MINI Speedster Imagined

Sections: R58 (Coupe) | R59 (Roadster) Jun 10th, 2009 33 Comments

We’ve talked about the upcoming speedster several times over the last few weeks and have dished pretty much all that there is to dish. Even the shocking news that MINI willlead with a coupe version for production despite the speedster being unvieled first at Frankfurt thus fall.

However until not we haven’t seen (what we would call) a decent guess as to what the car would look like. Granted this latest sketch from Automobile magazine is still a guess but at least it matches some of the descriptions we’ve heard.

+ MINI Speedster / Automobile

Written By: Gabe

greg

I have high hopes for this car. Mini please exceed our expectations this time!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1238400603 Jack Mosher

I still want one. A JCW 2-seater? I’m in love, baby! Even in that pseudo-hot-orange/gold color there, I still think it looks great. Can’t wait to see what the actual production model ends up looking like! Very exciting!!
JonPD

Second that Greg!

It has a great deal of potential, I can see them making a car that either is directed towards the sports crowd or at the female market (not that these are always different crowds). What should be most interesting is seeing how it aligns with the Z1. From what I have heard so far thinking the Mini may be the way to go as they are looking at a hard top coupe while everything I have heard about the Z1 leaves it a soft top.
lavardera

looks very nice, but I still think they should shift the cockpit back 8-10 inches.
txdesign

So wait, I am confused. There will be a fixed top and speedster version of this design?
eto

Meh… It is no more a Mini than the R60. Where is the efficiency of space? It can only seat two people? It might not even be front wheel drive! If Sir Alec Issigonis were alive, he would hate this car.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabe

Mehâ€¦ It is no more a Mini than the R60. Where is the efficiency of space? It can only seat two people? It might not even be front wheel drive! If Sir Alec Issigonis were alive, he would hate this car.

It’ll be 100% based on the R56 hence it will be FWD.
Danny

I hope it looks more like that concept pic and MUCH less then this photoshop job.

:(
bee1000

1 part R56 1 part Del Sol And the back end of a Carrera GT?

Realizing this is a magazine’s concept, I applaud Mini for bringing out something presumably smaller than their current cars. I guess they figure the economy will have turned around by the time this comes to market because there’s no way I’d want my car company bringing out a 2-seat anything these days. Mini doesn’t trade in the volumes of other companies, but they’ve still got to sell something to recoup the development costs.
pbraun

That’s hot!
Ellis

Me liking it!!!!
Iain

Looks good but needs to be ‘sharper’ – I would expect a ‘meaner’ or more aggressive face.

Also, is that Kim Jong Il from North Korea driving?
Steve Mehder

Talk about a blind spot. Just when the convertible reduced the blind spot. However I’m convident that MINI will find a way to reduce that.
Onurleft

Seats 4 is the reason I bought a MINI. Looked at many two seaters prior to the MINI, but seem I’m always giving 2 people a ride somewhere.
Eliot R.

I just don’t quite see the point in a FWD Roadster. I remember Dodge getting torched in the press months ago when they revealed that if the Demon Roadster were to be built, it would use a FWD chassis. So now, when MINI tries to pass off a FWD Roadster are people going all soft in the knees for it?

Indeed, it may very well be a good car. But I doubt that it will drive noticeably different than an R56/57. Which means you will likely be paying more for a car that looks pretty cool but achieves nothing more than what you already have. JMO.
Fred

If they maintain good head and butt door-access, as in the R56 coupe, put a hard top on it, and keep the price down, I’m in the market!

With a long torso and back problems, I have rejected a lot of cars, including much bigger ones, because it was difficult to enter and exit them. My 2007 R56 coupe, and now my 2009 R55 are the most comfortable cars I have owned — best designed, best built, best handling, best in fuel economy — amazing little cars!

Glad to see this one about to enter the stable, eager to see what the final version of the vehicle looks like — and whether it is priced so I can afford one!
rhawth99

Sign me up for the coupe – I think this is a great idea to expand the product line.
that.guy

What is up with the driver’s hair?
Beavers

Say what you will about FWD, blind spots and Issigonis spinning in his grave – if it looks like this, I want.

With that said, the FIRST thing I thought when I looked at the pic was “WTF is up with that dude’s hair?!?”

Kim Jong Il indeed – maybe Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back Kotter….
http://www.lilcoopr.com lilcoopr

Yum! That’s so sexy! Please make it happen, MINI!!!!
lavardera

I think the rear spoiler and light were cut and pasted from a lotus
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1118844496 Jason Bingham

Looks like Lenny Kravitz to me. “Are You Gonna Go My Way?”
greg

It’s King Buzzo from the Melvins!
eager2own

This is what a 2-seater MINI would look like with the rear of an Elise and a front more aggressive than pedestrian impact laws would allow — and the steep rake on the windshield is also a bit unrealistic. Not sure this rendering adds much clarification to what it’ll end up looking like.
C4

This car is nothing but a distraction to deviate attention from his upcoming ugly duckling brother…The R60!
KipperFillets

I can’t see what the fuss is all about when people complain it’s going to be a 2 seater. If Sir Alex would be spinning in his grave, what would he have said about the GP?

Personally I just hope it’s got the punch to match the looks. The standard Cooper doesn’t really deserve the badge it’s got (the ‘S’ should really have been the Cooper version, and the ‘Works’ the Cooper S).

This car will be reviewed on it’s looks, handling and performance (otherwise you may as well just have a MINI).
Kdubber

The humps are too high.
http://www.lilcoopr.com lilcoopr

This car is nothing but a distraction to deviate attention from his upcoming ugly duckling brotherâ€¦The R60!

LOL!!!!!! :D
lavardera

The term is to “divert” attention, unless you are in fact interested in deviant attention.
Sideways Eh!

Regardless of what it will look like…it will still look better than a Miata…and if the car is based off the R56 chasis…then its gonna perform better than one as well…Don’t be surprised to see a VW 2seater in the fall as well…this is why MINI has ramped this concept to the fore-front…the competition is coming and it will come from sides you never imagined.
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