[~Marcus~]

New shots have surfaced!

2008 MINI Traveller Spy Shots - The Car Connection

[Jordan210]

Intresting first Cooper one ov seen most of them are S's

Looks like its lost the back doors...

[~Marcus~]

Looks massive! That roof will tower over much bigger cars. I like the clean uncluttered look on the side without a door. if you click through the gallery you can see the asymmetrcial design with a door on one side.

Doesn't look like a photoshop, if it is they have done an amazing job on the reflection of the tree in the side.

[Jordan210]

If you click PHOTO GALLERY: 2008 MINI Traveller theres other shots. The back one looks a bit photoshoped to me. the relecters in the back arch looks odd. Could be real..

[~Marcus~]

Reminds me of one of these!

[rkw]

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Marcus~ (original)

Looks massive! That roof will tower over much bigger cars.

??? Doesn't look that way to me at all. The front of the roof looks similar height to a regular MINI and slopes downward moving towards the back.

[swamos]

The most interesting about this link is that they are suggesting that it would be unveiled at Geneva which is in late march. This is much earlier than was originally rumored.

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Excellent find.

I shall be interested to see if they swap the side that the rear door is on for the RHD cars. As they have even standardised the bonnet release for LHD I don't hold out very much hope

And here's what it could so easily have looked like (ignoring the, 6th-form-design-student, add ons just for a moment):



Very pretty. However, the compromises for production are very disappointing, for instance:

* Cantilevered doors (avoiding the need for a reverse hinged rear door), with no A pillar shut lines: GONE
* No B pillars: GONE
* Opening rear side windows: GONE
* Flared metal sills and wheel arches: GONE
* Good-proportion-retaining curved windscreen and long doors: GONE
* Curvaceous rear end: GONE
* Renault 16 inspired roof profile: KEPT

It's not all bad news; it could make a good and practical car derived van, but Vauxhall got there first:



Overall rating? Predictable, unimaginative and compromised. If this had been done by an aftermarket coach builders I could understand it, but by the original manufacturer? Why?

If they have the design talent (and, judging by the basic Traveller Concept Car, they have), why don't they put it to good use?

[~Marcus~]

* Cantilevered doors (avoiding the need for a reverse hinged rear door), with no A pillar shut lines: GONE
* No B pillars: GONE
* Good-proportion-retaining curved windscreen and long doors: GONE

There is no way they could have done any of the these and kept the price reasonable, seeing as they are going to have to charge about 12.5k max for a One version.

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

If I were content to buy an unimaginative and inexpensive estate, I could do a lot better for £12,500.



Focus 1.6 estate from £10,776 (What Car target price, January 2007) AND they even throw in opening rear windows and an opening rear door on BOTH sides!

Alternatively (as a really crazy idea), if I wanted ultra - imaginative design and huge doors, with about as much room as I would expect in a MINI estate for less than £12,500 I could always go for:



C4 Coupe from £9,025 (What car target price, January 2007)

Okay, so in both cases depreciation would be bad news, but you get a huge discount in the first place to offset some of that and you could always buy used for serious value for money.

We originally paid a premium price for our 3 door hatchback MINI because we were getting clever and imaginative design, built expensively. If they think that they can still charge premium money, yet short change us on the clever stuff, they have got a nasty shock coming

[Hat]

tend to agree with tigger here, first reaction was one of dissapointment on seeing this. surpirsed to see the rear ights on the rear door too when all reports to date have said they were body mounted

[Shaun]

That picture with the boot open is a much older shot not from this new set of pictures.
I like it...
I dont know what the issue is here it looks like a slightly bigger mini with different rear doors. All this talk of B pillars cantilever doors and seats I am sure you would all have a deposit down for a 23 grand car right away? and I am sure all the people who pay top money for new S's would apreciate what is essentially a utility model getting all the best tech.
It looks like a Mini I could have a 150Bhp 6 speed Deisel Mondeo for less than my Mini.
I could have had a Renaultsport Megane 225 new for £14500 but no I got a Mini there are far better value cars on the road than the Mini if you think it looks like an Astra buy one and join an Astra VAn forum.

I think it looks like hearse in black anyway.

[Shaun]

I also wondered about the engineering cost of suicide doors on passenger side only though.
There must be enough countries that drive on the proper side of the road to justify it now.

[sel]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tigger, Eeyore & Roo (original)

If I were content to buy an unimaginative and inexpensive estate, I could do a lot better for £12,500.

....says the guy who drives a VOLVO estate ("it's a 'work' vechicle"...i hear him cry )

i like the possible new look-however, i WONT be buyin one!....no need for any extra space

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by sel (original)

....says the guy who drives a VOLVO estate ("it's a 'work' vechicle"...i hear him cry )

Ha ha

Tigger.

[V 5ARY]

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Marcus~ (original)

New shots have surfaced!

2008 MINI Traveller Spy Shots - The Car Connection

i think the co-op will buy lots of the black estate minis as funeral cars (depending) if a coffin will fit in the back.

[Michael]

No sir, I don't like it.

It does look like a hearse, I agree. A black 300C touring also looks like a hearse, but they look great!

If I were a midget and died, i wanna go in the back of one of these!!!

You don't buy a MINI if you give half a damn about passengers, do you?

[Shaun]

Quote: Originally Posted by Michael Strachan (original)

No sir, I don't like it.

It does look like a hearse, I agree. A black 300C touring also looks like a hearse, but they look great!

If I were a midget and died, i wanna go in the back of one of these!!!

You don't buy a MINI if you give half a damn about passengers, do you?

Yes but more room for little passengers would proably help.

[AMT]

First reaction - looks crap. Especially that upturned boat style roof.

But I'll reserve judgement until i see one in the metal

Maybe it's a grower

[minicabrio]

Think about the rear door issue logically, the rear door must for safety reasons be installed on the near side of the car (curb side) as it is in the photos (as car is LHD). This means that our rear door will be on the left.

This means there will be tooling for both, so I'd imagine that the car will come with 1 door as standard and have an option of two rear doors - seen as the tooling will be in place. I for one wouldn't want a car rear passengers could only get out of one side - what if it rolled onto said side?

Front end there is no need to comment on as its all as per the R56 and that has been discussed at length elsewhere already.

Going on the position of the headrest in the rear, the rear space looks to be almost the same. The boot obviously looks MUCH bigger.

So to the rear... interesting to see how the number plate is going to be bumper mounted.... this will be interesting on S versions with a twin centre exit exhaust. Unfortuntely the orginal bumperless rear design was a non-starter as US bumper legislation dictates that a bumper must be able to absorb an impact of 6mph without causing damage to the vehicle. The tailgate doors are bound to be quite funky with a predictably large MINI wings logo.