Carrozeria Castagna's new MINI Offerings

The tender kinda reminds me of the Mini Mokes used in The Prisoner…

I like the sides fender flares painted or notched like hardware is holding the flares on as in some Nissan trucks. The two-tone is kind of creepy – like when dealerships try to enhance cars by two-toning them – ie: Camry, Malibu. And the bars are so important to design – yuck unless you live in a place that people bump you a lot – NYC.

It seems to me the Italians took it upon themselves to create different body variants thatBMW outflat refused to execute with the current R53 chassis.

On the other hand, I have also read bad reviews about Castagna’s renditions as being of poor quality and unimpressive looks (Cars look slapped together).

Nevertheless interesting. Too bad BMW still thinks to introduce more body variants in 2-3 years makes them fully competitive…

Kurt, I really dig the station wagon. It is a nice rendition of the classic Clubman Traveller wagon.

Wow, aside from the SUWagon, I really like these models. The Tender looks like a British take on an Alfa Romeo. And I love the two-tone on the CrossUP. (It’s not just GM cars that use two-tone — so does Rolls-Royce) It’s too bad that you guys are saying the build quality is poor.

oh- and by the way, I think I saw that Tender thingy on the Counterfeit MINI website….

The Tender looks like those goofy cars that Ricardo Montalban and Tatoo used to drive around on “Fantasy Island”.

Patrcia = Patricia, nickname is quicksilver. Most now me as that :-)

The Prisoner was sooooo Kool!

Anybody think the CrossUp has a slight look of the 1977 Subaru Brat? It’s nearly as ugly.

De Plane, De Plane……….BOSS!

Yeah, the Tender has definately got a Mini-moke thing going on, minus the surry top. The CrossUP makes me wonder what the actual practical off-road capability of a car so low to the ground would be. It doesn’t look like they’ve lifted it at all. I agree that the two-tone is a bit of a sytlistic cop out in an attempt to make the car further stand out and it’s something I could do without – a complication to an otherwise elegantly simple design. I also wonder what kind of actual anti-roll features are built into the Tender (such as the A-pillar reinforcement in the Cabrio). I think it’s the best example of the overall principle behind these modified MINIs – a posh luxury customization of what’s considered a very trendy car. I don’t know about you all, but I haven’t yet needed to bring a car aboard my yaucht.

Two-tone and unattractive nissan-style arches aside, the basic idea behind the SUWagon is intruiging. Moving the rear wheel back a tad and then extended the bumper and trunk back as much, is different for sure. At first look, it’s hardly noticeable in the overall look of the car, but after seeing the car at other angles, I don’t like it at all. The average road-goer probably wouldn’t notice, but the after-thought length is unattractive. In concept, a MINI with a real boot and a little more interior room without a significant change to the size or look of the car could be very apealing. I wonder what the handling characteristics would be after moving the balance of the car rearward and adding the weight to the car. The SUWagon boasts a dynamic suspension that adjusts to how you’re driving, but I’d like to read an review of how the car actually drives and if it’s an improvement over MINI’s already spectacular suspension. Has anyone actually driven one of these?

As for build quality, that is certainly the issue. The extraordinarily stiff unibody build of the MINI chassis is essential to the handling quality of the car and I wonder what these modifications do to the stiffness (and ultimately the ride, cornering ability, and safety) of the car. Had this configuration been built that way from the factory by BMW and all the body components were properly engineered and native to the build, a configuration such as this could be viable, though many I think would find it unattractive. The biggest question would ultimately be one of weight, handling, and build quality. Is the car now heavy enough that it’s lost some of its get-up-and-go and suffers at fuel economy? And furthermore, has the car been put together straight and strong in the retrofit?

All and all, these are some very interesting concepts and I’d be very interested to read a first-hand experience with any of these modified MINIs.

Isn’t the whole idea of the MINI to individualize it as much as you want? This is just another way of doing that. It always astounds me that there is so much complaining about who’s tweaked this or changed that. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it! But someone out there will like it.

I like the bird in stockings, she can have a ride in my MCS. The cars I can live without.

Moss Motors has Bull Bars, but they are different.

I like the CrossUP, especially if you had them make a couple of seats in the back.

I’ve never seen these in person, of course, but from what I can tell, these designers tend to go all out when creating variants…the exterior trim treatment follows into the completely redone interior. It’s a holistic approach missing from many of the appearance mods I’ve seen to date. There are definitely some good ideas here…little bits shaved or added that are quite do-able for the average owner. Some of these interiors are the nicest, and perhaps cheekiest, I’ve ever seen. Think of it as an experimental design laboratory.