Sections: Site News Jan 27th, 2006 18 Comments We’ve got a couple of reviews that are on tap for Februrary that I thought you ought to know about:
Sections: JCW, R53 (Coupe) Jan 27th, 2006 34 Comments Auto Express got behind the wheel of the new JCW Cooper S automatic recently and came away less than impressed. Here’s an excerpt:
Under the bonnet is the manual car’s 1.6-litre engine. Although it features an uprated supercharger, performance air filter and modified head, the auto’s torque converter drops output by 7bhp to 203bhp. And unlike VW’s DSG, the MINI’s conventional six-speed auto not only drains power, but is slow to change gear, too.
Sections: Official News Jan 27th, 2006 14 Comments The BMW Group has grown faster than the market as a whole and faster than all relevant competitors in the financial year 2005 and has achieved new record figures for sales volume and revenues. Group revenues rose by 5.2% to euro 46,656 million (2004: euro 44,335 million). Revenues of the Automobile segment increased by 7.8% to euro 45,861 million (2004: euro 42,544 million). The Motorcycles segment recorded revenues of euro 1,223 million (+18.9%; 2004: euro 1,029 million). Revenues of the Financial Services segment increased by 14.4% to euro 9,408 million (2004: euro 8,226 million).
Sections: In the Press, R56 (Hatch) Jan 26th, 2006 58 Comments 
AutoExpress as an article this month on the new MINI that recaps most of what we’ve been saying on MotoringFile for the past year or so. However it’s not the article that you’ll want to click over for. They also have a two and a half minute long video of the new MINI Cooper S ripping up the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Not only can you see the car on the track for the first time but you can actually hear it’s engine note. While it doesn’t have the supercharger whine that most love, the new turbocharged hi-tech mill has an aggressive note that is sure to impress.
You can check out both below:
[ The 2007 MINI at the Nurgurgring Video ] AutoExpress (4MB/Quicktime)
[ The New MK2 MINI ] AutoExpress
Sections: In the Press, R55 (Clubman), R56 (Hatch) Jan 26th, 2006 8 Comments Top Gear does the best job of any of the larger media outlets in cutting through the rumors and getting to the fact about the next generation MINI. While there’s probably nothing in the articles that MF readers would consider new information, it’s a great recap of what we know and what we’ll see in the coming years.
[ New Age Traveller ] MotoringFile
Sections: R56 (Hatch) Jan 25th, 2006 34 Comments 
We had heard rumors last year of Italdesign’s involvement in the next generation MINI but at the time they were sketchy and hardly worth a mention. Well they’re sketchy no more. Automotive news has put the pieces together and is reporting that Italdesign is working with BMW to help engineer the car’s chassis and body structure. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
BMW styled the new Mini and designed the Mini’s powertrain jointly with its cooperation partner PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and it will be built at Mini’s UK plant. But Italdesign is handling all other development — including developmental engineering of the body, structure and chassis — and parts validation.
Sections: R56 (Hatch) Jan 25th, 2006 21 Comments The much loved (and loathed) CVT transmission available on the MINI One and Cooper will be dropped by MINI in favor of a standard style automatic. No details have been confirmed yet but expect something similar to what is currently found in the Cooper S. And for those that are of the manual persuasion, the Cooper will go from five to six forward gears for it’s manual transmission in 2007. This will undoubtedly go a long way in making those high speed road trips easier on the ears.
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