And that is a great example of a manufacturer getting back to what made it great. Remember the early Celica's....rear drive and great power.
All Japanese cars were rear drive at one time long ago. A lot of us oldsters cut our teeth driving those on the back roads learning about under-steer & over-steer. Good times, fun cars. If MINI came out with a rwd car many people would cry foul. Mini never had a rwd car! Yep I'd be one of them. BMW already has rwd cars if that is what you want
What I meant was that Toyota is getting back to it's roots so to say. MINI needs to get back to what made the R53 great.
Make a Mini less BMW and more Mini again. If I want a small BMW I will buy a 1 series. These are just a few things I would like to see MINI do. Git ride of the crap French motor and turbo and put back something that's unique like the Supercharger. Get rid of the mood lights, I get happy from just driving my Mini. Get rid of the built in Navi because getting lost in a Mini is fun. If I need directions I have a GPS & a iPhone. Make the Mini smaller NOT BIGGER. again if people want a BMW SUV they can buy an X3 or X5. Go back to the original look inside and outside that paid homage to the real mini's. Return the "feel" of driving a Mini to the Mini and stop trying to loose the go-cart feeling of being "in contact" with the road. Ok short rant over....
Lol- I like that Dave.... I'm happy just driving my car as well Stop making it bigger.... Soon it will not be a MINI anymore :frown2: Get rid of the that HUGE speedo! And the integrated stereo unit so people can upgrade their stereo if they want. But keep the "usable" cup holders :biggrin5: Yes! Please give it back a sporty feel.... The newer gens seems to be way too soft a ride. Go ahead and rattle my teeth out... If you want a comfy ride, buy a Cadillac!
One of the few Japanese cars I ever wanted to own. Getting back to the MINI being MINI thing, as I think most have pointed out, there needs to be a base line, a flagship that needs to remain unmolested when it comes to the basics of looks, handling and drivability. From what I have read the coupe in R53 trim seems to be the choice. IMO upgrades should occur but in the terms of performance, say maybe like a Sprintex SC I am sure our communities motoring gurus could hand a list of componenets and systems over to MINI/BMW for upgrade on the R53. Maybe even a few interior bits, real cup holders should be on the first wave of upgrades, just my 2 cents :wink:. For the history buffs, please correct me if I am wrong but didn't mutiple companies use the term mini in their product line, Morris, Austin, Leyland... There were a few diffrent models under those names, all with the word mini attached. Maybe this where the full circle has taken place, they do have a model for almost every one, cept for a MINI truck :cornut:. In the terms of getting individuals out and driving they, MINI is doing what it has to I guess. The only thing that I would ask, like most of you, is bring back the R53 .
As we all know the R53 is gone and won't be back.. Even if they know they messed up there is no going back to fix it now.. We can only hope that they hit on something in another Gen to right the ship for those of us that loved the 1st Gen cars... Alot of us thought the 2 seat Coupe was going to be it but it fell short in most opinions... but hey they are still selling cars and that is what they are after.. I for one have never bought the same car 2 times in a row.. It was my plan to buy the Coupe till it came out, now when I decide to buy a new car I'll probably leave MINI as well, unless something special comes out by then.. Keep hoping for an engine change, maybe the new BMW 3 cylinder!!
There has also been some serious creep up in price. When I bought my car in 2006, a fully loaded factory JCW listed somewhere around $31-$32,000.00. What does a well equipped factory JCW cost today? Heck my 2006 well equipped S wasn't but $26,500.00. ...and I'm sorry but any car manufacturer who can actually look their customers in the eyes and suggest that a qt of oil every 1000 mile is acceptable......I find unacceptable. Would you buy a used car of any make if the owner told you it used a qt of oil every thousand miles? Fail. Rant over.
Good point... A loaded JCW now is in the mid 40s! :eek6: And no, burning through a quart of oil that quick means something isn't right.
My 2006 Mini Cooper S was a great car for it's price then, for this enthusiast there was a lot of value there! Not so much now for what they are charging.
They have gone up significantly. You can get a pretty nice car for 45k outside of the MINI line. Just sayin' :ihih:
For 45 K I could buy (2) FIAT ABRATH's at 22,500 each. I know its not a MINI JCW but I am just saying, 2 for the price of 1. and hey, Charlie Sheen drives one. :ihih:...WINNING! :lol::lol::lol:
I haven't really seen anyone mention the whole reason for the design change mid stream which was the whole pedestrian front end / hood heights being regulated in the UK. I may be wrong but that was a big push to change the design. Or at least a good excuse. I had both a 2003 and a 2009 Cooper and they both had their pro's and cons, with the reliability of the 2009 being far better than the 2003. But looking past its flaws I still loved the 2003. I also had one of the first generation Dodge Neons, and hated the new design when those came out so I can see where the 1st gen owners are coming from.
The pedestrian thing influenced the front design but the over all redisign was to create a platform that other offerings could he built off of, which the first gen was not. 2cents
From what I remember reading it was to reduce the cost & make it easier to build there by making more money for BMW.
Yes they do, but the first change MINI made was to bring out the R56. I'm not sure that the R56 shares platforms with any BMW. Maybe a Citroen or a Peugeot. :wink:
As I have said before. The first gen is gone, except for the pre-owned of course. You folks who can not deal with that are going to have to move on to something else. Simple as that. We 2nd gen folks will miss ya and that is the truth. Jim