All that may be true, but what I see is bigger, heavier and more complicated (read: expensive)
All things a MINI is not supposed to be......
And this is where I see them making a big mistake with this brand, very few people buy a MINI for luxury - we buy it because it's fun! Because it handles. Because it goes, stops and turns like nothing else. Because it gives so much bang for the buck.
Adding 18 layers of luxury is the wrong way to go, IMHO. i-drive, power everything, all make it heavier and more complex.....
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You don't have to buy Mini Connected
and as an owner of both an 02 and an 08, the only two real complaints I have are the screwed up center stack on the new cars, and the fact that the heater core is never cool, so it's hard to get cool air out of the system without the A/C on.
The Prince engine is a gem, that's for sure.
I'm not sure that it's a fair charecterization to say that they don't care about keeping the first gen purchasers. A lot of them are the ones that complained about ride roughness in the first place. That's why the Sport Suspension got softened in 2002. The second gen is a bit lighter (a good thing that many forget about), the dampers have more travel (another good thing that many forget about), and the car is faster around a track than the 1st gen. I'd say a fair reading is that some of the changes weren't to the liking of some first gen owner, but were to the liking of other first gen owners. Any changes will annoy some, that's just the nature of change.
But what is true is that if the 2nd gen had never come out, and we still had the tritec, then the brand would have been doomed. The tritec, while good in some respects, is a dirty little engine and won't cut it in the emmissions world that is coming (or is here) in pretty much all developed nations. So, what would one have them do? Car companies are like sharks, they go forward or die. How should MINI go forward in a way that keeps the original adopters happy and grows the brand?
Porsche-philes often bemone the chyanne, but it pays the bills to keep all the flavors of 911 coming. What's so wrong with MINI doing something of the same to come out with cars that have wider mass appeal so that they can keep making a two door coupe that isn't a large enough volume seller to sustain a brand?
While I do hear a bunch of complaints about how the changes don't suit some of the current owners (and I'm not saying these compaints don't have merit, they do as people who have paid for cars in the past are voicing that they may not in the future), I see very little in sugestions of a realistic approach that will keep those disaffected happy as well as help ensure that the brand is viable.
Aren't the "twins" an attempt to give those that want more sport what they want? Can't a good set of coil overs return most of the feel of the 1st gen to the second gen? Or is it just that he wheel gaps are so huge than no amount of effort can save the car?
Matt -
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