Comments on: 2009 MINI Convertible Update

By: z3r0

z3r0 — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:07:03 +0000

Hello, I am from Germany so please excuse my weak English skills.

In fact the the MINI started in Europe in summer 2001 (One/Cooper only, I think the MINI One even is not availible in the US, the supercharged S came in 2002). The facelift came in 2004 with the convertible. Which means, that the convertible has been in Market for only three years now, which has forced BMW / MINI to leave it in the market for financial reasons.

In 2009 the cab will come with the regular one as a facelift again. That is for sure what I have heard from BMW internals.

For the E46 cycle which was mentioned earlier:

Please don't forget that you were talking about the coupe and not about the sedan. The sedans facelift was already in 2001.

By: Motoring Advisor

Motoring Advisor — Fri, 18 May 2007 21:05:37 +0000

We’re still hearing 2009 from MINI USA… obviously, the Euro launch will happen sooner.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 15 May 2007 17:47:02 +0000

Gabe- I can confirm that the new Cabrio will be launched in April 2008. Dont ask me how I know but I have a very well connected source within Mini management at Oxford.

Trust me on this one.

By: R&T Summarizer

R&T Summarizer — Tue, 15 May 2007 13:37:19 +0000

A 2 seater with some kind of hard tonneau cover fitted between the rear and the front seat with the roll bars mounted just behind the driver could look nice and certainly more sporty than the current model. Plently of space if they are willing to go without the rear seat. Are they planning a clubman convertible too?

By: eager2own

eager2own — Tue, 15 May 2007 13:35:05 +0000

In theory a two-seater sounds good, but I think it’d be a bad idea. As someone who shopped around for a sporty convertible with a backseat, I can say there is not much out there . . . but there is a ton of competition from two-seaters.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Tue, 15 May 2007 13:21:01 +0000

Again I want to urge you to not make comparison’s to the R53/R50 timeline when talking about when to expect a revisions to the R56. The R53/R50 had an accelerated timeline for several reasons that made it an atypical BMW product lifecycle.

By: OttoMannS

OttoMannS — Tue, 15 May 2007 13:10:14 +0000

Eelke, March 2002 was the official launch of the R50 (Cooper) hardtop MINI in the US. The MINI ONE and Cooper hardtops had been released in the UK and Europe in July 2001.

Unlike the R56 generation, the R53 Cooper S hardtop was not available for a full year until June/July 2002 The R53 S was released worldwide at the same time. There was a lot of excitment building up right up to the time the R53 S was released.

In the R56, the Cooper S was available at the same time as the Cooper upon launch. In fact, the S was more abundantly available upon introduction. Quite a contrast from the days of very low availability and fierce demand for the original R53 Cooper S.

By: Eelke

Eelke — Tue, 15 May 2007 07:08:13 +0000

(Sorry, syntax mistake for the quote)

Launch: March 2002

I expect this is the (US?) launch of the R53 Cooper S? Don't forget the R50 One and Cooper had been launched in Europe a little earlier, in 2001 or even late 2000 (not exactly sure). This puts the late '04 facelift of the R50/R53 on a similar timescale as the planned facelift for the R56.

By: Eelke

Eelke — Tue, 15 May 2007 07:07:43 +0000

Launch: March 2002

I expect this is the (US?) launch of the R53 Cooper S? Don't forget the R50 One and Cooper had been launched in Europe a little earlier, in 2001 or even late 2000 (not exactly sure). This puts the late '04 facelift of the R50/R53 on a similar timescale as the planned facelift for the R56.

By: M. Dillon

M. Dillon — Tue, 15 May 2007 06:04:30 +0000

…hmmmm. Since the key word here is,”sporty”,methinks that not only will this rag top be faster than the latest;but,also has better sight lines to see,from inside the car,while driving,and with the top up…

…btw…the,”2-seater”,is not a bad ideal either.

By: Radley

Radley — Tue, 15 May 2007 04:46:16 +0000

Thank you for the information OttoMannS, I appreciate it.

By: OttoMannS

OttoMannS — Tue, 15 May 2007 01:12:17 +0000

Facelifts usually include more power. For the 2005 "facelift", MINI bumped the stock S power from 163HP to 168HP, revised the gearing ratios (Made 1st and 3rd gear shorter), added a new JCW Eaton Supercharger with coated splines, revised ECU programming and the famous exhaust "Burbles".

The Cooper model never received a bump in engine HP, but the only significant change was dumping the fairly unreliable Midland Gears sourced 5 speed gearbox with an all new Getrag 5-speed manual, again with revised gearing.

So midlife facelifts do include some sort of power gains aside from cosmetic revisions made to the interior and exterior of the car.

By: lavardera

lavardera — Mon, 14 May 2007 23:13:08 +0000

I think a retractable hardtop would probably dictate a two seater. Although Mazda really did a good job with the Miata in that regard.

By: b4mmy

b4mmy — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:43:09 +0000

cooper s before cooper? Retractable hard top sounds wonderful if they can put one on, two seats fantastic, and if they update the interior with better quality materials I may even get me down for one :)

By: Radley

Radley — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:53:00 +0000

By the way, Gabe since we are talking a little bit about the face lift. Do you think that the facelift would include a little more power also? Or just updated face and rear?

By: Radley

Radley — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:45:56 +0000

Also it may differ like the BMW E90 sedan from the E92 Coupe. I know both the R56 and R57 are coupes, but I guess we will have to wait and see. Should be interesting.

By: lavardera

lavardera — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:34:15 +0000

retractable hard top option?

By: mike

mike — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:32:20 +0000

i just hope we can see out of the thing.

By: Vanwall

Vanwall — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:38:17 +0000

2-seater.

By: Gabe

Gabe — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:34:28 +0000

The R53 project was not a normal time-frame for BMW. A better example would be to look a the E46 life-cycle. Released in 1999 – refreshed in late 2003.