Jan 28th, 2004
This news comes from this week's Autoexpress:
“Bosses at MINI are playing it cool on the future of the popular supermini's engine range – but pictures in the current issue of Auto Express magazine will send a shiver down their spines. We've scooped two prototypes putting hot new powerplants through their paces.
Although they don't sport the facelifted front first revealed in issue 779, the cars do have a mysterious bulge on the bonnet. Insiders at the company have confirmed that an engine development project is well underway. And while the changes will be hidden from the eye, they are expected to revolutionise the way the model drives.
The BMW-developed MINI currently uses a 1.6-litre four-cylinder unit developed jointly with Chrysler. In the past, the South American-built engine, which is available with 100, 115 and 163bhp power outputs, has been criticised for lacking refinement and low rev torque. So a new 1.6-litre – to be assembled at the Hams Hall plant in the Midlands – will replace it next year. Not only will it offer better performance and smoothness, but also improved fuel economy. Base versions, to be fitted in the MINI One, are tipped to offer around 110bhp, while a new 130bhp unit is planned for the Cooper. However, future motors for the Cooper S are still under discussion.
We've learned there's support for a new 2.0-litre with around 180bhp, plus a similarly powerful 1.6 turbo. The three engines will feature in the forthcoming Cabriolet. Prices for cars with the new units will be revealed closer to launch. Dan Strong “
From what I can gather these figures are a bit off of BMW internal forecasts. In fact you can see the entire model development in this previous post. From MINI's internal forcast it would seem the Cooper will be around the 140hp mark with a 6-speed (most likely a Getrag) and the Cooper S will have a turbocharged 170hp engine – both 1.6L in size.
Regardless of hp numbers I think I can say with some confidence that AutoExpress is not referring to the 2005 model year when they mention the roll out dates of these engines. Again from the information I've seen the Cooper version comes out first (in the current R50) in late 2005 as a 2006. Then it gets tricky, again according to the supposed timeline, the new MINI (codenamed the R56) comes out in late 2006 as a 2007 model. That's when the MCS will join the MC with the new engine – it's output around 170hp.
For more information on this engine you can check out these posts from last year: New MINI Engine Caught Testing and The MINI Gets a Prince.
Jan 27th, 2004
From time to time the question comes up, “why doesn't MINI take part in the WRC (World Rally Championship). They took place in it's equivalent in the 60's and were obviously quite successful. Wouldn't it be a great way to bridge the two models both classic and new? Well Stuart from the BMW Group recently explained (in an answer to a comment on Bridger.us/MINI) what some of the reasoning is behind not being involved in the WRC at the moment:
“The current car is too short, it would have to be grown by a good bit, and we'd have to make 5000 to that spec in order to fulfill the rules and regs of homologation and type approval. Aerodynamic aids could, if built in to the body, be the answer. So if 5000 of you want to volunteer to be owners of MINI WRC cars, then it might be possible I guess. Oh yes they might cost a little more then a current 'S'.”
Another reason may also be the enormous amount of money that BMW spends on it's F1 program as well as taking all those M3s racing across the US and the rest of the world. Of course this is not to mention all the 3 series touring cars that BMW supports in Europe. So with all that in mind the MINI going racing might just be considered a bit low on the totem pole for BMW these days.
I suppose it also begs the question what percentage of MINI owners actually follow the WRC. It's certainly becoming more popular in the US due to the SpeedChannel's coverage but is it enough to justify what must be substantial start-up costs when you know that one of your largest markets simply doesn't get it? Beyond that a homologized WRC MINI for sale to the public would have to be all-wheel drive (using BMW's xDrive maybe) and would probably need to pack at least 300hp. Tempting?
Jan 26th, 2004
Here's are some interesting observations from MINI owner Lee Johnson about color and MINIs:
I don't know about the Chicago area, but here in the western Carolinas there are a LOT of silver MINIs. I always assumed they were just folks who mistakenly thought their cars were small BMWs, people who didn't understand that these English cars have their own proud — and colorful — heritage (it was a red Mini that won the Monte Carlo Rally 40 years ago, right?). I waited an extra two months so I could get my MCS in Indi Blue/white. The color is a big reason that I still smile when I walk into the garage and see the MINI.
According to an article on the front of yesterday's NYT style section — “Coloring America Hopeful — we may be seeing fewer DS/B MINIs and more cars of color. America's post-millennial, post-9/11 depression seems to be lifting, according to consumer researcher Dr. G. Clotaire Rapaille of Boca Raton, Fla., (quoted in the article) and it will affect the colors we choose:
“Colors represent the mood of the time. After 9/11, the mood was not very happy and more sober, so we had more black and white and gray. It was not proper to be too colorful.'
“Now, he added, 'People are feeling better and they want color.”
The Times cited Christopher Webb, a 28-year-old color stylist at GM, who said that bolder colors will soon be appearing in the American car palette:
“The coming trends? More metallic colors, silver blended with bolder shades like blue or orange, in contrast to the past decade of minimalist silver, gray, white and black. There will be more splashes of primary colors.”
Let's hope so; I like seeing brightly colored, happy MINIs on the road. I don't think I'm enough of an extrovert to own a metallic orange MINI, but I know I'll smile when I see one.
