why did they even bother to rent floor space if it wasn’t to garner positive popular opinion? Was BMW afraid the MINI's would fall apart if someone sat in one? Or peeked at the engine?

Sometimes, you've really got to wonder if BMW knows what it is doing in trying to market the MINI.

[MINIAC]

Quote:

On 21-04-2001 2:01 jpfahrstar wrote:
Well, I finally saw the new MINI in person on Wednesday! There were 3 cars on display: blue, silver and red. The red and silver cars had the 16" Minilite style alloys. The blue car had the 17" wheels. I still prefer the 16" wheels.

Minilite style wheels should have 8 spokes. Did the 16" wheels have 8 spokes or were they the 5 spoke variety?

[jpfahrstar]

The 16" Minilite style wheels were 5 spokes. I thought they were 7 spokes but i just took a look at pictures from the show and saw they were 5 spokes. If I remember correctly, the tires were 196/55 -16 Goodyear NCTs.

Someone else has posted a lot of photos from the show(all types of cars) at
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/Album...86260&f=0&sp=0

The address above is all one line.
JP

[BruceK]

There are some good, clear MINI pictures on the link from the above post.

In looking at those pictures I just found a new styling feature that only the North American Minis will have: side marker lights.

For non-North American readers, I'm not talking about the indicators mounted upon the fender near that little grill that flash with the turn signals (although those are showing up more and more on cars on this side of the pond). No, side marker lights are different and unique to the US and Canada and required by safety regulations. They are lights (and reflectors), amber in front, red in the rear, that help illuminate the position of cars when viewed from the side. (Picture driving down a dark street, ahead of you there’s a car waiting to pull out from a partially obscured side street. Side marker lights help show it’s there.).

On the red Mini in the photos, it’s easy to see that these lights have been mounted into the leading edge of the front wheel arch and the trailing edge of the rear. Since the law says they have to be there anyway, I think BMW did a clever job of MINI-mizing their impact on the styling. 8D

[Brock]

You can get a better look at the sidemarkers in photos from the Toronto Auto Show at http:www.mini.ca/autoshow.html.