"But as we drove this Blazing Red 2014 Mini Cooper on a leg of MTTS from Cleveland to Buffalo, hardly anyone seemed to notice that our car was any different than its kin. No one glanced twice at it, no one asked how we liked the new Mini, and we blended right into the sea of boxy, cute hatchbacks." Um.................well...........I could say no one wanted to look twice............but I shouldn't say that. :devil:
I would have to agree. That one statement tells me that the individual doesn't have a clue. The individual could've navigated the company SUV and produced the same story.
But the question is how many of the enthusiast would get rid of their beloved R53 or R56 to start over in the build process and would they buy new or used? Unless these enthusiast can convince BMINIW that they are going to buy the new generation, why would they not change the format to go after the people that are purchasing the newer cars. On a kind of related note, the Miata guys were discussing the new ND version on Sunday and how one of them had gotten a couple of surveys from Mazda prior to the new version asking what it would take to get him interested in a new car. Some of the comments were similar to what has been discussed around here..."need a no frills base model" and "the price needs to be around $20k". What I found most interesting is that none of them had every purchased a Miata new, so their gripes were more in terms of thinking long range when the ND is 10+ years old and would it be desirable.
I hope I never grow up & mature. Life is to very short for that type of thing. I think you are safe for the time being Ron.
Brian, I guess that's why you went from the toy to the adult car. No offense, everyone should buy what they want. MINI has taken that choice away by making the car more adult. Most people here that complain about the new MINI bought their car new. At least that I know of.
No offense taken...MINI didn't sell a car that fit my criteria (closet thing was probably a $35k JCW CM and there are much better options out there at that price range). I agree that most people probably bought their MINI new, but it still doesn't answer my question around how many of these people would give up their R53/R56 for a new version that retained the "toyness" that you mentioned and how much would they be willing to pay for that "toy". You are also making the assumption that all "enthusiast" are doing performance mods to their cars. I've come across multiple people at MOTD, MTTS 2010, and locally that I would say are just as enthusiastic about their stock MINI with some show mods as those with performance mods. I would wager that they probably equaled the number of the performance mod group at MTTS (which is why the author of the article was embraced for just driving a MINI rather than stoned for it being a F56). I would say that these people are the ones that are still upgrading cars every 5-6 years (so they are part of the target market for MINI).
I'd be glad to go for a new version that retained the "toyness". Sadly that is not an option. As far as mods go most folks do them, some go for performance mods, some go for handling mods & some go youifacation mods like stripes & mirror caps. Very few seem to be totally stock as delivered, but I certainly may be wrong about that. Lucky for there are other cars out there for me since MINI doesn't want me as a customer.
I understand what your saying. But eventually our R53s and R56s will where out and have to be replaced. There are also people that just want a new car after so many years. (I use to be like that). MINI now doesn't offer a replacement. It would be closer to buy a Ford Fiesta ST. They should have kept the 3 door closer to the R53 and R56 and used their other models to go after the main stream. Don't kill off your fan base while trying to get new ones. It's a highly risky endeavor that more have failed at than succeeded.
Not many folks keep cars long enough to where them out or for them to brake down. As far as cars for the mane stream goes I thought the countryguy & pacman whir those cars. As far as the New New MINI goes, it's dun & can't be undun. Well maybe with the use of the wayback machine.