Archive for May 2006
May 31st, 2006
Yes it’s true. My 12 month old Cooper S has the dreaded rust door sill rust. For those that haven’t been following the rust saga, a few people over at North American Motoring have been reporting rust on MINIs in the door sill area over the past week. While it’s mostly been older cars that have been aflicted, there have been a smattering of 2005’s with rust also. Well you can now officially add mine to the list. The good news is that it is very much under warranty and at the earliest of stages. In fact the amount of rust and the location really don’t have me too concerned. However it’s still rust on a one year old car. Not a particularly pleasant thing to see.
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May 31st, 2006
A few weeks ago we quietly rolled out the MotoringFile Email Subscription service in conjunction with Feedburner.com. This new subscription service allows you to receive yesterday’s MotoringFile articles in your inbox every morning. For those too busy to browse the web or even use our RSS feed, this gives you a way to keep up to date with the site without even leaving your email client.
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May 30th, 2006
For all those soon to be GP owners patiently waiting for details on their new cars, we’ve got a new digital addition for your GP collection. This is the official JCW GP Owners Manual that will be in the glove box of all GPs upon delivery. It’s worth noting that there are a few features seen in this manual that are market specific (ie the US market won’t be getting those Recaro seats with thigh support). However most of the instructions and technical specifications should be the same.
[ JCW GP Owners Manual ] Official MINI PDF
May 30th, 2006
Pembrey Circuit in Wales will most likely be remembered by MINI Challenge teams as this season’s toughest weekend. A high proportion of the field of cars suffered a great deal of damage during the weekend, despite the races themselves being driven cleanly by the competitors.
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May 29th, 2006
This comes from long time MF contributor Josh Wardell:
I was just reading this week’s Autoweek, and Dutch Mandel’s article on Pixar’s annual car show shows that a lot of Pixar employees drive MINIs:
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May 28th, 2006
The rant and news show. Don’t worry, follow the show notes link for contact details.
We are on fire tonight gang! Gabe leads us on a few serious rants before we get to the news of the week including our take on the rust issue, the next generation MCS and the stracco interview. Plus Todd tells us about seeing a CVT MC on the dyno. Good times, good times.
Show Notes | Subscribe | WRR @ iTunes
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May 25th, 2006
(Updated)Well, almost undisguised. The venerable spy photographer Mr. Lehmann and the boys and Worldcarfans have a the best photo yet of the upcomng 2007 Cooper S. For the first time we can clearly see the new grille (differing from the chrome grille on the Cooper) that we told you about last year.
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May 25th, 2006
This week MotoringFile is introcuding a set of badges with a bit of a new twist. First off we’re featuring metallic silver on several of the new designs (noted in the description on the order page). This also gives the badges a more reflective quality at night.
The folks with Pullies will be happy to know that they now have badges! Beyond that we’ve also created a new “brushed metal” looking black and silver Union Jack those that like something subtle. And finally we’ve added a new set of Official MotoringFile badges in both black and white. Of course as we noted a few weeks back each of these designs also available for only $4.50 as a high quality sticker.
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May 23rd, 2006
Hey Stracco: The Interview
MF: Before we begin I’d like to say thanks to Stracco for agreeing to do this with us. It certainly shows a dedication to the core MINI enthusiast community that is refreshing and reaffirming. We hope that this is just the beginning! Let’s set some background. What does a MINI Product Manager do exactly?
Stracco: The MINI product manager is responsible for most business aspects of the product… as in the car. I give input on colors and options… build business cases on future engines and platform variants for our market. I make projections on sales and future growth. Additionally I review all copy and marketing to make sure the product is accurately represented. There are lots differences between European versions of the MINI and American versions of the MINI and of course differences between current model year and past versions. So we don’t want them to get mixed up. I say “I†but of course I am not working in a vacuum and I get direction from lots of people.
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May 23rd, 2006
With GP deliveries just months away, quite a few folks are starting to ask various questions about production and real world power output. As always MotoringFile is here to help. We’re happy to report that we have some real answers to these questions from a few highly reliable sources.
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May 22nd, 2006
MINI USA released full MTTS route details recently including dates and locations for the full cross country trek. This is exactly the information that quite a few MINI owners have been clamoring to get before planning their local club events around this nationwide event..
But how do individual US based clubs get in touch with MINI USA about working their events into the official MTTS schedule? MotoringFile and MINI USA are teaming up to help answer that question.
MINI Clubs: MINI USA Wants You!
MINI USA wants all those who help run MINI clubs, and are interested in participating in MTTS, to post their final plans in the comment section of this article. Be sure to include your email address and club name so that the folks at MINI USA can reach you to discuss how your plans can match up with official MINI Takes the States itinerary.
For full details on each leg, check out each of the following PDFs from MINI USA:
Please refrain from posting anything other than firm plans regarding MTTS and your MINI club in the space below. Let’s try to keep everything as on message as possible!
May 22nd, 2006
You know the drill. Time again to give thanks to the companies and individuals that keep the lights on. If you ever feel the need to support the site, look no further than these fine companies:
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May 22nd, 2006
In one of the most brilliant pieces of automotive print advertising I’ve seen in years, BMW has begun a campaign based around the word “No”. Here’s how the two page ad is laid out:
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May 22nd, 2006
MotoringFile reader Peter Hames asked the question:
How married to Delphi is Mini? I know that Delphi supplies the current generation of front and rear struts for the cars. If Delphi closes plants, tosses out their UAW contracts or declares bankruptcy, what happens to Mini’s parts supplier? Any rumors?
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May 22nd, 2006
Saturday was the start of the MINI² Deutschlandrundfahrt, the German equivalent to the MTTS. About 15 MINIs took off in Stuttgart and headed south towards the Alpes.
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