The R60: What Do You Want to See?

Regardless of what changes happen and are implemented, I hope the powers-that-be remember that “small is beautiful/small is big” – that to me is a large essence of what a Mini/MINI is – the ability of a small car to surprise one by it’s ‘bigness’ inside, or by it’s ability to compete on an equal footing with bigger, more powerful cars.

But there’s a constant clamour to make the car ‘bigger’ – literally. Wider seats, bigger cup holders, bigger rear view mirror,bigger side mirrors – and now more luggage space, more rear seat space, four doors instead of two, AWD, more power, etc etc. Nothing wrong with asking for any of these, to be sure, but let them run rampant and the MINI will morph into something else altogether. At that point, the marque could lose it’s luster and appeal, and become ‘just like any other carmaker’.

That’s why I find the evolution of the Porsche 911 to be quite amazing – Porsche figured out what the essence of the car was (shape, rear engine placement), stuck to that, and changed everything else. Yes, the current 911 is bigger than the original, but the overall proportions have remained the same. It’s my hope that MINI will follow this path. If they do, the car will truly become a classic, IMHO.

i told you it is a porsche.

evo/sti are eye sores their shape is like a well chiseled man that reaks of testosterone.

cars should be like a good woman strong sensual and good to look at.

and i don’t belive that cute is bad.make it more like a porsche and ditch those runflats…….. lets get stuck out somewhere far and wait for a pick up named earl to come and get you.

now with the turbo for 08″… for me the essence of a sports car that is similar to the mini is the 911.

I wanna see the new MINI camper!

OK, that’s probably not reasonable – how about the new MINI pick-up truck? or a panel VAN – that would be a natural, after the next extended wheelbase model!

if not, then the summer MINI-Moke! no top at all – no damn roll bars, either ! :) make it FUN!

AWD, Suby competitor. WRC-ready. No jacked up model like the Audi All-Road, though. Let’s make it lightweight and fast. But not flimsy like the Subarus. This car should be the evolutionary missing link between the Lotus Elise and the WRX, with the Quattro grip of the Audis.

Back to the roots. Everyone in the day had RWD and Mini came along and vanquished the giants with superior handling and FWD. Now, AWD has vanquished FWD and handling has evolved.

It needs to be AWD option, 200 bhp with a works at 250. I didn’t buy an STI because it was too scary at 300 bhp. With 250 bhp, AWD will sap enough power to make it safe and a contender. Long enough to race. We have to have a purpose to the changes, changes for change sake is foolishness. Supercharged or Turbo with no lag. I remember the first time I drove a powerful car with turbo lag. That was scary.

All of the options that have been mentioned here have been very good. For some reason people think that all of them have to be standard. A la carte is one of the beauty things of a MINI. Keep it that way. I chose Nav because I am on the road enough to unfamiliar places to justify it. In Canada, the northern states and Rocky Mountain states, AWD would be very handy and a must have. In other places it would be very nice. These people would be able to get it as an option, just like the Works.

Diesel would be a nice option to have as well, for all of the obvious reasons.

Electric and/or Hybrid, Body panels made from aluminum sheets with aluminum foam cores for sound and energy absorption.

A city car, designed from the ground up for zero emmissions.

Besides, with European pedestrian crash laws bumping the bonnet out a minimum distance from the engine, an all electric could see a serious reduction in space needed for the engine, and possibly allow for a slimmer front end.

A commercial panel van based on the new traveler would be great for companies like Geek-Squad.

A MINI interpretation of the Lancia Delta Integrale would be perfect…actually, it would be closer to the Audi Quattro Sport in spirit, I suppose.
I don’t want a ‘cross country’ MINI, I want a ‘flying chipmunk’ pocket rocket mega-grip whip everything on the road MINI. I can’t tell you how many times I would have loved to have been able to flick the tail out a little without having to resort to installing a stiffer anti-roll bar, sawing stupidly at the wheel or, heaven forfend, tweaking the e-brake a little.

Anyway, an all-weather giant killer is what I want…with a nice, tunable turbocharged motor.

How about something like a Renault R5 with AWD, DSG-type paddle shifted tranny and a choice of either a gasoline or performance turbo diesel. Lightweight, bulging flared fenders hiding massive rubber and a optional rollcage. Now THAT, I could crack my wallet for again.

http://news.windingroad.com/auto-news/renault-r5-turbo-2-follies/

Somebody did say it earlier, but a hybrid would be cool. If Toyota can do it with the (being generous here) less than pretty Prius, and Lexus with their big cars then making a Hybrid MINI would be a real winner. All the coolness that is already there, and a car to help the environment a bit.

Some of the ideas already mentioned appeal to me…

–rally inspired AWD MINI that can compete with the STI/EVO of the world. –hardtop speedster RWD (w/ AWD becoming an option across the board) with at least 220-230 hp

I don’t use my back seats much, but I’m not fond of the idea of losing them.

Whether it goes speedster or rally, AWD or RWD would be awesome in a MINI–its part of the ticket to making this model really distinctive. But you’ve also got to lower the weight, and either way give it at least the same power as a JCW, if not more. Oh yeah, and don’t limit the production run, just make it special order. I think I’d be convinced to trade up.

A real flat BRG colour

Clubman wagon with AWD would work for me. Some extra space – utility and security of AWD in the snow country I live in would fit the bill. I like the idea of the clubmaanfor the versatility – extra space – I stick my golf clubs in my Mini and there is no room for much else.

mark,

the mini is actually pretty bad in terms of its emissions for such a small car, it emits 6.9 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year and has an epa pollution score of 2 (out of 10).

compare that to:

honda civic: 5.5 tons and 6 of 10 honda civic hybrid: 3.7 tons and 8.5 of 10 honda accord: 6.6 tons 6 of 10 toyota camry: 6.7 tons and 6 of 10 toyota prius: 3.4 tons and 8 of 10

it’s awfully spurious to assume that wanting a fun car and wanting one that’s environmentally friendly are mutually exclusive? it’s really not cool that our tiny cars are polluting more than full sized accords and camrys.

you’re also mistaken on the life of the batteries; they are guaranteed for 8 years, toyota doesn’t know how long they’ll last beyond that, but are expecting 15 years on average.

i for one would buy a hybrid mini in a heart-beat.

mark,

you’re spreading/repeating FUD about hybrids, not to mention your arguments are purely subjective. there is no evidence that hybrid engines can’t be just as exhilarating as standard gas engines, in fact quite the contrary when one considers that toyota’s ferrari-fighting, lexus will be released with a hybrid option.

also an after-market MINI tuner has created a hybrid MINI that does 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, a top speed of 150MPH and 80 MPG. the engine is much smaller than the MINI as its primary task is generating electricity for direct drive wheels, meaning the overall weight is about the same as a standard MINI.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/07/21/hybrid-mini-offers-640-hp-0-60-in-45-seconds/

FUD + Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

Forget suv’s this is MINI remember that word it means alot. Somthing based on the acv30 concept as this was a cool car pushing away from the fattened up copy we all drive now. for those people who live in the uk particulaly London where the congestion charge might be going up to £25.00 a day to drive round the capital, maybe a shorter two seat city car a real Mini for the 21st centuary also it would slaughter the smart for two in sales. also the next mini should come with half leather seats just like the coopers of the 1990′s