Archive for May 2003

The Italian Job… Two Days and Counting

Sections: Uncategorized May 28th, 2003 No Comments

MINI Dealerships to Sell the Italian Job Game & T-shirts

Sections: Uncategorized May 28th, 2003 6 Comments

Here's the info straight from a MINI sales person:

Just got a sales bulletin, the MINI dealerships will be selling the Italian Job video game for PS2 and XBOX starting in July. You can get it at your parts dept.

[We're] also selling three different Italian Job Tees…

Also of interest the dealer I purhased my MINI from (Knauz MINI) had 2 stickers and a Italian Job antenna ornament available as giveaways. I assume other dealers have the same.

The MINI Cabrio May be Built by Pininfarina

Sections: Uncategorized May 28th, 2003 1 Comment

Interesting news this morning from the Auto News Group German Market News letter:

The new Mini Cabriolet may be built in Italy by Pininfarina.

The new car's folding soft-top roof system was developed by Open Air Systems (Oasys), a joint venture between Webasto and Pininfarina that was founded two years ago. Oasys is based in Stockdorf, Germany, and Turin, Italy.

Now Pininfarina may also take over production of the car, which offers seating space for four passengers thanks to its compact folding roof system.

The Mini plant in Oxford, England, is already working close to its capacity of 180,000 units a year. BMW, owner of the Mini brand, expects to sell 160,000 Minis this year.

The Mini Cabriolet is due on sale in summer 2004.

Webasto already makes the roofing system for the BMW 3 series Cabriolet.

Really interesting news. I was wondering how they were planning on solving the issue of production capacity since the only current MINI plant is running three shifts already.

Search Functionality Added

Sections: Uncategorized May 28th, 2003 No Comments

I'm happy to announce that we've added a weblog search to the right side of every page. As the site grows and it's content increases by the day I thought a search would help people navigate through older posts quicker than relying soley on the archive.

The search was designed to be a simple and effective way to access data that has moved off the main page. Of course In the past you could always use the archive and that remains a great way for someone to get caught up on past MINI news. However if you're looking for something specific and aren't sure when a particluar post was made the search will be ideal way to find that information.

You'll also notice the speed of the search – every effort was made to create something that was as easy to use on dial-up as it is on broadband.

Thanks Matt for creating the code behind it!

The Italian Job… Three Days and Counting

Sections: Uncategorized May 28th, 2003 6 Comments

New Links Page

Sections: Uncategorized May 27th, 2003 2 Comments

You can now view the entire list of MINI related links at motoringfile.com/links. I've decided to break that off into a seperate page to decrease the amount of content on the right column for simpler navigation.

I'm also going to be working on updating some of the links and adding more. As always if there are other pages that you'd like to see listed let me know.

The MINI Proves Itself on the Highway… Again

Sections: Uncategorized May 27th, 2003 3 Comments

I just came back from a long weekend fishing in northern Wisconsin with a friends MINI. Even though this time I was a passenger I still came away totally impressed by the bank vault like feeling that the MINI has on the highway. While it's no BMW 5 Series it still has this uncanny ability to feel more substantial than it's size would indicate yet remains very agile when needed.

I first experienced this on my trip across country last summer. It seems to strike a perfect balance between ride and handling on everything except for the worst roads. And while the road noise it a little higher than a BMW I think that it would lose some of it's charm if the car felt any more isolated. It's really amazing but after a year the MINI just continues to impress