Auto Express Get Up Close to the MINI SUV

1) I don’t bother spending any minute reading any of that one guys comments. Why is it that ONE person can hijack a thread?

2)I Personally don’t like the R56, but I love the idea of this car!!! I am finally excited again! Give us a WRX STI killer!!! Make it long enough to enter into rallyes. And fast enough to compete. This is exciting. MINI getting back to it’s racing heritage. Too bad it is a wagon, but that fact alone wouldn’t keep me from buying it.

My only queston is (and I am surprised that no one has asked this yet): Is it retrofitable? :) Could we put this on an R53? Is Getrag making this? Okay that was three questions, but the first was my most serious.

I do have 3 kids. Hence, need a backseat that seats 3! I agree that MINI or any other boutique brand probably shouldn’t try to be all things to all people. However, I love my MINI and so do my kids. It is a shame that I can’t put the whole family in the car and go for a drive. Unless you are a family man, you probably won’t get this concept. I am not looking for a full-size vehicle. I have several. I have some way cool automobiles. And, while they each have their own appeal, they aren’t MINIs. So, combine my love of MINI with my need for seating for 5 total (including driver) and you can see why a real four door MINI appeals to me. I also happen to be an SUV enthusiast. Sorry, but I just don’t share the SUV Hater mentality. Never will. I love ‘em!
Again, in an attempt to wear out the subject of the “community”, and the notion of it beng fractured… Of course it will be fractured. It’s fractured daily. It’s called attrition. It is a part of life. The only way to stay alive is to keep evolving and changing and growing.

Minime I can fully understand your view, believe it or not I am a Mini fan too. My personal dislike for SUV’s comes from a couple of places. I see a huge number of SUV’s that rarely if ever have more than one person in them, yes I know that a lot are owned by families more than a few are owned by solo people. Environmentally speaking this is a huge waste and brings about a near total waste. I also have see so many accidents caused by these blundering designs where additional mass and self perceived invincibility are root causes of a lot of pain.

My question is this, what about the Mini enthusiast with a family with four children. Should Mini develop a third row seating option for them. Should Mini create a $100,000 sports car because there are Mini enthusiast wanting one? Using the same justification they have for the R60 where does it end. There will always be Mini fanatics looking for something that isn’t offered. I just personally feel that a SUV doesn’t fit well into the Mini world.

Well I just have to say one thing Minime

I have to say that its one of the best replies I have seen on a great number of R60 stories.

A good size portion of what has struck me so deeply with the R60 is the Mini community. The one thing that separates this community is the wholehearted openness to all Mini’s. I honestly believe that the R60 is going to create a us/them community that similar to the Porsche and BMW communities. While I believe the Mini brand is something unique the Mini community is largely responsible for the success of the brand. More Mini’s have been sold by Mini owners that all the dealers combined. The enthusiasm the community has for our brand is something I hold near to my heart. Just really pains me to see the Mini moving away from this.

I believe that Mini is aware of this, but considers the addition of a SUV to be worth the division on their community. I will never be a SUV fan, but you wont find me throwing my dislike onto anybody, just believe that this is a calculated misstep by Mini. Having said that please understand I already know that once Mini began this development they are locked into it. The R60 is coming.