That is a bummer. Maybe the tech specs are wrong instead…? ;)

(A) no official specs have been released and (B) I think the final figure may surprise you.

Total, So Far 55.214 lbs subtracted

I guess Gabe owes Tony a case of beer!! Haha.

Despite the lighter engine block and other efforts to keep the bulge to a minimum, the Cooper S has also put on weight, around 10kg, whereas the Cooper (unavailable to drive) has trimmed down a little.

Has any FWD auto achieved 50-50, or anywhere near that? Don’t see how it would be possible with the engine, transmission, battery, drive all positioned at the very front of the car, and little if any weight towards the back.”

Oh, my comments were with regards to hoping that the 2007 MINI moves closer to the ‘ideal’ of 50-50 weight distribution – not that it will, but with word of a lighter engine, that should shift more weight behind the front wheels, or at least less weight above them.

Putting the battery back to the front, (approx 10-15lbs?) won’t help much, but if it’s put behind the front axle, that should minimize the effect.

We can hope and wish, can’t we? Very soon we will know for sure!! :-)

Then click on the Cooper Engine, wait for the page to load (larger picture of a Cooper engine), then Technical Data, bottom of the pop up page it reads 104kgs…

These weigths seem fine tooo me, but the weight of the new engine quoted at 130kgs..? Could this not be the error..?

I’m happy to accept any measure of appreciable weight loss, doesnt have to be ‘180lbs’. So if its 150lbs lighter, you win too. If its less than 100lbs, I’ll think about it.

Dont get me wrong, I’ll be very glad to see this car weighing a lot less, but if the engine weigths are correct as stated in these docs, then theres even more weight saved somewhere else… and I cant see how, unless they are doing something very drastic. As the Mini isnt a great profit maker in terms of manufacturing cost, I’d be surprised to see it investing so much in producing a lightweight ’standard’ car.

It puts me in mind of the M3 CSL. It was only 210lbs lighter than the standard car, yet cost £15k more and had trick CF roof etc etc…

Let’s all donate to the cct1 JCW engine kit charity, which has been around since 2005 established soley to do wonderful things for my MCS….

Yes I will take your bet. That’s about $18.50 btw ;) Who ever is on the short end can donate the cash via Paypal to your choice of charity. Sound good? Are we saying over 180lbs less and I win, under 180lbs and you win?

Sorry Gabe, no they dont, you’re mistaken there. They quote 104kgs for the Cooper, and 118kgs for the S, which is in line with the extra weight of the Supercharger etc.

Now even if their figures are a little out from BMW’s (although I cant see how they can be) BMW/citreon still quote the new engine at 130kgs. So where is this weight being saved on the rest of the car…..?

Bigger cars (which the new Mini will be in comparison to the old) end up weighing more. Even the new Clio Cup, with its raised horsepower output, is still lower in terms of BHP per tonne as its gained some 130kgs in weight, which is mainly due to meeting higher crash test standards…

So, where have BMW found 180lbs of weight saving over the older, smaller car…? I’m guessing that producing all the body panels in aluminium wouldnt even give such a weight saving on such a small car… and i’ve not heard of any change from the normal construction so far… but perhaps thats the big new secret???

I’m just smelling a fish here. Perhaps there is a little bit of ‘marketing speak’ going on. Perhaps the car is 10% larger than the current on, but weighs the same, so in real terms, someone has extrapollated that to being a net weight saving..??

Anyway, i’ve got paypal, so I’ll have a tenner (£10) wager with you (for charity) that the car doesn’t end up weighing this amount less… :-)

Let me just say, i dont doubt for a moment that Gabe has reported this story in all good faith. My doubts come from the ‘insiders’, who have let us down before.

Tony – I wouldn’t exactly trust Tritec’s figures on their site. For instance they claim the MCS and MC engines are exactly the same weight when we know that there is a fairly big different between the two.

I’ve got two in the more than 70lbs column… anymore takers?

When did this happen? Where is the money? Do you and they have a Paypal account?