Oct 7th, 2010
Earlier today we broke the news that MINI USA has decided to add a bench seat option to the Countryman. Now let’s look at how it all came about.
The development cycles of cars often stretch for many many years before they ever hit the showroom floor. And because of that, decisions are made well in advance of regulations being imposed. For instance when the width of the rear seating area of the Countryman determined, it actually was within the minimum size for three seats in the US. However shortly after development was finalized the NHTSA changed to the regulation and shrunk the minimum size in the name of safety.
MINI could have spent many tens of million of Euros to re-engineer everything inside the sheet metal for squeeze an extra inch. But doing so would potentially impact the side impact safety of the rear occupants and they didn’t want to compromise on that front. continued →
Oct 7th, 2010
Update: We’ll have a bit more on this tomorrow.
This just in! We’ve received word from Gabe at the MINI 2011 Launch Event that the rear bench seat for the Countryman will be an available option for the US market. This means that a 5-seater Countryman is now an option if the rear buckets aren’t enough for your people-moving needs. Previous NHTSA regulations mandated a minimum seat width for rear seat passengers that the Countryman bench seat didn’t meet, albeit just barely. Rather than re-engineer a US-only rear bench seat, MINI opted to wait for a probable change in the regulations.
The wait paid off. Our sources are telling us that back in March, the NHTSA updated the minimum width regulation and the OEM Countryman bench seat is now compliant. While the rear bucket seats will remain the R60′s standard equipment, expect the bench option to become available in the next 6-8 months.
So how would you roll the rear seats in your Countryman? Bench or buckets?
Oct 7th, 2010
This morning, Jalopnik’s Ray Wert posted an impassioned plea to BMW and MINI not to follow through with a minivan model rumored by sources here and here. These sources are asserting that the MINI “SpaceBox” R65 model will be some sort of small people carrier, or what we in the states call a minivan. Is this the case? Let’s look deeper. continued →
Oct 6th, 2010
MINI let slip a few Countryman pricing details tonight at the press launch for the 2011 model range. The big news is that the Countryman Cooper (the base car in the US) will start at a base price of $22,350. It’s surprising in that it’s only $550 more than the equivalent Clubman. Additionally, MINIUSA head Jim McDowell told us that a R60 MCS All4 (with a few popular packages) will come in under $30k. continued →
Oct 6th, 2010
The day isn’t quite over but I’ve already gone through the hills in a handful of the 2011 MINI models. We’ll have full reviews of the cars and all the technology of the 2011 line-up in the days ahead. In the meantime, here’s an early look at day one.
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Oct 6th, 2010
MINI USA has invited us down to Austin Texas today and tomorrow to drive the entire 2011 MINI model range. We’ll be getting more seat-time in the Countryman as well as another look a the updated R55, R56 and R57 models. And there’s even a rumor that Countryman pricing will make an appearance at the event. You’ll see updates via our twitter account and photos at MotoringFile’s Flickr page
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