This just in. A pre-production prototype MINI Coupé was spied in partial camouflage. It appears that just as we’ve reported previously here on MotoringFile, the production car won’t vary much at all from the Coupé concept we’ve seen before. The backwards baseball cap roof is more or less intact, as is the squared off rear end. What we’re also seeing in these photos is our first look at the automatic pop-up rear spoiler. With this car surfacing, I imagine it won’t be long at all before we see the whole car in the flesh.
Okay, interesting. It could be the "camo" but these pics aren't as appealing looking as the concept photos. The coupe looks more "stubby" than in the concept pictures from a profile. Appeal of the coupe is waining...
Looks OK to me. MINI's are somewhat stubby cars & putting a swoopier roof on is going to nothing but accentuate that stubbyness. I don't find it gorgeous, but don't mind it either. Did anyone else notice the red mirror caps & JCW wheels. Maybe it's a JCW coupster, not a bad thing.
Looks like it still has a comb-over. Seems like they must be trying some sort of adjustment back there though or why would they bother to camo only that area of the car? That lip above the rear glass looks like it's a separate part. I wonder if it could be removed like the OE wings on the Gen1 and 2 hatch.
Sick ground clearance. Nothing like a low profile chop top teamed up with SUV wheelgap and the ground clearance of an X3 :lol: Seriously, that's a solid 3 inches higher than the blue concept they were displaying earlier.
Notice the automatic rear spoiler was deployed in the one shot of the rear. Maybe it's getting lift instead of downforce. LOL
Doesn't look as cool as I remembered. BUT with Versus's post it isn't off much.. The camo and the black line within the camo is playing with the "look" and also the camo comes up onto the rear window which really messes with the look.. The standard side skirt doesn't help any..
[OLD MAN RANT]:incazzato: MINI and VW guys kill me when they complain about wheel-gap. They don't have bad wheel gap. Sorry. I come from the land of Mustang. THAT is bad stock wheel gap. Case-in-point: [/OLD MAN RANT]:incazzato: Now, back to your regularly scheduled Mini Coupe thread. :ihih:
Wheelgap is wheelgap :lol: It's all bad (from an aesthetic stand pointrrr Seriously though, that particular car looks like it has an abnormal amount for a stock MINI. Almost like they forgot to take out the shipping blocks or something. It's a low slung, chop top. The profile on the car is substantially lowered when compared to an R56. I'm not just saying this because I'm a young guy and "low" is the "hip" thing to do. Aesthetically speaking, it messes with the low-slung look that the roadster was going for. I bet it would look 10 times better with a ride height that matched the roof alterations. Compare to the large-scale BMW SUV's wheelgap...
Keep in mind this is a preproduction unit thats out for some testing. The springs may just be off the shelf hardtop springs that have yet to be re-calibrated for the lighter coupster.
It's possible but I doubt it. That car's fitment was too close. My guess is that there are fine tuning the ECU or NVH stuff. They can't get that done until it's fairly close to production spec. I'm hoping the camo is making look "stubby". Otherwise I may be back to looking at an Audi TT for a pointless (but fun) 2-door in two years or so.
Haha, I was thinking the same thing. I could PARK my MINI in my Mustang's factory wheel gap :lol: That said, I agree that while it's better than my Mustangs, this Coopster needs some more low. It's supposed to be the ultimate performance MINI, and this is a JCW version... It doesn't need to be able to ford a river.
It just bugs when I hear guys with MINIs or VWs that talk about the wheel-gap being "SSOOOO BAD!" When, in fact, it isn't. That's just the old man part of me waggin his finger at the whipper-snapper kids (I'm only 30 ya know...:crazy who don't know how good they've got wheel gap these days. LOL! :lol: Old man rant aside I agree. It could stand to loose and inch, inch-and-a-half, in ride height. It would help TONS. Also looking at the concept and production pics is it just me or does the windshield look like it lost a few degrees of slope in production? I know the pic is a different angle so it makes it hard to tell but it does look that way.