Feb 22nd, 2005
With the revolution that is the iPod exploding around us, many companies have sought ways to integrate the car audio with digital music. This has given the MINI owner several viable options of listening to an iPod through the car stereo. However all these choices still involve wires or at the very least some type of connecting cradle and aren’t quite as integrated as some might hope. Now comes word of a new solution that could not only make us rethink the way our car can interact with an iPod, but our work seamlessly with our mobile phones as well.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent article at Appleinsider:
In an interview with Radio France, Nedelcou let it slip that consumers will soon be able to broadcast music wirelessly from their iPod through their car speakers. Similarly, he said that users will be able to answer incoming phone calls without having to operate their mobile phone handset.
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Feb 22nd, 2005
[ CCC Border Raid Video ] Counterfeitmini.com / 3MB Quicktime
It just gets better and better…
Feb 21st, 2005
Few things have garnered as much debate as the new for 2005 optional automatic transmission for the Cooper S. Quite a few MINI enthusiasts have expressed outrage at the idea of an automatic transmission in the MCS and believe the reputation of the car will be suffer from it. Yet, there are those with physical limitations, long commutes, or who simply don’t know how to drive a manual that have welcomed the new option and praised MINI for finally bringing it to market. Needless to say the debate as raged on for months with no end in sight for those most opinionated.
Despite all the debates and opinions, the MCSa will be out on the streets of the US in large numbers within months. In fact, more than one Motoring Advisor I talked with was seeing about 75% of all recent MCS orders equipped with the automatic. What’s more, he was seeing a shift in the customers that were coming in to specifically ask about the MCSa. The type of customer that simply wanted the fastest and most expensive MINI equipped with a transmission they could finally drive. Certainly it’s all enough to get the diehard manual fans out there up in arms.
However, with this review I wanted to try to put all this debate aside and focus on one simple question. How does it drive?
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Feb 18th, 2005
From MINIUSA Press:
MINI USA announces it has achieved a sales milestone, retailing the 100,000th MINI in the US market. With initial sales targets of 20,000 units per year at the time of launch, MINI has consistently exceeded expectations over the last three years, reaching the 100,000-unit mark a full two years ahead of projections.
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Feb 18th, 2005
From the BBC:
It’s been a great week for the Mini, as BMW puts another $188m into its Oxford factory. Business has been buoyed by 36,000 sales in the US – but can it be comfortable driving a Mini on American roads where other cars are as big as tanks? Magazine reader and Mini driver Candace Sleeman, from New Jersey, here tells of the view from the kerbside.
“When I park my Mini next to one of the monster SUVs, or 4x4s as you call them in the UK, it’s maybe a third of their length. Those things are huge now, they are just getting bigger and bigger, believe me.”
Follow the link for the entire article:
[ Confessions of a US Mini driver ] BBC
Feb 18th, 2005
From MINIUSA Aftersales:
This accessory protects the paint of the rear bumper from getting scratched by loading and unloading the MINI. With adhesive backing, the bumper protection can be easily installed on all MINI hardtop rear bumpers, including the aero kit bumper. The protection stripe matches the structure of the other black edges around the bumper and the fender flares.
In case you’re wondering, the part number is 82 11 0 393 995 and it retails for $40.
Feb 18th, 2005
By now this if very old news. But for the sake of making it completely and utterly official here’s BMW’s press release on the topic of the MINI plant expansion at Oxford (via MINIUSA press):
The BMW Group will be investing over $188 million USD in the Oxford plant between now and 2007 and will be creating around 200 new jobs in MINI production. Most of this investment will be in the further optimization of the plant?s production capacities, mainly in a new body shell production building and in further modernization of the paint shop.
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