Lee Johnson
First off we at Bridger.us/MINI believe that color choice is a very personal thing and there really isn't a right choice for everyone.
That being said as a designer I've seen some of this recent change in color with my own eyes. In fact this has been predicted by such organizations as the Color Marketing Conference for well over a year now. Further it would seem that MINI is uniquely positioned as a brand to take advantage of this general mood swing in our culture. I think MINI clearly sees the aforementioned trend and we'll see next years factory colors that probably reflect this.
Jan 25th, 2004
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40 years ago Paddy Hopkirk and his co-driver Henry Liddon, to the astonishment of the entire racing community, won the famous Monte Carlo rally in a Mini Cooper S. To commemorate this amazing achievment MINI is both releasing a limited edition MINI Cooper S (US only) and has chronicled this win at their international home MINI.com.
You can check out the history of the event now at MINI.com and you can check out the limited edition MINI right here February 4th around 8pm.
Jan 25th, 2004
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David Bunting, of North American Motoring, recently took a tour of the BMW/MINI Vehicle Distribution Center in Port Hueneme in Oxnard, California with the local chapter BMWCCA and managed to take quite a few interesting photos. If you want to see what your MINI goes through upon entering the US on it's way to delivery you'll want to check out these photos. Thanks Dave!
Jan 25th, 2004
Over the next several months we're going to highlight some of the more impressive MINI performance kits available. First up the MINI Mania Stage III kit. Motor Trend has a nice review of the kit for the MCS in this months issue. Here's an excerpt (courtesy of MINI Mania):
Although a variety of upgrade levels is available, we tested MM's big-gun Stage III package. For just under $5000, the Stage III delivers 245 horsepower from the Mini's micro 1.6-liter I-4 — that's an impressive 50-percent gain. Upgrades include Mini Mania's cold-air intake system, a new super-charger pulley for more blower boost, a custom water-to-air intercooler with pump, Nology plug wires, a ported cylinder head, and an ECU upgrade.
Downstream, the engine benefits from a custom header, a special high-flow cat, and a free-breathing cat-back exhaust system. Helping get those 87 extra horsepower to the ground are a Fidanza lightweight flywheel and a Phantom Grip limited-slip differential. As expected, the Stage III components increase the Mini's fun factor to near carnival-ride proportions.
The stock Cooper S is already a wonderful handler, but Mini Mania ups this bar, too, with a more aggressive suspension kit, including Mania's lower/stiffer coil springs, adjustable Koni shocks, adjustable rear-control arms, adjustable rear anti-roll bar, and titanium front strut tower brace. You'll also get cross-drilled and slotted brake rotors shod with EBC Green Stuff brake pads — all for just $1800. If you want something other than the Cooper S's standard wheel/tire combo, Mania can set you up with the same BBS RK alloy wheels wrapped in Kumho Ecsta 215/40ZR17 tires (as fitted to our Stage III tester) for another two grand.
At the track, Mini Mania's power and suspension upgrades proved a well-enginered package. The Stage III Cooper delivered results that crushed a stock Cooper S. Senior Road Test Editor Chris Walton notes, “You gotta love a front-driver that can get into the elite 70-mph-slalom club. The secret to the Mini Stage III is to drive it like you're running from the cops. You must trust that the tires will eventually regain grip — and they do — on the way to the next slalom cone where you gotta slide it by that one, and so on. I could really feel the limited-slip working at the exit. Where the stock Cooper S hesitates before all the wheels are going the same speed in the same direction, the Stage III says 'Right now!', everything hooks up, and the car blasts out the other side.”
You can read the entire article here.
Jan 25th, 2004
The New York Times has a fasinating article about how different automakers cope with popular cars and the waiting periods that many of their customers must endure. The spend about half the article on MINI and some customer experiences. Here's an excerpt:
When BMW introduced the restyled Mini in early 2002, owners waited more than 10 months for their cars. Shortly after the introduction in the United States, Mini created the “Where's My Baby?” program on the Internet, so customers could check on their cars' progress. But that didn't seem enough for what were shaping up to be rabidly enthusiastic Mini owners. “It was a little impersonal to just be able to know the basics,” Ms. Martin said.
So the company added online message boards, where owners can ask one another about maintenance and warranty issues or just swap stories about their cars. Owners, or soon-to-be-owners, can even write journals, some of which have become quite elaborate. The site has about 12,000 registered users.
nstead of waiting up to 18 months to get his car through dealers in San Francisco, where Minis are in especially high demand, Mr. Bradbury ordered it from a dealer outside Chicago last October. When his car was ready, after about two months, he flew to Chicago and was met at the airport by his “motoring adviser,” as Mini calls its dealers. He picked up his car the next day and drove 2,200 miles back to Berkeley, later chronicling his journey in detail online.
Some Mini owners say their experience was much better than their previous car-buying episodes.
“When my husband special-ordered his Acura, the dealer simply said, 'It'll be here in three months,' and that was it,” recalled Angel Durham, 40, whose online name is Minimom.
By contrast, Mrs. Durham said, her entire neighborhood in suburban Atlanta knew about her car, which she named Maggie. Her family also became accustomed to all the gifts Mini sent while she waited more than two months for the car.
You can read the entire article here. In fact you can read the original MINI Owners Lounge thread here (thanks John for the link).
